Toronto88

Thank you kellyh for sharing this. I truly appreciate it. Good luck with this process and the delivery!  

I can give you this update so far...
 
-  I am scheduled to cross POE today, September 27th.
-  I sent my travel information on Thursday, September 21st.  In my initial email, I said something like, 'Pending the arrival of my passport, these are my travel plans.'  This prompted them to reply on Friday, September 22nd, wanting to confirm my definite travel plans.  I replied right away, on September 22nd, confirming that those were my definite travel plans.
-  My passport was mailed on Monday, September 25th.
-  My passport has not yet arrived.  The Canada Post tracking number has not been updated since Monday.  I have run around to my local post offices who have confirmed that my passport will not be delivered today.  I have sent two emails to the consulate (one yesterday afternoon and one today) and have not yet received instructions as to how I should proceed.
 
This is a very frustrating process, as it looks like there is a chance I will have to pay for a new flight.  I am also not sure how this will affect my landing process.  My husband is trying to call the consulate from the U.S. (they no longer take phone calls for immigrant visa issues -- only U.S. citizens can speak to someone via telephone at the consulate).
 
I will keep you all posted regarding how it plays out.

Here is the email I got when I emailed the State Department.  Hopefully it can answer your questions:
 
Good Morning,
 
The U.S. Consulate General in Montreal is piloting a project where immigrant visa applicants are supposed to travel without any immigrant visa packet. Once the immigrant visa is issued, we will place it in your passport and return the passport via courier services.
 
Your Visa has been issued, in order to finalize your visa application we need your definite travel plans, please submit the following by using this email:
  
·         Date of Travel
·         Are you traveling by Bus/Train/Air if you travel by air we will need Flight number and Airline information.
·         City/ Province of departure
·         City/State of Arrival
·         Final Destination
 
Once we received this information we will be able to mail your passport via our courier services. 
You will receive the passport without an immigrant visa packet. We will contact the U.S. Immigration Authorities at the port of entry of your choice and inform them of the “no-packet” process, in order to facilitate your entry into the USA.

Perhaps many of you know this already, but I wanted to give this advice to anyone filing through Canada who will cross POE using the new electronic pilot program.
 
I was approved for my IR1 visa on September 14th.  The interviewer told me that I would need to email my travel information to an email address provided (he was very nice, but would not take the travel information at the time of the interview).  I think he and I had a miscommunication, because he advised me not to pay for a flight before receiving my visa and passport via courier.  I mistakenly took this to mean not to make travel plans until I received my visa and passport.
 
I waited a full week without receiving so much as a notice that my passport had been shipped.  Finally, I sent an email to the address that had been provided to me and learned that, for individuals crossing POE under the pilot project, passports and visas will not be shipped until travel plans are confirmed and emailed to the State Department.
 
Needless to say, I waited a week for nothing!  It pushed my timeline back unnecessarily and caused some minor scheduling issues regarding dogsitting, etc.
 
I just wanted to let you know, because it was not made clear to me at the interview, that you must make travel plans before they will mail your visa.  You cannot wait until you have your passport in hand.
 
My visa was shipped within one business day of providing my travel plans, and they estimate it takes 1-2 business days for delivery.

Medical is good for 6 months and the visa will be dated from the medical date.  So if you have your medical sept 4 but don't have the interview until dec 4, youve just cut the visa validity by 3 months, for example. 

Toronto, it was almost like giving away a million dollars. We had worked so hard to get that date and the thought of just "missing it" then figuring out how to reschedule instilled anxiety and fear so I let it go.
 
But if it fits your situation, I say go for it and good luck!

Some good news for those of us who have been waiting for interview dates in Montreal!
 
My "Case Complete" date was June 22, 2017.  I saw today that my status had changed from "At NVC" to "In Transit" so I called NVC... interview is scheduled for September 14th!
 
Good luck to everyone who is still waiting.

Nice, congrats! 

I received a private message about the courier service so I wrote about my case here. 
 
This is how I went through that courier part. 
 
First I saw someone mentioned about choosing a courier service on CEAC upload forum. And I looked into it and found more info on CEAC website. 
 
There's a website where you can choose your courier service. It's only by Canada post and you have two options; pick up by yourself at a post office or get it delivered paying $20 or $30.
 
Once you go to the website, you can follow the instruction. I did follow it, set the courier service, and got it confirmed. However, on the interview date, a receptionist asked me if I did that but it didn't show on their system. 
 
She gave a sheet explaining the address of the website, how to do, where to contact in case there's an issue. 
 
