aisha1109

Chicago filer here...filed 7/17. Biometric completed 8/8. Now....my husband and I wait....but we are not sure for how long. Any other chicago filer here who can chime in? 

i am so bored i dont know what to do. all i do is working out,  cook, eat and talk to my friends back home (canada)

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@FERBOS@SSeb

Sorry for posting here so late!

We got the visa in 7 weeks. Husband came through POE June 10th with no issues, and we got married June 17th. Now we are working on AOS and will send out application in the next few days. I will update my timeline soon so you guys can use as a reference.

I hope your visa petitions are going well! If you haven't received your visa yet, you will soon. Stay strong.

2 hours ago, TLC333 said:

Someone we know had similar experience.  She's a neutralized Canadian citizen and was born in Asia.  She had a degree in science related discipline.  When she went for her K1 VISA interview, the consular officer requested resume and transcripts and kept her passport.  It has been more than two months since she submitted her resume and transcripts, and she is still waiting. 

 

She highly recommends any neutralized Canadian citizens to bring their resume, transcripts, Canadian immigration documents,  other important documents issued by place of birth.  

Hi TLC333!

Thank you for posting. Do you know when this person had her interview and when the documents were submitted? Any additional information you can provide would be super helpful! 

My guess is that since they kept the passport they will send the visa soon. 

Thanks,

A

3 hours ago, R.Q. said:

Thanks for posting this and let us know how it goes @aisha1109

 

I’m in the same boat. Non-Canada born Canadian citizen. I also have pre-Med and Medicine as educational background. I will definitely have my school transcripts and resume ready before the interview.

Hi R.Q -

Will keep you posted!

Its been 2.5 weeks and so far the case tracker has been updated a few times but that's about it. I have actually found a few cases where this has happened to people who interviewed at the Montreal Embassy in the last two years and they received a visa in 1-2 months.

On a side note, I wasn't able to find anything on Visajourney about non canadian born canadian citizens having longer processing times. I found someone with dual citizenship approved on the spot in Montreal getting passport same time as everyone else sooo...I don't know how much a real factor this is.  

I wish you the best of luck in your interviews! PM me if you have any direct questions. 

Thanks,
A

22 minutes ago, Ontarkie said:

His education,  work history, and that he is not a born Canadian is requiring extra background checks.  If people from Pakistan normally have long AP's then you can expect that to add to Montreal's time. 

 

On top of that Montreal is notoriously slow when it comes to additional information being sent in. 

 

Ps. they are slow for even Canadian born applicants that need to send in additional info. The education and work history is always looked at more in depth regardless of country if it's one like your fiance's.

34 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

Since you haven't had a response yet. I can't say for sure but it could be to check and see if it is indeed just "physics" or if there was some underlying training of chemicals/nuclear stuff. Hard to say again, sometimes they ask for other documents depending on the information given to them even though, like you said, it wasn't 'required' for the interview itself.

Thank you for the advice!! My Fiance has never had a career in Physics, just schooling. He has worked in IT /Telecomm business for last 7 years which has nothing to do with Physics.

Would you say 6-8 weeks is an accurate time frame then to expect the passport back or would you say longer than that even?

Thanks!

Hi All-- 

My fiance is a naturalized Canadian citizen but originally born in Pakistan and I ( the petitioner) am a born US citizen. My fiance and I had our K1 interview after 11 months of waiting on March 21, 2018.  In the embassy we provided all the documents and patiently waited for the interview which we thought was going to be easy since we have been together 3.5 years and should be able to answer any interview questions. 

Things did not go as expected. Fiancé got asked tons of questions about himself, about us, and about the documents we brought in a very business like way. She also asked him where he worked and what he did when he was in Pakistan ( which was 11 years ago) and he said he did his masters in Physics. Instead of approving us, she gave the 221g form asking for my fiance's resume and masters transcripts. My fiancé didn't ask any questions. He was polite and said ok no problem, he will mail the documents right away. The officer asked him if he needed the passport anytime soon, and my fiance said no so the officer kept it. 

Even though my fiance mailed the documents March 22nd,  masters transcripts and resume are not required. Does anyone have any insight as to why this happened or if this is something we should worry about? 

The sheet of paper we got says 6-8 weeks. Is this an accurate estimate? Any and all advice here is helpful. 

Thanks, 

A

@Trinab80OMG Congratulations!! I'm so so so so so so so so happyy for you and Reni!!! I always felt terrible when you wrote about how much of a hard time you are having. Now you can finally enjoy and move on in this process! God bless both of you.

4 hours ago, tpmd said:

I just arrived in the US 

 

POE Philadelphia. They didn't ask me a single question, I just had to go sit in the secondary screening room while they checked through my docs. I sat there for about 15 mins, then my name was called, he handed me my passport and said "good luck, you have 90 days." That was it!

Congratulations!! Hooray!! I wish you and your future spouse the best of luck in your future lives together.

