jessacott

Is anyone that is moving starting to stress out yet? I am sooo excited, yet the fear is sinking in now. I am leaving the only life I have ever known. So freaked out.

Uh, YES! Ah! I am right there with ya! Everyone keeps telling me that it's natural/normal to be scared to make such a big move (and really, with so little time to fully prepare!) but I thought I'd be more excited and less stressed than I am! I think I'm most worried about not working. I've had to give my notice at work as well, and that scares the ####### out of me.

And I agree with @kasiz - it really, really doesn't feel real yet! Even with all the minor (and major) preparations and countdowns! Ah!

YES, SO CLOSE!! Too bad we weren't on the same day!

Even though he only lives 30 minutes away from Montreal, we decided to make it a fun trip.... we got a hotel and we're going to La Ronde right after the interview

Seemed fitting to go ride some real rollercoasters after being on this visa rollercoaster ride for so long haha

and CONGRATS walrusbaby!!!!!

That's awesome! Such a perfect idea! A day of celebrating with roller coasters and all that screaming MUST be great stress relief! Hahah.

I live 5+ hours away from Montreal, and have decided that if I'm going to spend the money on the VIA and a hotel regardless, might as well bring my Mum and make a 'holiday' out of it! Any recommendations of things to do/eat/see?!

Jonathan's medical is today. Interview is next week. I'm obsessing over the interview paperwork. I think I've gone through it 1,000 times already.... and I still have 8 days to go.... so I predict checking it another 1,000 times! haha

This proof of ongoing relationship part is worrying me since we only have pictures and a skype call log/screen shots.

His interview is the day before mine! Woo! It's so soon!

Don't stress too much over those finer details! We only have a collection of photos and Skype call screenshots, too! Positive thoughts! See the light at the end of the tunnel, we're so close!!

You only need the fingerprint check if you have been convicted of a crime.

Awesome, this is what I was looking for! Thank you so much for your response, very helpful. As I have not been convicted of a crime, I am in the clear with the form I currently have. Yay!

Thank you again!

You should be fine

I don't remember doing fingerprints when I had my check done at the RCMP office in Calgary, all I remember was showing them my ID and filling out some paperwork I received the check a few days later with a notary stamp on it. They took my fingerprints at the interview

Good luck with your interview

Perfect! That's all I did as well. The form that was returned was the original one I filled out, with the bottom portion completed by DRPS and the embossed "stamp" as well. I did have to gather a Police Certificate from the UK, as I was there on a Working Holiday Visa in 2008, and it looks quite a bit more formal so I was concerned with not having collected the proper form for Canada. I suppose we're just not as fancy. Haha.

Thank you so much for your assistance, it is greatly appreciated!

I got my police certificate from york region about a week ago, it says they have searched all databases and found no conviction, fingerprints werent taken but the police officer confiscated my drivers license because it was suspended.

I submitted my packet 3 to montreal the same day, im looking at your timeline and see you got packet 4 with 2 weeks? i should expect the same right? is the packet 4 any different from the packet 4 that is available online?

thanks

I did submit two inquiries to the consulate in regards to receiving Packet 4 as I felt it took longer than some timelines I had seen through Montreal, but at the same time I feel the two weeks is fairly standard. (EDIT: On the actual Packet 3 letter I have received from the Consulate via post, it states to "Please allow up to 6 weeks for the review of your file" Meaning that once you have sent the Packet 3 e-mail, that their standard processing time is 6 weeks.) I've read that Montreal is a little notorious for taking their time. The Packet 4 you receive from the Consulate via e-mail is no different than what you find online, however, it allows you, specifically, permission to book an interview date and schedule your medical exam. You cannot proceed with these action steps until you have confirmation from Montreal that is okay to do so.

Best of luck with continuing your journey!

My understanding is that they take your fingerprints at the consulate when you interview? but I may be wrong. I have a Nexus card so they already have mine, so I haven't paid that much attention!

Good luck at your interview

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated! And yes, that was my understanding as well! Just want to cross all the t's and dot all the i's so we don't get held back by some silly hiccup! I'm afraid if I go in to the police station to check one more time, they'll arrest me for being annoying. Haha.

