DGF

From all I have read, no reason to be concerned. This represents a waiver granted to you for not having received all the necessary vaccines. The waiver is granted because the doctor determines it is not required for you.
 
You mentioned you didn't get Varicella. My understanding is the requirement for varicella was waived because you had chicken pox as a child and hence the vaccine was determined by your doctor to not be required for you.
 
@harshshah
 
Note - The FAQ also says this would not cause any issue at POE.

FAQ has been updated with a timeline for visa issuance after DS-5535 if anyone is curious (only 1 timeline so far which took ~45 days).

The consulate tells the NVC how many interview slots they have available and the NVC fills those with the list of people in DQ order (or at least that's how it's supposed to work). This is the NVC's problem. Good luck, hopefully escalating to a senator will help!
 
If it is not possible to get a document (which it seems that it is not from other's posts) that will be accepted. I'm not entirely sure what needs to be done, but I don't think it requires a waiver. I think you just need to show that you did everything in your power to get the PCC. If possible, getting a letter from the Indian consulate or police saying the PCC cannot be obtained would likely go a long way. 

The consulate tells the NVC how many interview slots they have available and the NVC fills those with the list of people in DQ order (or at least that's how it's supposed to work). This is the NVC's problem. Good luck, hopefully escalating to a senator will help!
 
If it is not possible to get a document (which it seems that it is not from other's posts) that will be accepted. I'm not entirely sure what needs to be done, but I don't think it requires a waiver. I think you just need to show that you did everything in your power to get the PCC. If possible, getting a letter from the Indian consulate or police saying the PCC cannot be obtained would likely go a long way. 

Just got my passport back and paid my green card fees! Car is packed and baby girl and I are on our way to reunite with daddy! ❤️

FAQ has been updated with a timeline for visa issuance after DS-5535 if anyone is curious (only 1 timeline so far which took ~45 days).

Good news everyone! I just got an email saying they released my passport and it's being shipped over. That email didn't say anything about being approved/denied, it just simply said they released my passport and gave a tracking number so I was still a little worried.
I also got another 'appointment confirmation' email but with my same Sept 27th date, so I was confused but I noticed they changed my passport pickup location to downtown Toronto so I'm guessing that was an automated email that failed to highlight what exactly was updated.
 
We checked the CEAC status checker (https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx) and it said it was issued Nov 10th!
 
Hopefully I'll be picking up my passport next week sometime
 
So to summarize: Visa interview Sept 27th > Sent DS-5535 Sept 28th > Nov 10-12th (~45 days) visa issued and notified about shipping.
 
Good luck to everyone waiting, hopefully you'll get yours soon too. I'll keep updating if anything changes
 
 

APPROVED!!! 
Interview time was 9 am. It took over an hour to go up and hand in my paperwork, which was only my birth certificate, my RCMP certificate, and the marriage certificate. 
 
After giving my paperwork, it took about 20 minutes to be called back up for my interview. The questions were pretty basic:
Where did you meet your spouse. (Online) How did it come about? When did you get married?  Tell me about your wedding? What does your husband do? Do you work?  Describe your child to me. Asked to see little's CRBA He happily told me he intends to approve my application, and gave me a paper for tracking my stuff. Both people I talked to were extremely relaxed and friendly, and it was a very positive experience. I was outside by 11:15 am.

Your only option is the CR-1 (likely IR-1) as others have said, which is definitely not quick. For quick, I'd look into if you qualify for a TN. It can be applied for at the border and will allow you to live and work in the US while your CR-1 processes. If you do qualify for it you should look at other's experiences in terms of dealing with intent, timing of the CR-1 application, etc.

Agree, I added a placeholder question about it a few days ago, just waiting for people to go through the process so we have some actual answers. 

Agree, I added a placeholder question about it a few days ago, just waiting for people to go through the process so we have some actual answers. 

Hi there! My wife and I are currently living in Canada and have submitted our Form I-130. I stumbled upon this thread in my research on here and my question is: can we join your community? haha
 
We both understand that the wait times are long, and it would be a great boost to our sanity/mental health to be a part of a group going through the same thing. We are happy to share our timeline details, as I also heard there is a spreadsheet used to track/estimate times?
 
