Zelna

1 hour ago, SeriaRisa11 said:

I wish I had good news like everyone that has had interviews or had their interview today. The interview portion was painless and quick. I had all and extra documents. Everything was going amazing until the end when he told me he couldnt approve my visa today and gave me no further information. TO say I feel shattered is an understatement. 

I am so incredibly sorry to hear this  I wish there was some way to help❤️

3 hours ago, Jay&Sid said:

 

 

Sending good vibes  @SAsal, @Irregularblob, @Couchpotato560, @SeriaRisa11& children, @Zelna, @Jacqueline H

 

All the luck in the world, all wished for you!

Thank you so so much and good luck to everyone!!! 
 

lawyer said I may not get 100% approval and will need to wait another week or 2 extra after the interview. Had to redo my medical and police certificate after mandatory quarantine and both are done, but the packets have not arrived. The medical will be emailed and the police certificate takes longer now due to covid 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Update. Received re-scheduled interview this morning. Original interview date was March 27th and new interview date is September 21st. 

I will be returning to Canada from visiting the 1st and the day after quarantine I will need to redo my medical exam. 

On 8/18/2020 at 1:11 PM, Beenwaitingforeva said:

Awesome!!

Is this for K1 visas? or only CR1/IR1?

Either way its great news!! (If its K1 then of course its better news... haha)

I believe only for spousal And children of US citizens currently. I will keep my fingers crossed that they restart K1 visas soon!!  

I also emailed the consulate and asked if they will be extending the time that medical examinations are valid for, as it has to be valid until you enter the US after the interview. Apparently they won't be extending? 🤷 So it looks like we may have to redo the medical once interviews resume? 

Congratulations!! 😃😃

7 hours ago, jacketconfident said:

@Zelna Ugh, I'm so sorry. It really is unnecessarily cruel of even the career employees of the State Department to fail to come up with a solution. For instance, even if they really think that in-person interviews are very important for security reasons (questionable), if they really wanted to have visas processed, they could come up with a solution. Put up plexiglass between the consular officials and interviewees and make the groups of interviewees called in much smaller, or rent out a larger space temporarily just for interviews. It's telling that the State Department has no interest or appetite for creative solutions.

 

 I'm curious what your immigration attorney's reasoning was, though, about the health advisory and the land border. Consider:

•  A few consular posts have, apparently, started rescheduling cancelled IR1/CR1 interviews, especially for people who have already taken their medical exam. There is still a health advisory in effect for all of those places.
• Why designate the IR1/CR1 categories as "mission critical" if you couldn't process those visas because of a global Level 4 health advisory? Like, what was the point of doing that unless embassies are allowed to work on them?
• Some of the consular posts that have started rescheduling interviews (Paris, perhaps Naples?) are still subject to the 14-day travel ban from the US. Granted, those bans don't apply to spouses of US citizens ... but then again, spouses of US citizens can fly into the US from Canada, and maybe they can even drive over the border if relocating to the US is considered essential travel. 

My current, pessimistic guess is that all consular posts could, relative to State Department internal guidelines, process spousal immigrant visas right now -- at least for those interviews, like yours, that were already scheduled. If a given consulate hasn't started rescheduling them, it's either because (a) they can't, because consular staff fled the country for the US (an unwise move in hindsight!) or (b) they won't, because they are very hidebound to their current office layout and practices which require a lot of people working and waiting in small space, which they cannot now do. 

 

Ultimately, your attorney's explanation (health advisory/borders) and my explanation (inertia/bureaucracy/risk aversion) probably end up in the same place: there won't be interviews out of the Montreal consulate for a very long time.

