Jared&Roxy

It's okay if you don't have an SSN. They will fill out a checkbox during your interview that you want/need one.
 
Your relationship proof is solid, especially the health insurance and lease. You could try to get your name on the utility bills but not necessary.

It's okay if you don't have an SSN. They will fill out a checkbox during your interview that you want/need one.
 
Your relationship proof is solid, especially the health insurance and lease. You could try to get your name on the utility bills but not necessary.

There's no problem about the photos looking "staged" if your relationship is bona fide and valid. 
 
Can you match dates on her I-94 with her using her card in your city?

So they look at the supporting documents and through the pages when you give it to them? I remember at my K1 interview in Canada they didn't look at anything during the interview haha.
 
So the worst outcome is RFE or administrative processing? A couple of the people on FB are scaring me talking about deportation proceedings...

Ohh yeah the experience at the AOS interview is a lot different than at the consulate. A lot of times they have their minds made up ahead of time but its not as set in stone as at the consulate level. There can be a lot more "investigative" things and the like. Think Stokes interview. Just remember its going to be ok. Do the best you can to be prepared to prove your eligibility if questioned. If you need something beyond what you have they will tell you and you won't be deported right away or anything lol. You can catch someone on a bad day or something but overall they are generally just nice regular people that want things to go smooth the same as you.

I got my revised visa! Moving in less than a month!

I got my revised visa! Moving in less than a month!

I GOT MY REVISED VISA
 
Below info is for reference, if anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation.
 
Revision: Petitioner's last name had an L letter mistyped as an I letter.

Location: Mississauga, Ontario
 
Timeline:
01/15/20 interview
01/17/20 first visa issued and shipped
01/20/20 first visa picked up and first email about typo
01/23/20 first correspondence unit reply
01/27/20 second correspondence unit reply
01/27/20 instructions and return label from visa unit communicated by correspondence unit
01/28/20 first visa shipped back
01/29/20 first visa returned
02/03/20 third email from correspondence unit that mentioned its under final review and to watch for the canada post email, status change to "administrative processing", status change to "issued"
02/04/20 second visa shipped
02/05/20 second visa picked up

I got my revised visa! Moving in less than a month!

YAY!!

Update: My CEAC status changed to administrative processing today and the last updated date is February 3 (today). I got an email from Montreal saying that the case is under final review and I'll get a courier email when it's been shipped out for return.

Update: My CEAC status changed to administrative processing today and the last updated date is February 3 (today). I got an email from Montreal saying that the case is under final review and I'll get a courier email when it's been shipped out for return.

Update: On Monday the 27th, correspondence unit told me they forwarded this to the visa unit. A few hours later, they said the visa unit instructed to send back my visa and package using Canada Post. The people at the AIS call center and website gave me the return label. I shipped it all out on Tuesday the 28th.

