knowbody

My wife had her interview today in Montreal - we DCF'ed back in June. She was approved and had no problems due to the new law B)

Hope this all gets sorted out very quickly for those who DCF'ed after July 27.

yeah, that's the thing... it's ok though... just finding out whatever i can, wherever i can

I was told the entire process takes 6-8 months from the time the I-130 is approved in early June. I believe Montreal is quite a bit behind WRT CR-1 interviews.

Well...not sure how much help this will be but....generally when filing for a K-1 the USC has to at least have a U.S. address. That's part of the K-1. Not sure about this but couldn't you and your fiancé file DCF in Canada? Just a thought....

Just looked up what a DCF is

My situation is that I accepted a job back in the States last week to begin on August 1. Hmm...it might be kinda hard to get a marriage license, married, the marriage certificate, and a consulate interview before then. With all of the problems with I-129Fs, this might actually be the way to go

The annoying part about this is that as far as I can tell, there's nothing in the I-129F form stating that I cannot apply from abroad. There's most definitely a section stating that K1s cannot be submitted to consulates but it should not matter where I live.

I'm with the DCF crowd---you are in the long slow line for your situation.

As for your 'missing' NOA, I think you're reading too much in to the lack of response. It's been taking 4+ weeks to get first NOAs delivered lately.

Check out the DCF Canada pinned post in the DCF Forum here.

Got the marriage license yesterday and we're getting married on Sunday. Add a couple of weeks to get the marriage certificate and we'll be ready for the U.S. Consulate I-130 application. That being said, I was told yesterday at the Calgary consulate it takes 6-8 months to go through the interview process at Montreal right now. Guess it's better than the uncertainty associated with K1s though.

I am a US Citizen (and dual Canadian Citizen) and live with my Canadian wife in British Columbia. We

took the plunge today and filed our I-130 petition for Her thru the Vancouver Consulate. It was approved!

Here is our story:

We are employed by a Canadian company doing catering and providing housing for various companies in the oil and gas industry. I had previously been with this company providing civilian services to the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan. When I returned last fall from overseas, we decided to pursue work with our company whereby we could be together.

Our company won contracts in the Western US recently, and they asked us to be part of this project, providing camps to oil companies in Wyoming. This would be a long term employment situation, so I decided to find the best way to get my wife the proper papers to come down to the US after I go there.

We settled on the DCF method, hence our trip to Vancouver US consulate to start the process.

We arrived at the consulate and were searched twice. One thing I would note to all who come there to do the same thing, would be to leave all electronic devices in the car, including cell phones, calculators, etc. They even found my travel alarm in my brief case, and I just tossed it in the garbage, rather than walk all the way back to our parking garage!

Also, these type of petitions are done on a walk in basis between 8 am and noon on Mondays and Fridays only!!

After two thorough searches and metal detectors, we were ushered to the 20th floor of the Consulate and presented to the information window. We showed our paperwork and documents, and were taken to another room to wait our turn. After 30 minutes, we were called to a window, and our petition and documents were inspected again. We were given a slip and asked to go to the cashier window to pay the $190 fee. They take cash (US prefered) or credit card. After paying, we were asked to report back to the first window, and after a couple of minutes, we were taken to another window for another inspection of our documents and asked a few questions about our situation, such as place of birth, our place of residence, and marriages past and present. They did ask that my wife get the long form birth certificate showing Her parents signatures, rather than the pocket size birth certificate, before doing the final interview in Montreal

Then we were sent back to the first window, and told that our petition was approved and will be sent to the Montreal Consulate General. They will send the packets to us for completion, and then my wife will go to Montreal for the interview. They had no idea how long the process would take. Anyone else know??

The staff was extremely courteous and low key in their questioning, despite being very busy due to the previous Monday holiday here in Canada backing things up. (Note they only take walk in petitions on Mondays and on Fridays)

Now I will head to the US to start the new assignment, and my wife will wait until the process is complete.

Thanks to the very helpful tips and shared experiences in this group, and I hope the above will help those about to embark on similar experiences.

Lynnmatic

I went into the Calgary consulate today to ask a few questions about the I-130. They said the current processing time was 6-8 months in Montreal.

Now I have a question for you. On the I-130, what did you put down for the "Address in the United States where your relative intends to live" question (18)? I'm struggling with this one as I just accepted a job in Washington state and know the city I'll be living in, but definitely not the full address yet.

Well...not sure how much help this will be but....generally when filing for a K-1 the USC has to at least have a U.S. address. That's part of the K-1. Not sure about this but couldn't you and your fiancé file DCF in Canada? Just a thought....

Just looked up what a DCF is

My situation is that I accepted a job back in the States last week to begin on August 1. Hmm...it might be kinda hard to get a marriage license, married, the marriage certificate, and a consulate interview before then. With all of the problems with I-129Fs, this might actually be the way to go

The annoying part about this is that as far as I can tell, there's nothing in the I-129F form stating that I cannot apply from abroad. There's most definitely a section stating that K1s cannot be submitted to consulates but it should not matter where I live.

I'm having problems getting my NOA1 - the documents were received April 26 and I haven't received anything yet - and am wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation. I'm a US citizen and have lived in Canada for the past couple of years. In as such, I do not have a US address to receive mail at and my "intended physical address" is listed as my parents home. Unfortunately for me, USCIS sent my NOA1 to the intended physical address (rather than my Canadian address I gave them) which is in a rural area where mail is not delivered (everything is done through post office boxes).

After worrying for weeks why the NOA1 never arrived, I finally brokedown last week and called the USCIS hotline only to find all of this out. I gave the operator my Canadian address AGAIN as well as my parent's mailing address. She gave me my receipt number and for the past week my case status has been the following:

On May 16, 2006, the card or document we had mailed to the applicant was returned by the post office as undeliverable. To update

your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

Well yesterday I sent the California service center an email to confirm my Canadian address as the address they're sending my NOA1 to. Also, I asked if they did not; just confirm it was being sent to my parent's address. The response I got back was a one line statement saying they will not mail to non-U.S. addresses

So I call up the service center again to see if they have ANY correct address for me. The woman cut me off saying I "already spoke with an officer today...blah...blah...blah...and she couldn't help me at all" and hung up I did not in fact speak with ANY DHS officer today.

Has anyone else here been in a similar situation to me (applying from abroad that is) and if so, did you have any problems? I hope to god I don't have to bother my congressmen/senators with this.

I called USCIS today about not receiving my NOA1 for an I-129F which arrived at the California Service Center in late April (an entirely different issue). I asked about the affects IMBRA had on my application and was told something along the lines of "there is no need for me to request a background check from the FBI on myself and that DHS will handle everything". I got the impression USCIS will not be sending additional packets or new I-129Fs to current applicants. Instead it sounds like they'll just get criminal histories from other government organizations... I hope this really is the case