I honestly have no idea. I was thinking the same things as you. I was extremely frustrated when I found out USCIS were waiving some green card interviews. Couldn't they do that for us on a case to case basis or at least to a teleconference interview, since pretty much all the paperwork is already submitted electronically🤷 

I am so frustrated. With how everything is I may not be able to see my husband off when he deploys or be there potentially when he returns. Everything is up in the air with no specific information on sight 😕 (sorry about the rant, so frustrated) 

My interview was supposed to be March 27th. I feel the same and their website never really has specific updates from what I can see. I check every two days. I also asked an immigration lawyer and she seemed to think that the consulate probably won't start reopening and re-scheduling interviews until the US/Canada border opens and the global health advisory level lowers 🥺😰 

It is heart breaking to have been so close to permanently being with my husband and then it being up in the air with no end in sight

10 hours ago, laylalex said:

I totally get the impulse to dye your hair -- I'm overdue for a cut myself though I haven't dyed my hair in a really long time (I have gone lighter and darker, but I wasn't thrilled by either). My fiance's hair is a total disaster right now, very long and shaggy. I tried to convince him to let me cut it but he said I was not allowed to touch his "coronacurls." 🙄 I keep up the impulse to be creative by trying out different eye makeup looks I wouldn't normally wear in "real life" -- normally I do a no-makeup makeup look, but with the only time I'm visible to the public I'm wearing a mask, I figured my creativity can be focused on the eyes.

 

To your question, I don't think it makes a difference if your hair is colored one way in pictures and another way at the interview. You still look like you! And yes, GO RED.  I am a strawberry blonde myself, and there is strength in the Ginger Army.  

Oh my gosh I totally get that🙌 my husband needs to have his hair always cut because of his job and with closures I've attempted to cut his hair since I'm visiting him. Let's just say being a hairstylist is not my calling 😂😂

I wish I can focus on makeup! Honestly I rarely wear makeup and when I do use three items 🤦 It's something I'd love to learn to do well

yes! I think I'll go for it! I'm just always so paranoid when it comes to everything immigration. 

2 hours ago, jives11 said:

I am in a somewhat similar situation (applying from within Canada, but sheltering-in-place with husband because the borders closed to non-essential travel while I was visiting him), and I on a whim checked my I-94 (https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home) while discussing our next steps with our lawyer. Turns out last time I came across the border guy gave me a 60 day I-94. So even though Canadians can spend 6 months per calendar year (but check the tax implications if you've spent days in previous calendar years), I need to leave next week based on this I-94!

 

I'm quite sad about having to leave because it's not clear to me when I'll be able to come back, and I was really really hoping to have had our interview by early spring, but this process is nothing if not full of delays, as I've found.

 

Maybe worth you checking on your I-94 as well? I didn't even realize this was a roadblock to my time in the US until last weekend.

Oh my goodness, yes we are in the exact same situation 😬 

I am so sorry you have to return 😕 it is definitely a fear/concern when we don't know if you could return or when because of border closure. Especially with consulate closures. I have been looking at the Montreal consulate website every day just for some glimmer of hope.

Thank you so much I freaked out and just checked the I-94 thank you so much for the info

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

If your spouse gets deployment orders, you can request an expedite to get scheduled sooner. Or possibly even an emergency interview if they aren't open for regular services yet (there is at least 1 person who reported success with this).

That is really good to know 🙌 I have been so anxious that he will deploy and I won't be here to look after the house and cat/dog. Thank you, I will keep this in mind

Hi there!

I really badly want to dye my hair red (one of those I'm stuck at home impulses), but I am not sure if I can dye my hair before my immigration interview. I had one for March 27th, but it got cancelled due to covid. Hoping to get rescheduled soon fingers crossed!

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

 

Thank you!!🙌

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

1. No way of knowing, obviously not just you waiting so when they do open there will be a back log.

 

2. No immigration restriction on dyeing your hair, as an aside we do have a Beauty Thread for those sort of issues.

Thank you for your reply that makes sense I just wasn't quite sure if anyone knew the probability of the rescheduling. Makes sense that they'd be backlogged, just thought I would check for opinions. 

Thank you, I didn't know, but I'll definitely check it out. 

Hi there,

I am new to Visa journey and a bit confused on how it all works. 

I had a scheduled immigration interview March 27th, which got cancelled due to Covid-19. I am currently visiting my husband in the US. According to a lawyer that we asked for help legally I am allowed to visit in the US for 6months at a time, just like any other Canadian citizen. I am hoping to get my interview before August/mid September, as my husband will most likely deploy during that time and I would need to be here to look after the pets and house.

Question 1: what do you guys think the possibility is for interviews being rescheduled by end June? 

Question 2: Odd question, but would I be allowed to dye my hair, or should I wait until after the interview?