flip314

Our Visa was APPROVED! Thank you everyone for your help and support during this insane process, we couldn't of done it without VJ. It was so cool to see a fellow VJ'er at the Montreal Consualte, it was awesome because we had the edge on everyone else who was there, we knew exactly what to do. I will be putting up my review once I get back home to Florida. Xo

I wonder if you saw my wife... She also mentioned meeting another VJ'er.

Her visa is now listed as issued! Now we just get to obsessively check her passport tracking number...

I did check the box and it didn't come automatically. It seems to be hit or miss.

Yep we checked the box on both applications. (CR-1 and CR-2)

Luckily we came prepared to the SSA office and it made things go a lot smoother and quicker.

Thanks for the info guys... I'm a USC but grew up in Canada and I got my SSN just by checking a box on my passport application, so I assumed this would work just as smoothly as that did. Maybe I was just lucky that it worked for me

Good to know in advance that some people have issues...

So far so good.

Went this morning to the SSA to apply for our SSNs. Prepped for it the same as I did for the visa interview so it was quick and painless. Two people ahead of us got sent away because they didn’t bring their supporting documentation with them. Good thing for VJ because I knew that for some people the SAVE database has the names as two first names and not first and middle because the guy was having an issue with a name mismatch - so I told him that for some reason our boarding passes will have us as Jane Elizabeth as a first name instead of first and middle and ta-da it worked. We can head back tomorrow morning to get the numbers.

So much paperwork still but soon I’ll be done with that for a bit and can just enjoy living life.

It is very nice to be here with hubby and he is so appreciative of us being here. Feels like a bit of a fairy tale to be honest. I hope that you find your fairy tale!

I see your sig says your SSN "Did not come automatically in the mail"... Did you tick the box for it on the visa application? Just wondering since we ticked that box for my wife and it'll be good to know in advance that she might still have to apply for a card >.<

I got RFE'd at a local office for the beneficiary's birth certificate. It sounds like a common thing for whatever reason.

Is it normal to get a checklist after case complete?

We got a checklist the same day as case complete o.O I think because they reviewed and approved the DS-260 before even looking at the civil documents (we got a checklist for the civil documents). We called to find out about the checklist and they basically said "we don't know why you got a checklist, your case is complete"

If it's a generic checklist (which is likely the case), it's probably a "false" checklist that you can ignore, but CALL THE NVC to confirm.

If there are specific things mentioned that were missed, CALL THE NVC to see what you need to do.

I can't remember whether we got 3 or 4 checklists through the whole process (and only one was legitimate -- but luckily overturned on supervisor re-review), but I think the NVC should be really trying harder NOT to generate checklists. It's confusing, scary, and disheartening to do everything correctly and still get them.

How long do you think I should wait until my documents became from IN NVC to IN TRANSIT?

Ours went from IN NVC to IN TRANSIT to READY on the same day we got our P4 e-mail... But Montreal does electronic processing so it would be totally different if your embassy doesn't.

Guys Guys Guys....

there is NO reason to watch an overall progress of approvals for 130's

it is COMPLETELY dependent on the office that is approving it!

if you are in NYC.. you will have almost a year to wait, if you are in los angeles, you have less than four months

if you want to know about your case.. confirm it was transferred to your local office by calling a tier 2

then check the volume of your local office for some idea of approval patterns

In my case even Tier 2 didn't know that we'd been transferred to a local office, even after we'd received an RFE from the local office. Tier 2 had basically no information on our case at all. From reading other peoples' experiences, this isn't that uncommon either for transferred cases.

HOWEVER, If the petitioner is in the US the I-130 was almost certainly transferred to a local office.

I just phoned and my wife's interview is on Sept 18th... Anyone who's waiting from Canada should call, or I'm sure e-mails will be arriving in the next couple of days

Just got email in response to inquiry 2 weeks ago that our interview in montreal

has been scheduled for Sep 3!!!!!!!!

Wow, our case complete was July 10

Maybe things are finally moving

I hope other Canadians get news soon

Congratulations! Our case complete was July 11th, so maybe we can still get in September too...

Of course the NVC's phones are busy right now >.<, but maybe I can get through later.

Ah ok.. Well there could have been an easier way around, go to Niagara ranibow bridge, ask your spouse to drive over and leave u behind, then you cross teh border on foot at tell them just visiting as you are a Canadian. Then re-unite at like a store once crossed, me and my wife did this once and met at Hard Rock Cafe across the border and then leave again.

However, I did that only once just to be sure that if i am visiting the US with my wife, the US doesn't assume that I won't come back. but then I realised, I'm only visiting and will wait for my Visa Journey to complete so cross together.

