My letter to Lee McClenny

[Arabella 4]

Yep... this is what i'm looking for...

It was hard to write because I was/am emotional...

Hey Lgg,

Yep unfortunately I agree with Peachey as well. When I wrote the letters to my Senator after our case fell way out of the timelines I actually had to rewrite it about 30 times to get all of the emotion out of it. In the end I'm glad I did because a copy of that letter can be viewed at the border whenever we cross. We often have border guards reading it back to us as we're waiting the usual 45 minutes to get over

I'd just stick to the facts, maybe post the exact turn times that are being given by Montreal now and even post how the customer support service isn't very helpful. I researched a ton of facts about the current conditions from where my wife was born and included them along with a paragraph towards the end that was more personal and told of our troubled times not being together.

I definitely wish you all the good luck in the world!

This makes no sense and I can't believe it's even real. They save your letter of complaint that you sent to the consulate and it can somehow be linked to you and viewed at the border? That does not seem ethical!

[Varba 0]

@lgg & Mal

For some reason Peachey said it wasn't a good idea to replace the one sentence with a picture.

I dunno why?

[lgg 2]

Hehehehehehehehehehehe!

Do it!!!

Okay... I kid...

Oh and I poached some of your lines for our letter, okay?

[Malrothien 6]

Hahahaha, Varba. I DARE YOU!

[Arabella 4]

I am not sure if you wanted help with editing, but I noticed a few typos.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Ok Lgg, here you go! (You'll all know my first name now LOL)

This letter is going to be from Varba:

Dear Mr. McClenny,

I am writing to you today for two reasons. First, to inform you of a situation that exists, and second to ask for assistance.

I am a US citizen petitioning for my fiancee, Lisa(case ##########) for her K-1 visa. We sent our I-129F package to the Vermont Service Center on February 9, 2009 and received our Notice of Action 1 on February 13, 2009. We then received our Notice of Action 2 on June 6, 2009. Lisa received her packet 3 from your consulate on June 24, 2009 and she returned the checklist and required forms via Expresspost on July 14, 2009 (received at the consulate according to our tracking number on July 17, 2009). We have been waiting patiently since this time for an interview date.

Lisa and I belong to an online community of US citizens and their foreign fiance(e)s/spouses who are trying to immigrate to the United States through legal channels. This community has members from across the world. This community also helps track timelines for key events during the immigration process. Because of this, we knew to expect several months before having our interview.

We projected that given the current trends in Montreal it was a fair assumption that we would hit our goal of having Lisa immigrate at the end of December. This allowed for five full months for the interview to be scheduled and occur

On Friday October 7, 2009 I called the Department of State to find out if the consulate had assigned an interview for Lisa. I was very pleased to find out that the consulate had indeed scheduled us an interview, however the agent could not see the date and asked me to call back the week after to get the exact date. Lisa and I were very excited for this news.

We called back on Tuesday morning and were devistated to find out that there was an error in the system (the Department of State told us the consulate in Montreal made the error) and she did not have an interview scheduled and we were told not to expect an interview until at least January. The Department of State also told me that Lisa's checklist and forms were not logged into the system until August 14, 2009.

During the three months we have waited for a scheduled interview, we have had to put our lives on hold. We can not plan to visit each other or family. We can not take advantage of travel deals, or plan our holidays. We can not be sure when to give notice for housing or jobs.

This is an unavoidable part of the process, but the process is not intended to drag on for this amount of time! It took almost a month for the consulate to review the forms and input her eligability for an interview into the system. Eighty-seven days after we submited our third packet, the false "interview" was nearly a disaster as we had planned to give notice to Lisa's landlord. This is unacceptable.

The online community of fellow immigrants is very supportive in this process, and we have been in touch with many people in our exact situation. Because of the diversity of the members we are able see timelines from different consulates. I think it's fair to state that we see consistent examples of other consulates having sub 30 day turnarounds on interviews. The Department of State informed us on several occasions of the staffing issues that have occured at the Montreal Consulate. We understand that this will cause delays in the processing of immigrant cases, but do not understand why the delay has been continually increased.

I ask your assistance in this matter because Lisa and I have been waiting over three months to find out an interview date. We would like for Lisa to be able to move at the begning of January so we can start our new life together. If there is anything you can do to help us we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time in this matter.

Best Regards,

Varba

I would add the fact that the DV is never open to Canadians which speaks volumes about the number of Canadians who wish to immigrate to the United States and then punctuate it with a "recalcitrant swines" and "hurry the f**k up" for good measure.

On second thought forget what I just typed.

[Varba 0]

I am not sure if you wanted help with editing, but I noticed a few typos.

Oh, thank you.

I'm a horrible speller. It's the only class I did poorly in from grade 3 on.

I can fix nearly every problem ever with computers... Do complicated calculus problems... but spell a word? Yikes.

Edited October 14, 2009 by Varba

[bowflex 0]

This makes no sense and I can't believe it's even real. They save your letter of complaint that you sent to the consulate and it can somehow be linked to you and viewed at the border? That does not seem ethical!

Oh it's great fun, the border guards even are surprised sometimes as they're reading it Lol. When we get a younger person they tell us we had some big ones to write such a letter and that it must've taken forever to find all those facts. The older guards usually tsk tsk us with their eyes haha.

I'm sure during our trip this weekend for Thanksgiving we're going to have a blast, especially with her new card saying 'Unknown' for country lol

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I am not sure if you wanted help with editing, but I noticed a few typos.

Oh, thank you.

I'm a horrible speller. It's the only class I did poorly in from grade 3 on.

I can fix nearly every problem ever with computers... Do complicated calculus problems... but spell a word? Yikes.

Calculus isn't that the hard stuff that builds up on your teeth?

[trailmix 77]

Ok my letter is written, printed and in the envelope with a stamp! As soon as spring comes one of us will venture out to mail it

If he sends me a reply, I will post it.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Ok my letter is written, printed and in the envelope with a stamp! As soon as spring comes one of us will venture out to mail it

If he sends me a reply, I will post it.

Only if it's not written in crayon.

[ashenflowers 5]

I'm going to write a letter as well, but probably won't get to until perhaps the weekend. I'm dealing with some other personal stuff, and already had to write one letter of complaint to the payroll guy at work (tell me THAT's not risky... lol). Not sure I have it in me to do two in one day. lol

[RollingOn 0]

lgg,

I think the letter is pretty good . Our timeline has been the longest, I think, so I know how you feel.

Who is Mr McClenny? We (Marie and I) are REALLY frustrated. It doesn't matter who you talk to, they see to read a script and point at someone else. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little honesty in the process?

Our attorney doesn't help. I recommend NO ONE use an attorney. They set us 5 weeks behind because of lack of diligence. So instead of being done in early June it became mid July. Now when will the interview be? Next year? I hope not.

Why did they stop doing interviews in Vancouver? Are we made of money? Well I am sure some of you are.

Please get us our CR1 interview. Again, who is Mr McClenny?

Rick

[Peachey 10]

He is the director of the consulate in Montreal.

[RollingOn 0]

Yep, thanks. Found him in Google.