I am starting this topic to share our story of how we managed to speed our way through the Montreal Consulate's backlog and get our IR-1 visas issued in a timely manner. The Montreal Consulate is notoriously slow and should you find yourself in the position of having to mail documents to Montreal post-interview, then read on. This topic applies to you.
At our interview on November 12, 2010, we were missing my wife Kathy's medical exam results from Dr. Sieden's office in Toronto. Our medical exam was on Monday November 8th, only 4 days before the interview. Kathy's chest x-ray showed a possible nodule that would need to be further analyzed and this delayed our results. Kathy had no previous x-rays to show that the nodule was there previously and not growing, so Dr. Sieden wanted a CT scan. It was very stressful finding out about this at the last minute. We were fortunate to find a walk-in clinic doctor who was very helpful. She had her assistant call all the local medical imaging labs, and was able to find a lab that could do the CT scan the same day. This was VERY lucky... CT scans can take weeks to schedule! Unfortunately the CT scan results weren't available in time for Dr. Sieden to see them and give us our results before the interview. We did get the CT scan results the following Monday and Kathy was fine (phew!).
ADVICE #1: Schedule your medical exam as far in advance of the interview as you possibly can. If our medical exam was only 1 or 2 days earlier we would have had time to deal with everything in time for the interview.
ADVICE #2: Get a chest X-ray from your family doctor months in advance of your interview. It doesn't hurt (figuratively or literally), and if there is a nodule that is questionable, then you can get a CT scan and deal with it long in advance.
The man at the consulate who was collecting our documents told us that we would need to send the medical exam results DHL courier as soon as we have them, and that they have a backlog of mail so it will be another few weeks of waiting before the visa is issued. He pointed to a large stack of documents on top of the cabinet behind him and said "that's mail that arrived over a month ago". We begged him for any information on how we could get our mail processed quicker. He told us to address our correspondence to "IV Unit Supervisor". This was the secret ingredient that ended up saving our butts.
ADVICE #3: Make sure that you are not missing ANYTHING at your interview. It will delay getting your visa by weeks.
Our actual interview went well and the officer said that our case looked great. As soon as the medical results were recieved, he couldn't see us having any problem getting the visas issued.
On November 18th, Kathy got her medical results from Dr. Sieden's office and immediately shipped them DHL to the Montreal Consulate. Through the dhl.ca tracking we could see that it was delivered on November 19th in the morning. We learned later that the Montreal Consulate screens all their mail for anthrax and other bad things, so it did not arrive upstairs at the IV Unit until November 23rd.
ADVICE #4: Don't assume they have your mail as soon as DHL says so. Add an extra 3 business days.
Not only did we address the DHL package directly to the IV Unit Supervisor, we also faxed the Montreal Consulate as well at two different fax numbers we tracked down: 514-398-0973 and 514-398-9748. The fax/email was a single page with large bold letters "PLEASE PRIORITIZE: URGENT: TRAVEL PENDING" addressed to the IV Unit Supervior. In the one-page fax, I briefly explained our situation that we are now separated and my wife is stuck in Toronto staying with friends, and we have paid our son's school fees and he is missing classes. I creatively begged and pleaded in various ways and asked them to do their best to prioritize our case, which was missing only the medical results and was otherwise approved.
Two hours after I sent the faxes to these two numbers, I got a call from a 514 number. It was the IV Unit Supervisor named Scott Foswell (sp?) with a french Canadian accent. He was very irate with me and asking why he has this letter on his desk with the huge bold font. I may have went a bit overboard, thinking that they probably ignore most stuff like this, but I was wrong. After a 10 minute conversation with Scott (who I presume was the IV Unit Supervisor), he was reassuring me that he would do his best to get our case processed quickly. I had told him that we had flights booked for December 7th, so that was a goal he could aim for.
ADVICE #5: If you DO get stuck in the Montreal Consulate's mail backlog, Send a fax to 514-398-0973 and 514-398-9748, and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
The things that really helped convince him to help us were:
- Our son was missing classes at school in the U.S. that we had paid his registration for
- We had a flight booked
- My son was 2 years old and I was missing weeks of his childhood
- The holidays were approaching and we desperately wanted to be together
He asked me why I paid for my son's school when there are no guarantees of when a visa will be issued. I told him that we had no choice because one of the pieces of evidence they specifically ask for is proof that children are registered for school. When I said this, his demeanor changed significantly. It really helped.
ADVICE #6: If you do fax the consulate, present good reasons why your situation is especially difficult and why you deserve to be processed quickly.
Scott offered no guarantees but did say he'd do his best. We left it at that and began waiting. At first, we were following these instructions to check whether our visa had been issued. Then we were told by another VJ member that this was basically useless because it didn't show any information until AFTER the visa had arrived at their DHL location. So then we began checking at dhl.ca using our "reference number" obtained through the CSC website.
ADVICE #7: Don't rely on the CSC website to tell you if your visa has been issued. Use the reference number obtained there to check the tracking status at dhl.ca.
On December 2, 2010, almost 2 weeks after the first fax I sent when the IV Unit Supervisor Scott Foswell (sp) called me, I faxed the consulate again. This time I did away with the crazy bold font and huge text across the top, not wanting to annoy him. I re-stated our situation and apologized for the interruption to his day, and issued a gentle reminder of our situation and of the fact that our scheduled flights were only 5 days away.
I got another call from Scott that afternoon after he received my fax. He said that he couldn't guarantee anything but would do his best. He said that he had located our file and would process it himself immediately. It would then be submitted for FBI name/fingerprint screening and if all goes well our visas would be printed THE NEXT DAY!! I couldn't believe our luck at getting his support like this. I have read stories on VJ of people waiting over 2 months and getting their congressmen involved. For what it's worth, the "secret technique" that seemed to do the trick was to fax the Montreal Consulate and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
Well, now anyone on VJ who reads this knows the secret technique that worked for me. I hope that it helps others avoid what can be a nightmarishly long wait.

Not a fan of not being able to call them. Waiting for email replies is so frustrating

The consulate. They don't take phone calls

Not a fan of not being able to call them. Waiting for email replies is so frustrating

My visa has a typo on it so I emailed the consulate and am waiting to hear back. I'll probably have to get it reprinted, sigh.
 
Good thing I didn't start packing yet I guess haha (as if I wouldn't procrastinate packing either way)

I picked up my visa today! Yay!

My visa has a typo on it so I emailed the consulate and am waiting to hear back. I'll probably have to get it reprinted, sigh.
 
Good thing I didn't start packing yet I guess haha (as if I wouldn't procrastinate packing either way)

to fix it.  
 

Update: I picked it up today! I didn't have to wait for the next day

Yeah, we chose Canada Post to a PO rather than a courier

January 15 (2 days ago) - interview
 
January 17 (today) - CEAC shows visa issued and got the Canada Post email
 
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you able to move somewhere you guys both like? I understand he wants to stay in that location but honestly it sounds horrible and boring. 
 
I plan to move in a month or so and we found an apartment in a location with okay walkability and public transport. Not as good as where I currently live (less than an hour from Toronto Canada) but much better than where he's from (no public transport at all). I worry about this as well especially for when we look for a house. I hate places which are car dependent.