Good Evening,

I had a quick question in regards to the Canadian Criminal Record check. I had a check done at the local police station and have received it back, and I have asked them thrice if it was what I needed for immigration purposes, and they have assured me that it is the correct check/form - but I never submitted my fingerprints. Is this necessary? My interview is coming up and I wanted to quadruple check that I have the correct form. I am local to Durham Region, in Ontario, and the form I have is the green standard form, not the blue with the vulnerable sectors check included. Any information about processing a new check would be appreciated, as I am running out of time.

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Well, my interview is finally scheduled. September 29th. So far away still.

YAY! This is awesome! It may be a bit of a wait, but now you have a countdown to look forward to! Cross off those days on the calendar and keep yourself busy! You're almost at that finish line!!!!

Hello,

I want to ask, did you received any email after you sent packet 3, or are you still waiting? My packet 3 was sent in march and I received an email the next day saying I was allowed to pay the IV fees and schedule an interview.

I never received a packet 4 in Physical copy, it was a link provided if an email also. I pasted some of it down below, but it States packet 4, appointement letter at the end. I had to contact the consulate to make sure that was it.

I would suggest you try to contact the consulate again and include your montreal case number but also the DS-160 confirmation number

Dear ****, LYNE:

This office has completed the review of the below-referenced immigrant visa case. You are now ready for an interview at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal, where all interviews for immigration to the US from Canada are processed. This letter provides information on the next steps you must take to continue with your immigrant visa case.

Schedule your visa interview appointment

Please visit http://canada.usvisa-info.com to obtain information online or via telephone concerning scheduling an interview appointment for you and those family members included in the petition. If you have not previously registered your information and selected a Loomis courier location on this website, please do so now.

You must have the Passport Number, Date of Birth, Nationality, MTL case number, and visa category for each applicant (principal applicant and all family members, including children) ready in order to access the website. When prompted to select “Trip Purpose”, you must choose ‘Permanently Immigrate to the US.’ After entering your information, you will be prompted to select an appointment time for you and your family.

If you have any other questions, feel free to message me

Thank you for your quick, and super helpful, response! It is much appreciated!

When I sent the Packet 3 requirements via e-mail I did not receive any correspondence back, which is what prompted me to review what I had sent and submit the inquiry through the online form. I will contact the Consulate again right now and try to better explain the situation, and hope I am able to get things sorted from here!

Thank you again!

I'm going to start this off by saying that for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to post this to a Canada only, maybe even Montreal Embassy only forum, so...sorry, eh?

On the 23rd of June, my visa status was updated as "Ready" visa the CEAC website Visa Application status check. I e-mailed the requirements for Packet 3 on the 1st of July. About five days following, I noticed a typing error in the e-mail that I had sent, and contacted the Montreal Embassy through their online inquiry form in regards to the error, asking if I needed to send it again or if I was okay to expect the Packet 4. They responded and said that my case was still in transit. This worried me, as the CEAC website had shown it to be "Ready". I waited, and checked the status again on the 8th of July and I noticed that the status still read "Ready" but the date had been updated from the 23rd of June, to the 8th of July.

My questions is... Do I reach out and contact the Embassy in regards to this update again, to see if they can send me Packet 4? Or do I just sit tight and wait? I feel like other VJ'ers who have gone through Montreal have seen a bit quicker turn around time than us and I am itching to schedule that interview so I can get the medical in order and finally have some sort of countdown to look forward to!

Perhaps a question that has answered itself, and if that's the case, I just need someone to tell me that they've been through the same thing, and everything worked out, or that I have screwed up and x,y,z are the steps to take.

Thank you in advance!

I'm trying to go back and read months of everything after wrongly posting and getting griped at in the other forum. I'm still lost. I feel like as an educated individual, I should be able to figure this stuff out but nothing is clear to me. I am afraid we have put the cart before the horse and made big mistakes. We received our NOA2 on June 18th. It left TSC on June 29th. My fiancé went and had his medical and police stuff completed at the clinic and police headquarter (uh oh...we didn't get a form!). He is supposed to go and pick up the medical results this week and the police documents on July 29th. On July 9th I got through to the NVC and they gave me a case number, but it's not being recognized yet. Did we mess up big time? The medical exam at the only approved clinic cost $250... NVC also said the embassy may be trying to call my fiancé, but he's deaf, so he won't get it. I think I wrote this on every form where it listed his contact, but I'm not sure...We also need to schedule our interview with a specific person who said he will conduct it in sign language. Any advice? Encouragement? PLEASE!

