Danii

Hi all, Montreal Embassy just tweeted this message "Due to additional Quebec COVID-19 provincial restrictions currently in place through February 8, the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal is only able to schedule a limited number of new Immigrant Visa appointments. We will continue to interview scheduled applicants at this time and will update applicants as the situation develops." 
 
The way I understand, they will still send out interview letters this month but less than in recent months? 

Hi everyone, this is my first post but this topic has helped me a lot so I thought I’d post our experience. My wife had her interview yesterday was thankfully approved! We received the tracking number today. I posted a review of it but thought I’d post it here too:
 
My wife’s appointment was at 10:15am. She got there a little early and was told to come back as they were backed up (about 45 mins behind). She was let into the building around 11am where she waited in the lobby. Only 3 people were allowed in the lobby at a time. She was in the lobby for about 10-15 minutes before she was allowed to go through security. After going through security, she took the elevator to the first floor and was told to take a seat until one of the windows were clear. After 5 minutes, a security officer directed her to an empty window (it was either window #6 or #7). When she was called up, she gave her passport. She was asked to provide the following:

- Confirm Canadian and US address (I moved recently so she provided my updated address)
- Confirm Canadian and US phone numbers (you won’t have your phone so make sure you have this memorized!)
- Original Marriage certificate
- Original Birth certificate
- Police check (she had an updated one as the original one we submitted was over a year old. She only took the new one)
- Updated financial information (my wife gave my tax transcript from 2019 as well as an updated I-864 Affidavit of Support)
- Confirm lawyer’s name
- Fingerprints from both hands

Nothing was mentioned about her medical. (I know some people completed their medical in time but were told the consulate had not received it yet). She was given a pamphlet on domestic violence and then told to take a seat. After about an hour she was called up for her interview. The woman she interviewed with was very nice and conversational. My wife was then asked to give her oath and then provide fingerprints again as a digital signature. The interviewer asked the following questions:

- When did you get married?
- When did you meet your husband?
- How did you meet your husband?
- What does your husband do?
- What do you do for work?
- What do plan to do in the US?
- Have you been out of the country in the past?
- Have you read through the pamphlet? Do you understand it?

After these questions, she gave back the marriage certificate and birth certificate. She then told my wife she has been approved and handed her a white Welcome to the United States paper! The interviewer apologized a lot for the delay and that the system was running slowly. The interview portion lasted about 15 minutes, the majority of which was the woman entering things into the computer. The entire process took about 90 minutes and everyone was very nice. 

Her advice is the interview process is very easy so just try and stay calm even though all the waiting can cause your nerves to build up. As long as you’ve prepared all the necessary documents, you should have no issues.

Approved today!  

I think I got it within a week. I was surprised to receive it so quickly.

No, this thing, also known as "student visa violator" applies only to people who got an F-1 to go to a private high school and then decided to be cheeky and enrolled in a public school. It's one of those bars that never really comes up because who gets a student visa to go to high school?
 
All derivatives (H-4, J-2, K-2, F-2, M-2, O-2, R-2, etc) are permitted to attend public K-12 education.

Sorry, your information is incorrect.  Schools accept money all the time -- state funds, federal funds, fees, donations, etc.  The only requirement is to specifically account for all receipts and to use the money for its intended purpose.
 
First, it should be noted that the following does not apply to the OP. The following information is about only those individuals who are entering the United States for the specific purpose of studying, i.e., those needing a student visa.   It does not apply to those on other types of visas (F2,  J2, L1, A2, etc.) who are studying, as the OP was.  
 
Second, there is no free public education for a student visa holder (F1, J1, M1).  There is no provision at all for an elementary school student to enter the United States on a student visa to study at a public school. They must be going to a private school and, therefore, paying all the costs required by the school.  A high school student can attend a public high school in the United States for one year.  However, in order to do so, they must pay the full cost of that year's education by repaying the school the full, unsubsidized cost of providing that education.  If more than one year of high school is desired, it must be at a private high school (or while on another visa type as noted above and not on an F1 visa), with all school fees paid.  Check out the following State Department website, in the section entitled "Foreign Students in Public Schools":
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/study/student-visa/foreign-students-in-public-schools.html .
 
 
 

Anyone else who still hasn't heard anything? At this point I wish I would at least get a RFE 🤣 I'm happy for everyone who is getting approved, but it hurts a bit when someone who applied 8 months after me is already at NVC. The wait at the consulate in Montreal also has a backlog of 8-9 months maybe, so I feel really screwed over. 

January 2020 filer here, still no update. Very frustrating! Anyone else in a similar situation?

Anyone at Potomac? My PD is Jan 10th and I haven't heard anything 😓 original approval estimate was June, and now it's November. Wish my case could have been transferred to Nebraska 😂 I wonder why some January Potomac cases were approved in April/may... The way this system works is very strange.