On 3/21/2018 at 7:13 AM, Maria1989 said:

Who would have ever imagined ??? Like after sitting 9 months at USCIS, nope not enough..... smack them down again. 

 

I can imagine you getting the same extra extra scrutiny because of the denied POE, extra background and security checks, they just not saying it. 

 

Smh back to the waiting game 😢

i totally feel you girl. I went to the interview with my fiance who is Pakistani muslim and while we didn't get the same form we got the 221g asking for more info. Not knowing how long you have to wait after waiting this long is such a terrifying situation. I feel like my world is falling apart. 

We sent over the documents requested right away and they kept his passport. I am trying to stay positive but I haven't slept eaten or slept well since the interview day two days ago. We overnighted the documents ( masters degree transcripts in physics from pakistan and his resume - he has only ever had a job in technical support ) and now..for us to its back to the waiting game. 

I am praying all of this proceeds quickly for all those in a similar boat. 

This whole thing just sucks...

Hi All, 

My fiance is naturalized Pakistani Canadian. He  had his interview in Montreal on March 21st. We had all the documents and during the interview he was asked a lot of questions. Fiance answered all the questions politely. The officer also asked to see our photos, asked him to identify people in the photo's etc. One of the last questions she asked was what he did in Pakistan and he said he got his Masters in Physics. In the end she gave the 221g to him asking for masters degree transcripts and resume. He got his Masters in physics in 2007 but never pursued a career in this field. He came to Canada afterwards and went to school for accounting. Then he dropped out half way and has been working in desktop and phone support ever since. 

The lady officer kept his passport and told him to just mail in the 2 things 1) his transcripts for his masters and 2) his resume to the consulate. 

Unfortunately, just the fact that he is Pakistani born probably would have put him under longer administrative processing anyways but now I am freaking out, out of mind as to when we are going to get out of this black whole. The paper we got says 6-8 weeks but I don't know if this is going to take months and months and months after waiting almost a year to get this far...and its just terrifying. 

We have been living apart for more than 3 years now and I never thought this would happen since its a real relationship. Please pray for us guys that this nightmare ends for us very soon. All your prayers are much appreciated. 

Thank you and God Bless. 

Our interview is scheduled March 21st. We could have scheduled sooner but because of work we scheduled our interview 5 weeks out. I have all the documents ready to go, just need to make copies of a few things and that's about it. I am the petitioner but I will be flying to Montreal on the 20th. I already gave originals to my fiance too just in case I can't make it. 

Now I'm just waiting for D-Day to arrive and the anxiety is killing me. I am really afraid of administrative processing and how long that can take. Does anyone know possible reasons why people can be stuck in AP or receive 221g? Do people know they are getting 221g at the time of the interview or is it a surprise when you get it in the mail/email?

Thanks! 

17 hours ago, Dustinm9 said:

Hi all,

 

I've been reading back thru and I'm not sure if anyone has a thought. My NOA2 came in and then I got my case number. On Feb 9 my NVC case changed to say "Ready" so I sent my documents off to the Montreal Consulate even though I haven't received a Packet 3 letter. They replied:

 

Now I see my case was updated at NVC on Feb 15, but I still haven't received a Packet 3. Do I send my materials again, or do I wait for the letter? If there's a better forum for this, please let me know. Thanks so much.

Hey! My timeline is up to date and as you can see it took us a while to get packet 3 which we got on 2/9 via email. Our case first said ready 2/2. On 2/9 Our Ceac tracker updated again and that's when we got packet 3. Our packet 4 came 2 business days later. Good Luck! 

so our case went to ready status on feb 2nd and we just submitted packet 3 today and got the same email you guys got. Thanks @eastcoastgroove for the info. above. I guess I will just have to continue to hang tight. Man, what a process...

On 1/29/2018 at 4:01 PM, MariaB Soria said:

my ceac tracker shows my case still at NVC... usually how long does it take for the status to change to in transit

Mine still shows at NVC since Monday. I plan on calling NVC today to ask for a status update as well as email them to see how long it takes to leave for embassy. I saw other timelines for Montreal which left next day but I also know it can depend on embassy. 

3 hours ago, D and T said:

Oh, awesome! Congratulations!!!

 

I can't wait to read your interview review! Thanks in advance for posting it.

 

  My case has been at NVC since Jan 24, still waiting for case number. 

 

Looks like it took two months between your Packet 4 and your interview? Is it taking two months to book an interview at Montreal now?

My NVC received was 1/18 and I got a case number 1/29. Hope that helps

40 minutes ago, Cm6307 said:

I think it depends on the country. Seems like countries that do the fully electronic cases (seems like Canada and Brazil) are taking almost 2 weeks to generate the number. 

Thank you! This was very helpful. Looks like my timeline is behind yours by a week in terms of received date. Good Luck on the rest of your journey! 

Is it ok if I ask when you scheduled your interview for? I heard interviews were available about 3 weeks out in Montreal. 

NOA 2 Dec 6 ( on letter) Dec 7 on app notification 

NVC Receive 1/18

As of 1/24 still no case number but the guy on the phone said I should have it by Friday most likely. 