After the interview, I followed that instruction again (basically did what I did in the past)
 
The problem was that my interview date was written wrong on a confirmation page after setting up the courier service. It was written 2020 instead of 2017. 
I found it odd at first but didn't care too much about it without knowing that could causs a problem with the courier service. 
After the interview, I emailed them to correct the interview date and got a response right away. 
So if you find a same error, correct it before going to the interview. 
 
The website is 
www.ais.usvisa-info.com/en-CA/iv
 
I wish you best luck!!

Hi @nadiah27 Posting you in this forum as you'll be doing CEAC upload.  Here you can learn all about it.. Please sift through every page on this forum. Lots of great info here.
 
Good luck. 

Not sure if I'm the first here to share my experience crossing over the boarder under the new system here, but.....
 
I was supposed to fly on Friday July 14 at night. However, due to weather related issues, my flight was cancelled and rescheduled to Saturday July 15.
If something like this happens to you, call the POE and notify them about the flight change with the new flight information (mainly they will need the flight number). I tried emailing Montreal embassy and even calling all the numbers that I had on file, but no one responded in a mannerly time.
 
When I landed in Newark airport (EWR), I was greeted at the gate by a customs official. He escorted me to the flight attendants lane because he knew that normal customs officials wouldn't have any idea about this system. When I was up, they customs guy behind the desk asked for my immigration packet. But the other official that got me told him that I was under this new system and didn't have it. The guy behind the desk looked confused but after explaining it, he got the point. He took my fingerprints and took a picture of me for verification and then stamped my passport and gave it back to me. The official that picked me up informed the guy behind the desk and the lady that was in the desk next to him that if any of us that had similar status came through, to look at the annotation notes on the visa that was stamped on the passport. It says "IV documents in CCD". That means everything is scanned and uploaded to their database. The official that picked me up said that normally they would take us to the back to verify our medical records, but since I came a day later, he went ahead and verified it with me. Also, he mentioned that if I plan on going back to Canada prior to receive the actual green card, they might take us to the back to verify everything, if the agent has any doubts. 
 
I went back to Canada the next day with my US car, which was a fun experience explaining to the customs guy at the Canadian border why I had an american car as a Canadian citizen. 
 
I hope this helps anyone in the future and if it needs to be stickied, mods please do so.

Firstly, @Min & Mark and @pdc29
 
Thank you both for your input. It truly means a lot to ask someone else in this process! So thank you! 
 
We have decided to fly the beneficiary into Toronto, where her sister lives, for 1 day to do medical, End of JULY. Literally flying into Toronto in AM, leaving in PM. Bathurst doc there will allow her sister to pick up medical so it will be in family hands and overnighted to us back to Winnipeg.
 
Then, together we are flying into MTL (for her support, I will join) to spend the weekend and have interview Monday morning in August. 
 
This way, as @Min & Mark pointed out, we will have medical in hands in plenty of time so we will not have to worry about that while in MTL. I highly suggest those of you that come after us devise a plan as soon as you can! As getting the medical scheduled has been the most difficult time constraint! (Traditional process has known months before you, therefore they have had time to plan their medical accordingly)
 
@mohsaab @vbjohn @Koalaem ,  start from the beginning and read the previous members experience with new system before you start! It will help you understand the process and any little side hiccups you may approach! All your questions above will be in the previous pages! That way you do not have to wait for anyone to reply to your question! Go back and read to answer some questions.

I know how they don't make it easy for you. I live in Alberta and I had to suck up the 10 days in Montreal. Mind you, Montreal is a very beautiful city, but it is ridiculously expensive! Anyways, I had my interview booked for July 7. I immediately called Medisys to see if I can have an appointment closer to the interview date, they only had an opening for June 29. I called a week before I booked the flight to see if they have a cancellation, but they didn't, I had to fly on June 28 because there are no flights available then for me to fly on the 29th and make it in time for my appointment. I booked an apartment on AirBnB which is close to Medisys and US Consulate which cost me more than 1k.
I did some research on what if I book the medical in Vancouver and fly to Montreal. I also tried booking a flight to Montreal to get my medical done, come back to Alberta then fly back to Montreal the day before my interview. If I took any of those routes, I would only be saving max of $200.00 which to me is not worth the sweat of flying back and forth. 
And it being close to Canada Day, I know I the prices would be higher (flights and accommodation).
 
One of the biggest thing I think when you get there is to find an apartment or a hotel that has a kitchenette. I went to the grocery store and I cooked my meals so, I did not have to eat out every single day I was there. You know how eating out easily adds up! Also, if you don't mind finding an accommodation farther to downtown Montreal, then just take a bus to where you intend to go which might save you a bit of money. Do some research and play around with your flights and accommodation and see what fits for you. I feel that this part of the journey costs a lot of money, but at the end, it will all be worth it! Goodluck! 