I am only able to help with a small part of your inquiry, as far as the case number goes...

I do believe that it is a glitch that your case number will not be recognized until it has been entered in to the system at the Embassy and has a status of "Ready". At least, ours wasn't. I wasn't able to enter it for a few days (felt like eons) and when I finally did, it said "No Status" for again, what felt like forever, until I received a status of "Ready". It has been at the "Ready" status since the 23rd of June and I haven't received any documents/communication from the Embassy yet. I'm not sure about your specific Embassy, it may be helpful to reach out to those who are dealing directly with them. I don't feel you've made any big mistakes! I know it's much easier said than done (just as it's much easier for me to give this advice than to heed my own...) but just breathe. Don't panic!

With that begin said, I have read that your the "6 month Visa clock" does start ticking once you receive the medical exam, but you may want to do more research on the validity of that as I could be totally incorrect.

I'm not sure about the Embassy calling your fiance, but if you've communicated on forms that they will not be able to contact him like that, I'm sure they can accommodate, I believe this to be true for the interview sign language requirements as well, but again, it'd be best to connect with those who have gone through your Embassy, or even inquire through the Embassy itself to put your mind at ease.

One way or another, we're all going to come out of this overwhelming, frustrating and stressful process on top! We'll be with our partners before we know it! Best of luck to you on the rest of your journey! I'm sorry that I couldn't be of any more assistance, I feel quite lost in this whole Visa world as well.

Good Day Lovelies!

I have a quick question...

On the CEAC website, my case status reads "READY", I submitted an inquiry in regards to "Packet 3" to MTL via their website and received an e-mail communication today that did not answer my inquiry, but instead told me that my case was still "In Transit" and that they would reach out to me with more information once it has been "received here at post". Should I be concerned? What does this mean? I just want to schedule the damn interview! AH!

Thank yooooou!

In addition to this; I just checked the CEAC website again, and my Visa (or case as I had referred to it previous) status still says "READY", however the date updated now reads July 8th, 2015. Is this good? Is this bad? It's doing my head in as I thought we were so close to the finish line and now it feels like we're not really moving too quickly. Halp!

Good Day Lovelies!

I have a quick question...

On the CEAC website, my case status reads "READY", I submitted an inquiry in regards to "Packet 3" to MTL via their website and received an e-mail communication today that did not answer my inquiry, but instead told me that my case was still "In Transit" and that they would reach out to me with more information once it has been "received here at post". Should I be concerned? What does this mean? I just want to schedule the damn interview! AH!

Thank yooooou!

They only had two dates left in July. If your status is at "ready"... get that packet 3 in! There were A LOT of August dates up!

I did it! I sent it off only moments ago! Ah! EXCITING! IT'S REAL! Hahah. Thank you for all of your help! You're a gem!

Well that was fast!! I used the inquiry form on Montreal's site around 1:30... I got a reply back at 3:48 telling me it was OK to schedule the interview and a link to packet 4!

YAY!!! That's awesome!! So there are interviews available through July?! I've been waiting to send Packet 3 until I heard about how your experience was - I am so excited for you! AH!

It took us a month, nearly to the day, to receive the hardcopy of the NOA-2.... We've not yet received any other hardcopies of any NVC notices or anything from the Montreal Consulate at all. So you're not alone!

We're at Montreal but we haven't heard anything from them at all yet. I got the packet 3 PDF from the website and just emailed it yesterday. Hopefully, he'll get packet 4 soon. But I heard that Montreal is one of the slowest so we'll see!

Any word on if the consulate received your Packet 3 e-mail? I am itching to send mine off before actually receiving anything from them (electronic or otherwise) but am apprehensive to do so. Please keep us all updated!

I agree and think we're all going through similar things right now. It blows my mind actually, because part of me really thought that the longer we were apart, and the closer we got to the end of this process, the easier it would become! When in fact, it's almost the opposite!

And the questions! My God!! Hahaha. "When's the wedding?!" "What do you mean you don't know!?" AHHHHH!

I keep having to explain to my fiancé that I'm sorry for being so bummed lately, but that I may just stress-pop an eyeball....

Congrats to all Octobers with recent approvals and welcome to the fun part!