I checked the google spreadsheet and it shows many people got their case number same day. Is that correct or did many people just not update? Just trying to get average number of days it takes to get NVC number. I know for some it legit to took same day or 2-3 days which is amazing. However, not sure if the actual average is 2 weeks like NVC told me. 

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks! 

Hey guys, 

I am working on the I-134 and have a question on #38. How are you guys answering this question? I read online you can leave it blank as it applies for tourists but thought to check in with you guys as well. 

I have a theory as to what is happening. My thought is that end of October cases were not the only cases shipped to NVC but probably ones from early to mid-November as well. My reason is because prior files were sent to NVC in a shorter amount of time. Unless they are actually processing withheld case files for the entirety of 6 weeks ( highly doubt this because turnaround time was as short as 10 days for early approvals prior to delays) USCIS waited until they had approval cases from end of October to sometime in November ready to go before shipping them off. NVC is now probably methodically going through the shipment starting from oldest to newest and that's why people are getting nvc numbers these days. I just don't think end of October approvals will be the only ones as USCIS will eventually need to back to its normal processing times. Does this make sense? I could be totally wrong as well but I just thought I'd share. 

Hey guys,  I am starting to compile all the documents needed for packet 3. I bought a binder, clear heavy duty sheet protectors , and divider sheets to organize all my documents. After compiling 75% of the stuff, I realized this may not be the most efficient way to display documents for the interview. I don't like file folders because I'm afraid of documents falling out. Any suggestions guys on how to organize all the doc's? The lawyer did it for us when we submitted the petition originally. I need something to focus on so I am putting it together for the interview. 

Any and all suggestions/ideas are much appreciated! Thank you! 

6 minutes ago, TeeSam said:

day 211 here with no RFE....just flapping in the wind. Called my lawyer who became very aggressive and defensive when I asked if he could call USCIS on my behalf to see if will help. I guess I won't be calling him back ever again. I would never recommend him to ANYONE! I just want this process to be over so my fiancée and I can move on with our lives. I had high hopes of an approval before Christmas but I guess I was wrong. This process is very stressful and draining. I did get an email saying:

 

According to our records, your petition is assigned to an officer and under review. While we are unable to predict a specific date by which a decision will be rendered in your case, you will receive further correspondence in due course.

 

Respectfully,

Officer TX 0449

USCIS California Service Center

So basically telling me nothing  

 

1 minute ago, Trinab80 said:

I'm sorry you are having a poor experience with your lawyer. However, you do have to stay in contact with him if he's the one listed on your petition as your "representative" and he's the one that filed the petition on your behalf. Because when USCIS sends your approval/RFE, they will be sending it him since you opted to use a lawyer to file on your behalf. USCIS will only mail the NOA2 to the petitioner who is filing the petition or the person filing on the behalf of the petitioner.

 

Someone else on VJ used a lawyer and had no idea that the NOA2 was already mailed to her lawyer almost 2 weeks after her calling to find out because he filed on her behalf, the NOA2 was mailed to his office.

 

But I'm understand your frustration - I'm still waiting too (211 days and counting)

I am not sure if this helps, but in my case my lawyer and I both received Notice of Action Letters in the Mail so NOA1, RFE Letter, and NOA2 were mailed to both of us. However, it looks like this might not happen for every instance. 

21 minutes ago, eastcoastgroove said:

I-134 for the K1 Interview and then the I-864 for when you apply for your green card after getting married (AOS).

Thank you! I just read your interview experience and it was super helpful! I feel very re-assured. 

Just now, eastcoastgroove said:

I was divorced as well and they did not ask for my old marriage certificate in Montreal (I did order a certified copy though, just incase they did). He will just need his divorce certificate.  You can read about my interview experience on my timeline if you'd like.  

Thank you so much! Super helpful. I honestly think its the Montreal Embassy website that's not clear or updated. I think they used to have one check list for K1 and K3 Visa and now even though its separate, they didn't edit the list or they are using same list CR-1; not sure. 

The site also says to file I-864 affidavit of support but then the checklist shows I-134. Which one did you file? 

Hey guys, 

I was looking at Packet 3 for Montreal and it says we need marriage certificates. I saw it before and didn't think it applied to us. Now I am wondering if it means marriage certificate for past marriages. My Canadian fiance has been married before but no longer has marriage certificate. Did any of you come across this requirement for embassy interview by any chance? I found some old vj threads and found that original divorce documents are sufficient. I sent an inquiry at the embassy too but haven't received a response yet. Any answers you guys can provide would be super helpful. 

I also checked department of state website and for K1 the requirements do not show marriage certificates just divorce decrees. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/nonimmigrant-visa-for-a-fiance-k-1.html#6

Thanks! 

can someone please post the packet 3 checklist? My visa got approved but I just want to prepare for upcoming documentation. 

My concern is if we need marriage certificates of previous marriages or if divorce decrees are fine. 

Thanks!