NikiT

I'm on mobile, so can't see your husband's country, but so long as he can travel to Toronto without a visa or a green card, you should have no problems. Toronto has a poe to the United states at Pearson.

I'm not sure I understand what you have written correctly, so please correct me if I misunderstood. I understand you to say....the flight you have booked from France flies first to Detroit for a stop over (which happens to be point of POE) then to Toronto (which is where you desire to spend a few days). When you land in Detroit the first time for the stop over you will not be required to go through customs and immigration, you will just hang around the terminal/gate for the 3 hours then embark the plane to Toronto. Now, when in Toronto, you will land, get baggage and go through customs and immigration as a visitor only.

After your visiting is done and its time to fly back to Detroit for your POE, you will then do your POE at the Toronto airport as Not A Tailor suggested. I would plan on getting to the airport several hours before the flight just to be sure you make it through customs and immigration on time. Several people have reported POE at the Toronto airport as being quick but since your spouse is not Canadian it might take a bit longer. Toronto airport can be crazy so be sure to allow yourself the time.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Thank you Not a Tailor and mrs thb,

Sorry my explanation was not clear. My husband is French and we are flying from Paris to Detroit (3 hour stop over) and then to Toronto. After a couple of days in Toronto, we are finally reentering Detroit as our final destination.

My understanding is that for any international connection flights going through U.S. airport to Canada, you still need to go through the U.S. customs and immigration before taking the connecting flights. Isn't this correct?

Also just to double-check.. He wouldn't need a ESTA nor transit visa, would he?

Hello,

It has been a while since my husband got his IR-1 visa issued (Nov. 2014) and we are finally flying to the U.S. next week. We decided to spend a couple of days in Toronto before entering Detroit but the flight that I reserved was, going directly to Detroit, with 3 hours of wait time before going to Toronto, and a couple of days later, reenter Detroit. ( I did not notice until I checked the itinerary)

So our Port of Entry is going to be at Detroit Airport before going to Toronto?

Do we have enough time to proceed the immigration?

Would it be any problem, if we go to Toronto before, instead of entering directly to the U.S.?

Dear all,

how long in average between your confirmation from NVC and the Embassy appointment ?

thx

There is a forum for CR-1/IR-1 interview and you can find a spreadsheet that shows the timelines for interviews.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/520813-december-2014-interviews/

Wonderful! So no more Chronopost for us Frenchies, woo hoo!!

Thanks NikiT!

Maintenant, c'est La Poste qui envoyer nos documents et nos passports.

L'ambassade nous a envoyé un email pour "Notification de renvoi de documents de voyage du système de visa de l'US DoS" quelque jours après notre entretien mais le numéro de suivi n'est pas marché et c'était directement envoyé dans la boite aux lettre chez nous...

I'm back from Montreal! My interview was on Monday, but I spent the next two days sightseeing the city.

I now have my laptop computer with me so I just wrote my Consulate Review (Interview Experience)!

It's at the end of my timeline page. http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=166483

I'm now waiting for my passport back with the visa. I hope I get it tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Congratulations and I believe you had to do so many yoga poses that you can now open a yoga studio in Seattle!

NikiT

You must not open it. We were given the same envelopes. they joined two envelopes together but on the second one was a white paper attached to it and in there was the name of the embassy, my husband name, the address, the ir1 visa category and also the scanned picture on this paper. my husband had to call the embassy and he was told that he should no open any of these envelopes and he should deliver it to the immigration officer at the POE the way they have sent it to him. So I urge you never to open it. they have already cut edge of the envelope in other to let you know what that the document inside the envelope is your information. So therefore do not open it.

Thanks!

I was not really sure because the envelope says nothing about it. Ours don't have any cut at the edge of the envelope but I guess they also sealed the second envelope for some intention.

Oh well, nothing is really clear in this visa process anyway so I am not surprised!

We have finally received a package from the embassy along with the passport with a visa sticker on it.

I understand that the yellow envelope which is supposed to be handed to the officer at the POE should not be opened.

But in the package, there is another envelope that is also sealed on the back (like this on the photo) and in the front it says "Mr. *My husband's name*, your documents and photos" but did not say that it is for the POE. The stamp says "IV Unit Ambassade des Etats-Unis (IV Unit American Embassy)18 avenue Gabriel 75008 Paris "

Can we open this one?

Hey les gens, une question tout simple pour laquelle j'ai du mal a trouver une reponse precise.

Les "civil documents" en français (acte de naissance, casier judiciaire ...etc) à envoyer au NVC doivent-ils impérativement être traduits en anglais?

Je crois comprendre que non, vu que l'interview se déroulera en France mais c'est pas bien clair ...