Long story short, my birth certificate was rejected and I uploaded a letter saying I've ordered it and will bring it to the interview and if they could expedite the process as my wife was due in August.  The very next day it was approved and a few days later I got an interview date. 

Check your status randomly on the CEAC website. I did forget to mention that I was constantly checking that and it changed to In Transit. When I emailed them, they said that they scheduled it and should be receiving an email later.
 
Also, I don't think I mentioned this in my review, but they did ask for a photocopy of my wife's US passport. Have that because the lady did mention that normally everyone forgets it. You could say it's for browny points

After finishing my interview last Tuesday, I received my passport back in the mail on Thursday.
This is the point at which people using the old process would have received their "do not open" envelope to take with them to the border, but all I got back was my passport with the visa.
The visa has an annotation saying "IV Documents in CCD".
 
I also received an email telling me that I need to pay the "USCIS Immigrant Fee" ($220 USD).
The instructions on how to pay were a bit confusing because it mentions that I need to log onto a website and  "Enter your A-Number and DOS Case ID. You will find your Alien Number and DOS Case I.D. Number attached to the front of your Visa Package which is being mailed to you."  
 
Obviously I didn't receive a visa package because of the new process, but I eventually figured out the numbers I needed were also on the visa document itself, as mentioned on this page under the "Visa Stamp" section: https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/immigrant-fee-payment-tips-finding-your-number-and-dos-case-id
 

I also didn't get a welcome email. Just called NVC and as soon as I got the case number and invoice number I paid my fees.
fees took 2-3 days to post. Then you can go back in and start uploading.
ADVISE: When uploading use only INTERNET EXPLORER. And upload one document page at a time. Believe me not knowing this caused my a 10 day delay.
Be prepared to log back in several times as the website kicks you out constantly, it is a frustrating thing because logging back in is annoying. But keep at it! Much love to all of you. Your comments are so helpful when the system can be so un-helpful 💕

Toronto,
Yes, ONE PAGE AT A TIME, it's a pain in the butt when your tax return is 36 pages long...
Why are people avoiding August interviews? Just curious.

I think that is apart of the old system.
 
As soon as I got access to the website, I found that there were two sections (Financial and civil) were you upload your documents. They already have specific documents that you need to upload.
 
I got an email from the Montreal embassy last week telling me to bring in a list of the originals of some of the documents that I submitted.

I managed to upload all pages of my documents at once as a PDF, as long as it was under 2 MB.
I was lucky that the scanner/copier at work could take my 13 page AoS document and somehow give me a readable 400 KB PDF file.
 
I found that it let me re-download the 'civil documents' to check that they worked, but wouldn't let me view the aos and supporting documents.

I also was able to upload as one document. 
 
There was a website called smallpdf or something like that, which will shrink your PDF. But you can only do 3 at a time and then wait 1 hour. 

true.. didn't think of that

Hope so!

Update:
Well, just received an email reply this morning. Not much help since I've already gone through the detailed instructions in Packet 4.
Will have to try and call the Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service again and hopefully someone else on the other line would be able to help instead of telling me to miss my appointment and reschedule after.
 
Hello,
 
Thank you for your inquiry.
 
The date and time of your appointment have been carefully selected for you.
 
We strongly recommend that you attend your interview, since there is a waiting time of a few months to re-schedule. While we are sympathetic to your situation, given the staffing situation and volume of visa cases we have, and the fact that the interview schedule is already set, we cannot reschedule in order to meet a specific date. 
 
However, if you are unable to attend the appointment that has been given to you, you may re-schedule your interview at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal.
Detailed instructions about how to re-schedule an appointment and get the required medical exam are available here https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Supplemental/MTL - Montreal.pdf
The document includes the list of panel physicians accredited to perform medical exam in Canada. Since the medical examination has a limited validity, it needs to be performed closer to the interview date.
 
Any questions about scheduling/re-scheduling the appointment or any issues with the website of our appointment services contractor should be reported directly to the Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service using the contact details here https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-CA/iv/information/contact_us
 
Section 203(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires that an application be canceled and any petition for be canceled if the applicant does not apply for an immigrant visa within one year of being advised to do so.
 
We hope that this information is helpful in replying to your inquiry.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
 
Regards,
 
OP03
Correspondence Unit
US Consulate General in Montreal
 

Well at least you have documentation from the consulate telling you to follow the instructions of the US visa people.  If you have written documentation from the other guys so you can completely cover your butt that would be good.  At least you can say "see this is exactly what you said to do!"