Anyways, looking forward to hopefully chatting more with you all! 

Just want to give a quick report on my interview.  Just got out there about 10 mins ago.  Appointment was for 8:15 am, whole process took about 3 hours total. Almost all of it waiting.  Get in, wait to be called up.  First window takes all your documents, then go wait some more.  Then the actual "interview".  Only one window doing the actual interviews though many people in the waiting area most for CRBA.  My interview lasted about 4 mins.  
 
These are all of the questions they asked of me:
 
How did I meet my spouse
What do they do for a living
Asked about our child, "describe her to me" 
Asked about an arrest record when I was younger for underage possession of alcohol 
 
After that the interviewer said "I will approve your visa, here is the paper to track your passport delivery back to you".    Interestingly, they did not ask anything about proof of asset documents which I had submitted a lot of. 
 
Happy day for me been waiting more than 2 years maybe even 3 years for this.  Good luck to everyone else who interviewed today.  Judging from the looks on the applicants faces as they left the building, those who went before me (8 others) all seemed to have positive news as well.  Wished I didn't have to fly across the country just to have some basic questions but it is what it is. At least I can enjoy Montreal  stress free for the rest of the day before my flight home.
 
Any questions I will try to answer.
 
 
 
 

Hi everyone -- Gloria entered the US yesterday and is now an LPR!
 
For those in the Vancouver area, we entered via the Abbotsford/Sumas crossing because we are bringing our pet lovebird and Sumas is the only station with a vet to do the required examination. It was absolutely stress-free compared to a busy crossing like the Peace Arch. Ours was the only car there, and the people were very nice start to finish.
 
A very big thanks to all of you kind folks, particularly @Hawk Riders and the other volunteers who spend so many hours of their time to help others find their way through a complicated and stressful process. You're the best!

A child born abroad with at least one parent who is a US citizen, is transmitted US citizenship, provided the US citizen parent has resided in the US for atleast 5 years of their life, atleast 2 of which must be when they were over 14 years old.
 
Reference:
 
https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/child-family-matters/birth/transmit-citizenship/
 
No green card application necessary…

Congratulations on your spouse’s approval!
 

POE Review - YYZ (Pearson Airport):
I received my passport in the mail on Mon Oct 25th and crossed POE at Pearson Airport on Tuesday Oct 26th. 
 
I was travelling with Air Transat - which operates out of Terminal 3. I got to the airport at around 3:30am. I checked in and processed my checked bags first with Air Transat, then proceeded to the security/customs line. At approximately 4am, the line was already with 15-20 people. Security opened at 430am, however despite my flight being at 7am and despite repeatedly stating I have to activate an immigrant visa, the security personnel proceeded to allow the 6am flights to go through security first. So there were now about 200 people ahead of me to go through security and customs; this caused me to get very nervous in case I was going to get held up in customs and consequently miss my flight.
 
By approx 5:10 am I was finally going through security. I then made it to customs around 520am. There were two lines filled with people waiting, but it moved pretty quickly. The first officer I got was very friendly. I told him I was activating a visa - he said they dont say "activating a visa" haha I got confused but just went with it. We proceeded to talk about living in the US and he was giving me advice on nursing in the US (which is what my job will be). He then verified my US address and walked me over to secondary. I was the first person in secondary, the officer there was very kind as well. All he asked me was to verify my US address and then he spent about 10-15 min just reviewing my electronic packet and then said I was good to go. By the time I was leaving secondary, there were about 4 people waiting in there. By 5:43am I was out of secondary and officially a lawful PR! I had just an hour to spare before my flight, despite all my nervousness. 
All in all it was a very smooth and swift process. Now I anxiously await my SSN!
 
Tips:
- Terminal 1 - Security opens at 6am, customs at 630am; Airlines - Air Canada and United
- Terminal 3 - Security opens at 430 am, customs at 5am; Airlines - Air Transat, Delta, american airlines
- no matter how early you get to the airport, even if you end up being first in the customs line -- they will still prioritize those on flights earlier than yours. 