Sorry to reply to you in English as my French is not so good.

We just got IR-1 visa issued. When I submitted the documents to NVC, I got all the civil documents (acte de naissance, casier judiciare, etc) translated in English just to be on the safe side.

You don't need to ask any certified translator to do the translation. You can ask your friend or co-worker to translate and add these sentences at the end of translation and sign.

Address:

Telephone:

Date:

They were accepted by NVC. (at least for our case)

Thanks so much! Can I ask if the embassy gave you any information about the green card fee we have to pay before POE? We didn't get anything.

24 hours after the interview, the CEAC status still shows "Ready", so now I'm getting concerned something went wrong!

Yes, the package that I received today includes my husband's passport and some important documents/instructions.

About the immigration fee, it says:

You must submit the $161 U.S. dollar payment online after receiving your visa package from the Department of State and before you depart for the United States.

I believe that "the package from the Department of State" means the sealed envelope which you are not supposed to open.

You just had an interview yesterday so check tomorrow and I think you will be fine.

I have just checked my mail box and the package from the embassy was there!

Strange thing is that it was that it was simply in a mail box like the rest of normal mails and I did not even sign for the documents.

1. The Courier will attempt to deliver your package up to 3 times to the requested address. If the courier is unable to make a successful delivery, the courier will return your package to the originating consular section.
2. When delivering to a home address, the courier will only release the parcel to an adult who is willing to sign for the documents.
3. When delivering to a business address, the courier will release the parcel to the personnel authorized to sign for packages.

Also the tracking number that the embassy notified didn't work..

But anyway, it was delivered and yes, VISA on the passport. YAY!

My husband's visa was approved and issued last Wednesday and we received an e-mail notification for the tracking number for delivery of his passport and other important documents on Monday, however, the tracking number does not work and it is already Thursday..

I hope it will arrive soon but if it does not arrive today or tomorrow, I would contact the embassy.

Are there any cases when the package gets lost on the way?? If that happens, do we need to start everything from the beginning???

My husband's interview at the Paris embassy went well today, and he was approved!!

We will have the visa in hand within 10 business days. I'll post a review in a little bit.

YES!! I am so happy to hear that you got the approval!

Congratulations!!

I have been away from NVC because of some health issues/surgery. I've got to get my head in the game here, though, because my husband's interview is Wednesday! I skimmed this month's interview thread and I'm so happy to hear about all the visa approvals, POEs, and interview dates.

I'm preparing the documents for the interview, and I believe I have everything we need, though I do anticipate some hiccups. I really hope it goes smoothly, though.

One oddity is that the French embassy specifically requests new originals of all civil and financial documents sent to the NVC. This is frustrating and just really underlines the fact that the NVC stage was just months of unnecessary waiting.

We have finished the interview at the embassy in Paris last week and my husband's visa was approved.

I am not sure if your case is the same but the embassy did not ask anything specific for the civil documents or financial documents as I already sent the originals to NVC.

What we did was we obtained the latest birth certificate and police certificate (as I heard that they had to be less than 3 month old, so to be safe) and when they asked us if we had any updated version, we simply replaced with new ones. As for financial documents, unless you have any changes since the time you sent to NVC, or they specifically asked you to bring something, I think it should be OK. As for us, they did not ask anything about the AOS during the interview at the embassy.

Good luck on your interview on Wednesday!

P.S. I wrote the review on the interview at the embassy in Paris.

Yay! Congratulations!!!!!! I am so so happy for you 17 months - that's crazy I wish you a smooth POE! See y'all in Texas. Let me know whenever you make it to San Antonio sometime, given that I am hopefully there by that time

Merci beaucoup!!! I think they changed the system here as well. And congratulations on your approval! I hope you celebrated it with a nice bottle of champagne

It looks like in Germany you can also register your mailing address. (although in France we use different system)

http://www.ustraveldocs.com/de/de-niv-passporttrack.asp

Good luck on your interview!!

Hey NikiT .... CONGRATS!!!!

.... so no more Chronopost needed. Can you still keep track of your passport once it's sent to you?

I found the info on www.usvisa - info.com

The tracking of your document return will begin when the U.S. Consular Section passes the documents to the courier. You will get an email alerting you when the shipping number has been assigned to your documents.

You can track the status of the shipment by signing into this website and clicking on the Courier shipping number link, which will direct you to the courier website for the latest tracking information.

Hey NikiT .... CONGRATS!!!!

.... so no more Chronopost needed. Can you still keep track of your passport once it's sent to you?

Thanks! Don't buy a chronopost envelop unless the embassy suddenly change their policy before your interview date.