Nope, once you're flagged as an intending immigrant you're put into their system and will get caught EVERY time whether you're crossing together or not.

My wife and I screwed up in a similar way (she tried to travel with me while I was moving from Canada to the US), and the next time she tried to cross the border (by herself) she was denied again based on the previous denial. They were very clear that there's no way she's getting in without a visa.

I was told the same yesterday for Canada....I guess I will be giving up calling now until August. Boooo

Oh no I was really hoping for all you June case completes to get August interviews. I'm sorry that you didn't. Considering that people a week ahead of you got July interviews, what happened to Canada this month

Here's hoping some last minute slots open up for you guys

Please add me to the list. Canada (IR-1), case complete 2013-07-11, no interview yet.

I phoned NVC today and got told that August interviews have been scheduled for Canada... Does anyone have one yet? I still haven't seen anyone with August dates.

I've been getting a lot of busy signals from the NVC in the last two weeks. My advice is to keep trying, avoid Mondays, and try to call as early as possible (7:30 ET). You may have some luck in the evenings (ET) as well, but I haven't had any luck in the afternoons.

BTW this is the old I-864 and the entire form was typed into the PDF other than the signature and date which I hand wrote.

I talked to a supervisor and he's requested a re-review based on the fact that I submitted the old I-864 form and read the old rules. Hopefully it gets accepted (and quickly), but it's still not worth the hassle if you're filling one out now.

It sounds like they may now be reviewing the old I-864 form with the new rules. What a mess. The customer rep told me that the standard ink color had changed for all forms, so don't use blue ink on anything >.<

If you are submitting an I-864, DO NOT sign the form in blue ink as recommended by some websites (ie here: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_for_Montreal_Beneficiaries_%E2%80%93_Electronic_Processing_and_New_Online_Forms). I now have to re-submit the entire package

Got to pay my wife's IV fee this afternoon!

I've had a "Pay" link next to the IV fee in the IV portal since Friday morning. When I click it, it goes to the payment portal which shows no available IV fees to pay. At least my AoS finally switched to Paid last week and I submitted the AoS package!

The NVC number is busy this morning, so I can't ask anyone.

BTW, they said it takes 24 hours for AoS to go from invoiced to payable, which is what happened with mine... I hoped it would be the same for IV fees.

You have to ignore the snotty ones, it seems to be 50/50 whether they'll try to be helpful or just dismissive and say "wait 20 business days" for every single thing.

You too, huh? I was totally under the impression that they didn't need my wife's birth certificate yet either. Maybe I wasn't crazy.

Between that and the passport thing I think we should have been approved already At least now we should be able to get going again.

Luckily I booked an InfoPass appointment, because either my inquiry has been forgotten about or it is STILL pending. I might not have heard back before my time expired.

I was able to clarify that they only wanted the "Other" items (wife's birth certificate and proof of my citizenship). I was advised that if I didn't have a certificate of citizenship, an explanation why should suffice. Apparently just because the State Department issues you a passport doesn't mean that you're in the USCIS database as a citizen. Or at least that's what I was told the reason was.

Based on my experiences, I would give out the following advice if you weren't born in the US:

-Get a certificate of citizenship when you apply for your passport (while you're already providing your entire proof of citizenship information). It's not technically required, but it would have saved me some time with immigration for my wife.

-If you don't have a certificate of citizenship, give an explanation with your immigration forms even if you provide a full copy of a passport like I did. Might save you a hassle.

I still think it's discriminatory because a valid US passport is unequivocally proof of citizenship, but that doesn't mean they can't make your life difficult if that's all you provide.

Tier 2 couldn't find anything in my file about an I-72 at all >.< They filed an inquiry and said I should hear back within the week. Hopefully they get back to me promptly.

About my citizenship... Dad didn't file a CRBA when I was born. I registered with the consulate about 9 years ago and had to provide multiple forms, affidavits, and lots of evidence. At least the Calgary consulate doesn't routinely issue certificates of citizenship in that case, they get you a passport and SSN and say that's all you need. At any rate, it's not a process that would be easy to repeat.

I sent copies of my *entire* passport, including all the blank pages. That's why I'm so confused as to why they didn't accept that.

Today I got an I-72 in regards to my I-130 for my wife, but none of the boxes were checked! How am I supposed to know what they want?

Also they're asking for proof of US citizenship for me, besides a passport. I got citizenship through my dad and that's the only proof of citizenship I've ever had or needed. I doubt I can get a certificate of citizenship in the 30 day timeframe they've given me. I do have a SENTRI trusted traveler card that says I'm a citizen (and is good enough for entry into the US by land), but I have no idea if that's useful/applicable... There was no problem with proving I was a citizen for that other than a passport...

Any advice?