Jenn1979

Just an update. I called back in early June, and was told that the NZ police certificate was now marked as being in the application and the application was in 'final review'. I have been calling weekly to get an update, and up until today (June 28th) there had been no response to the expedite request, and the NVC status was unchanged at 'final review'. When I called today I was told that I had not provided proof of eligibility to interview at Montreal. Proof of eligibility would be either a passport or birth certificate.

In my transfer request on May 10th I included my passport identification page as proof of citizenship and my transfer from the Auckland consulate to the Montreal was approved three days later. I now have a Montreal case number. My passport and birth certificate are also in the case file which I submitted in January, and I re-submitted my birth certificate at their request in March. I was advised to request supervisor review again (for the third time), and that the six-week clock would restart. I am beyond frustrated at this point.

My case was complete before I changed consulates, I was told when I called the NVC that they would just move my file from the queue for Auckland interviews to the queue for Montreal interviews, and there should not be any delay because they had not sent it to the Auckland consulate yet.

After I received my Montreal case number, I called the NVC, and they confirmed that my case was complete and I was just waiting for a Montreal interview. Now they say that my case is no longer complete, but have not given me any instructions on what to do. Should I apply for a new NZ certificate using the Montreal case number, or should I wait until they figure out what they need?

Ok, this is kind of a long story, and my timeline is not fully completed (I don't have all the dates with me), but here is our background:

My husband, Tim, is the petitioner, and is a USC. I am a Canadian citizen, and we have been married for 8 years, with two kids aged 2 and 5. Until February of this year we were all living in New Zealand, and that is where we filed from (priority date July 20, 2015). In order to satisfy the domicile requirement my husband got his job transferred from New Zealand to Seattle, where he moved to in March 2016. The kids and I are staying with my parents in Vancouver, Canada (so my husband can come up on weekends).

Ok, about our case. After sending all the documents to the NVC, received on January 6, 2016, we received an RFE on March 15, 2016. They asked for my birth certificate and our marriage certificate (both which were included in the original packet), as well as my New Zealand police certificate. I had applied for the New Zealand police certificate in December, and the US embassy in Auckland told me they sent it to the NVC in December. I called the NVC and was assured that because I don't get the certificate, and I had put through the application to Auckland, it was ok. I express resent the BC and marriage certificate copies to the NVC

Second RFE sent on April 20, 2016, again asking for the NZ police certificate. I contacted the Auckland embassy, they re-sent the background check, called the NVC and they referred it to a supervisor. I received a case complete on May 2nd. In my communication with the Auckland embassy, they said I needed to do the medical 2-3 weeks before the interview. Since I am caring for my children in Vancouver, this period of separation is not tenable, so on May 10th, I requested a change in embassy to Montreal. On May 13th, they gave me a Montreal case number.

May 16 I call the NVC, to make sure that everything is sorted, and they assured me my case was complete and I was just waiting for an interview slot.

This morning, I called the NVC again (seeing that some May case complete already had interviews scheduled on VJ), they said that the case was no longer complete, and that they were waiting on my NZ police certificate. The woman I spoke to referred my case to a supervisor, but said it may take six weeks for a supervisor to look at it.

I've applied for an expedite because my 5-year old needs to start school in late August, in Seattle, and this prolonged separation is creating financial and emotional hardship on our family and my children. I realize this is a weak reason, but I am hoping that they have some pity on us. Is there anything else I can do at this point?

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you so much for your reply. Did you get a new case number issued after the change? I am a bit worried because both the DS-260 bar code and the cover letter still reflect the old case number. would that be a source of confusion for the NVC? they are tooo slow to fix issues!!

When did you apply for your case change? I applied a week ago, and I received a notice saying that it will take 30 days! I hope it wont take that long!

I am also applying for MTL as my new consulate which accept electronic processing, but my old consulate do not. I am currently waiting on the document submission until I get the approval of the change request so that I can submit electronically. Is that right? or should I submit by mail and save some time?

Thank you again!

Hi Saved,

I did get a new case number after the change. I would probably wait for electronic processing given the option,I submitted all my documents by mail (old consulate didn't have EP), and they lost a couple, I imagine that electonic processing might be more reliable. I don't know how long it will take, a previous e-mail I sent was replied to within about two weeks, the latest after 3 days, so I guess it depends.

Hi guys,

I submitted my DS-260 online just before I realized that my request for consulate change was not yet processed. I am still waiting to here from the NVC about the change. Do you think I will need to resubmit another DS-260 since the old one has the old case number (old consulate letters).

Has anyone been in such situation? How long it takes to process consulatechange requests?

Thank you.

Hi Saved,

I think you have lots of time. We applied for a consulate change via e-mail after case complete, and it was approved three days later. I called the NVC before requesting the change and they said that as long as an interview hadn't been scheduled, the package hadn't been sent to the consulate, and it was still easy to change.

We had previously thought about changing the consulate, and they said it could take up to 30 days to respond to our e-mail. I would maybe call them every 2 weeks or so, and check on the status?

- Jennifer

I second mallafri76's comment, we sent our packet in the first week of January, I photocopied it all at the post office before mailing it. 75 days later they responded that we had not included my birth certificate or our marriage certificate, both of which I had included.

We express mailed new copies, and 45 days later they said we hadn't included my NZ police check, which goes directly to the embassy and the embassy had contacted me in December to say that they had it, and had forwarded a copy to the NVC. I contacted the embassy, and had them re-send it to the NVC, and finally got a case complete a couple of weeks ago.

Overall, they've delayed my case by more than 2 months by losing or misplacing documents that were sent to them (on top of the 75 days it took them to look at the packet in the first place).