I am not sure how we can track the passport but I assume that when you register at www.usvisa - info.com (you will need this to make an appointment at the embassy. it is instructed in P4 letter), you put your mailing address, and the documents (along with the passport) will be sent to your address via la poste.

I am slightly confused now with the interview just being 1 week away

I read someone's interview review from yesterday (for Frankfurt, also CR-1) and he mentioned that he had to bring a large envelope with prepaid postage, so the visa documents would be sent back to him.

But I registered on ustraveldocs last week and it said this in the overview: "You do not have to pay for this free delivery service; no extra fees are associated with this service."

I am kinda clueless right now. Does anyone know if the embassies got rid of the prepaid postage requirement? It's not mentioned in the current interview checklist (Aug 2014) anymore.

Oh my, I can't for these sudden panic attacks about the interview to be over

I am not sure if the embassy in Frankfurt is the same but at least in Paris, they changed the system and I was told today at the embassy in Paris that I did not have to buy a prepared envelop but instead resister the mailing address online. I paid 26 euro for nothing.

You may want to double-check with the embassy in Germany.

congratulations!!!! do you have any idea why the people ahead of you were rejected? do you know if they were also applying for IR-1 VISA?

I was not quite sure exactly what type of visa they were applying for as I was not able to hear that well.

But when the CO asked a guy "when the last time he was in the U.S. and what he was doing", he seemed to have had some problem answering such questions. Maybe there were some other problems but I don't know. After that, I heard the CO say she couldn't approve it or something, the guy left with his unhappy face...

Congrats!!

Congratss!!

Thanks!　Good luck to you, too!

Had an interview for IR-1 VISA today at the embassy in Paris and it was approved!!

I was worried a little bit as there were some people before us who were rejected.

The CO was a young lady and she asked only some questions like:

"When was the last time you were in the U.S.?"

"How long have you been married?"

"Have you always been living together after your marriage?"

"Why do you want to go to the U.S.?"

I prepared many photos and things to prove "domicile" but none of them were needed at the interview.

The only surprise was that a chronopost envelope that I purchased was not even needed. They changed the systems in October and I guess that is only for people who reside in Portugal.

At the end, she said "Felicitation (Congratulations)" and that was it.

Finally our long journey is about to end.

If you have not filed any new taxes since you sent them out to NVC, you don't need to bring anything additional to the interview (unless you think they might have lost something, in which case just bring copies of what you mailed in).

As far as transcripts, if you do want to get them and online and mail is out of the question (because you live abroad), you can call them and request that they fax it to you, you'll have them within 24 hours. You just need a US fax number, which you can easily get online for about $2. This is what I did for exactly the same reasons, worked without any problem.

Edited for typo.

Thanks for your reply.

I have not filed taxes after we have submitted AOS to NVC but I already sent copies of tax returns for the last three years. I was a bit concerned if the copies that I sent to NVC were good enough. Maybe I am over-concerned about the whole process. I will try to call tomorrow just in case.

I have a question regarding the AOS.

I have submitted photo copies of my tax returns to NVC since the original ones were already sent to IRS.

Do I still need to get the transcript in order to show during the interview?

I tried to get it online but somehow, I got an error message The information you entered does not match our records. Please verify your information and try again. and I was not able to continue. I double/triple checked my information but I still get such a message.

I also tried to get it by snail mail but it does not work either because the address is not in the U.S..

Somebody please advise.

It sounds terrible..We have not heard anything from NVC or the embassy in Paris but we are expecting to have an interview in November.

Did all the documents get stolen or only some SSN related ones? Did they tell you when they were stolen?

Were you able to get a visa anyway? Do you need to get a new original marriage certificate? We sent "Duplicate" of License and Certificate of Marriage as we were married in the U.S.

Merci NikiT

Mon acte intégral est du genre écrit a la main .. (je ne suis plus tout jeune!) et pas super compréhensible, je pense que je vais envoyer les deux pour finir.

Je suis d'accord.

C'est mieux envoyer les deux au cas ou. Better to be enough preprared than to regret later

Others will chime in but I believe there's a vending machine at the embasssy where you can purchase the envelope. But bring your own, you never know! Get the Chronopost 2kg mailer for France (not Union Europeenne or International), better safe than sorry.

Merci. Je vais acheter un chronopost envelope de 2kg.

Ceux qui y sont deja passes, pour le NVC c'est EXTRAIT d'ACTE DE NAISSANCE avec FILIATION ..... ou .... COPIE INTÉGRALE DE l'ACTE DE NAISSANCE?

Merci d'avance!

J'ai envoyé COPIE INTÉGRALE DE l'ACTE DE NAISSANCE et c'était accepté par NVC.