 

Just want to add my 2c re: the DS-5535. Obviously we’ll never know for sure, but I absolutely believe that this is training for the new hires. They are likely not keeping passports because generally the people who receive DS-5535 require background checks from places that don’t have the infrastructure in place to respond quickly, so it is likely just procedure to not keep passports rather than a reflection of how long the AP will last. 
 
I don’t expect that these cases will take long compared to other DS-5535 to verify and be approved, especially given the countries involved (either birth or travel), but of course that’s just a guess. 
 
Good luck!

Just want to add my 2c re: the DS-5535. Obviously we’ll never know for sure, but I absolutely believe that this is training for the new hires. They are likely not keeping passports because generally the people who receive DS-5535 require background checks from places that don’t have the infrastructure in place to respond quickly, so it is likely just procedure to not keep passports rather than a reflection of how long the AP will last. 
 
I don’t expect that these cases will take long compared to other DS-5535 to verify and be approved, especially given the countries involved (either birth or travel), but of course that’s just a guess. 
 
Good luck!

Just received my passport in the mail! We go the tracking number on Friday and it was just delivered today around 1:15pm, in Vaughan ON. 
I am flying tomorrow to be with my wife and will update everyone how POE goes!
 
Wishing the best of luck for those still awaiting interviews, tracking links, and passports! 
 
- Mel

Yep, that's correct. You can pay before or after POE but it's better to pay before. 

Yes. You don't have to do it before activating your visa (though it is strongly recommended) but you'll need to do it in order to start the green card production process. 
 
You can enter the US to activate your visa and then immediately return to Canada to sort things out. You can be out of the US for 6 months before your status is jeopardized, but note that you won't have Canadian health insurance after you activate the visa, so you'll need to have alternate insurance. For example, if you need 8 months to wrap things up in Canada, you could activate your visa at say 5.5 months post-medical and then "visit" Canada for the remaining 2.5 months. 

If you can't activate the visa in 6 months, you will need a new medical and a new interview. Plus, they don't guarantee that a visa will be approved just because it was already approved previously. I'd avoid this if at all possible. 

Yep. All electronic.
It's in the FAQ!

APPROVED!
PD: July 16th, 2020
DQ: April 30th 2021
Case Expedite Approved: Aug 27th, 2021
IL Received: Sept 20th, 2021
Interview Date: Oct 19th, 2021 at 1300 hrs (1pm)
 
I arrived for my interview at approximately 1245pm. The security guy pulled me in at approx 12:50pm. They allowed me in with a digital watch, my jacket, and a black shopping tote (used to carry my binder and my photo album). I proceeded up the elevator to Window 6 - this is where they take your passport and give you a number. I then was called to Window 5 to handover my civil documents (birth certificate, police cert, marriage cert, passport photo x1). I was done with these two processes by 1:07pm  I was then advised to sit and wait until called again.
 
By 1:45pm-ish, I was called to Window 1 where a lovely gentleman with a cool Captain America Funko figure interviewed me. He was really kind and cool.
Questions asked (i forget the order): confirmed my spouse's name, when we met and where, when we got married, and what we do for work. He then says he will approve my visa, handed over the info on how to track the passport and stated it will take 2-3 weeks - but that it usually arrives earlier. 
I was out of the consulate at exactly 1:53 pm.
 
Notes:
- The lady said most of the interviews are held in the morning and very few are in the afternoon - this allows for them to get all paperwork done and get home as per her
- Hotel -- I stayed at the Novotel for 2x nights approx $350 CAD; it is about a 5-6 min walk to the Consulate
- only documents asked for were --> original civil documents. No copies, no Tax documents, no evidences were requested.
 
I HAVE A QUESTION! Are we not receiving physical sealed packets anymore? The agent just gave me my civil documents back and said I was approved and that was all. Are they electronic now and I just show up at POE with solely my passport and the visa?
 
Thanks !

Thanks for replying and yes now i successfully registered my appointment amwith the delivery of my passport 

with the IL batch issued, common questions are surging again... please remember to consult the FAQ linked in my signature for the answers to many questions