This afternoon, our status on the CEAC website moved from "In Transit" to "READY"! YAAAAAAAAY!!! It's real! It's real!

My question is, what comes next? Anyone currently going through Montreal who can offer a little insight of what to expect?

I have been very transparent with my employer about my departure and the wonky timeline, but yesterday they asked if it would be okay to post my job opening to the public.... does anyone know what kind of timeline I'm looking at? I keep reading that Montreal isn't very speedy but I don't know where I would find real world data in regards to current processing (delay in visa issuing or not). And any search I make of VJ is giving me data from 2012...etc. I need to train my replacement and I have no idea what to tell my employer about how much time we're working with. I know that once I have my medical, the 6 month clock starts ticking, but I want to be with my fiancé as soon as possible after visa-in-hand (as I'm sure we all do!) and I've been very open with them about that. Basically, is August realistic? September? JULY!!? Hahaha.

The National Visa Center has forwarded your file to the US Embassy/Consulate where you are applying for an immigrant visa. Any other required fees must now be paid directly at the Embassy or Consulate at the time of your interview.

Please contact the US Embassy/Consulate if you have any questions. You can find the contact information by consulting this list of US Embassy/Consulate websites.

Is this as straightforward as it sounds? Hahaha. I just need someone to tell me its as simple as its laid out and I'm not under/over thinking anything....

used a Uhaul back in 2004.....U dont need form 3299 that is for UN-accompanied stuff.....just some kind of generic list, doesn't have to be super duper accurate...can group items together..99.9% of the time they do not even look at the truck!!

Regarding the U-haul truck--just found this out this passed month as we moved my dad from Saskatoon to Kamloops......depending on the size of ur city..u may have to travel a bit to get ur Uhaul truck! We had to drive 1.5 hrs to get ours...and the lady at th epiuck up spot--says sometimes one has to go even further!! They somewhat guarantee u a truck....but it could be a bigger truck and the pick up spot may be a ways out!! And the frustrating thing is they do not tel u that when u book the truck! My dad booked it in person and they told him it would be there.......I went a week before the pick up date and they then said.....oh it will be around Saskatoon, but it may be a bigger truck!! Well it was 1.5 hrs away...yes a bigger truck, which was a good thing....and they kept the rate at the 10 ft truck rate AND took nearly $300 off......Hopefully ur in a bigger city and no issues......I had no issues in 2004 and I was in a small town in NS.

Amazing, thank you so so much! Very helpful!

As we are gearing up to look in to the finer details of moving belongings across the US boarder on our own, is there anything I absolutely need to know before I start packing? I'm looking for fellow Canadians with experience moving their lives via U-Haul when entering on a K1! Help, please!

I found this via a Google search;

"Moving from Canada to the United States is a straightforward process, providing all of the necessary documentation is properly completed.

Your household goods and personal effects are permitted to enter the U.S.duty-free providing they have been in your possession and used by you for at least one year. Cautionary note - if you do not declare new items or understate the value of the items, U.S. Customs can confiscate the items and assess duties and a monetary penalty. If you will be making purchases of expensive items prior to your move you may want to compare the cost to purchasing the item(s) in the United States.

For Non-Residents:

• Completed 3299 Customs Form
• Work or Study Visa and Letter of Offer of Employment (if applicable)
• Valid Passport
• Copy of I94 form that US Customs inserts in your passport upon entry"

I'm shipping all my clothes/trinkets from BC to PA through FexEx Ground. Cheapest I have found surprisingly.

That is not a bad idea at all! I will definitely look in to that, thank you!

Thanks for passing along the info Allie. Here's to hoping it's fixed early next week.

Thanks JDWright. Mine has been reading the same and we have been following roughly the same timline from noa2 to embassy. I was getting the same error message, but when I saw this I checked mind right away and it was finally READY too!

What is this DHL tracking, and how does one access this? I want to track! I need something to refresh now that I know my case has left the NVC, I'm going bonkers!!

Also, silly question for any Canadians... are ya'll moving your belongings via ground transport? We want to drive my things across, but before I start packing my things (I have a lot of... trinkets... let's say... like a 1600 deep vinyl collection...) Are there any steps I need to take to make crossing the boarder easier? I've been Googling but I can only find companies who want me to play them $3000 to move...