Ver&S

I understand the frustration, but at least you were immediately given a new interview, and it's immediately after the DV processing ends. All Embassies strongly advise against making any travel plans prior to having visa in hand so that's another point - immediate visa issuance is never guaranteed.
 
Diversity visa numbers expire on September 30th. To clarify: Each lottery winner will lose their spot on September 30th and will not have the chance to immigrate to the US. I'm sure you understand that this is a pretty significant impact on people. Your IV is just delayed by a little bit, but the right to immigrate is not taken away by waiting a couple more weeks.
I give kudos to that Embassy for taking this serious and trying to process all DV winners before the expiration date of their "spot". Many other Embassies are not that helpful.
 
Good luck with the interview in October

Yes, Me and her are both of Uyghur decent. I believe they were offering citizenship to uyghurs who bought a house there for certain price. 

I wonder if it's really true that "Quebec won't allow them to open" when the other countries' consulates in Montreal are open? Speculation on my part: it makes me think that perhaps there was some paperwork that Quebec required for them to fill, to make sure they have made accommodations/are following guidelines and the US consulate just looked the other way and pretended that "local conditions don't allow for the resumption of services" when they could be operating at least at some capacity.
 
They also send the most condescending emails sometimes,  I'm not stupid, I know covid is making things harder for everyone. But if my workplace, like many others in Montreal, has been at full capacity since July, what gives???

I made a note to myself to be sure to come back here to Visa Journey to share with you all my experience with my filing of the writ of mandamus, whether the results would be good or bad, as I am hoping many of you, who were stuck like me, get the resolve you deserve. I noticed no one has documented enough about it so I'm happy to be the first.
 
My Writ of Mandamus that my lawyer filed forced the Jordanian Embassy to make a decision on our case since being stuck in AP since September 2019. It was a SUCCESS. My fiancé picked up his Visa this morning. Before I get into the process, how long it took, who I hired, etc, I will breakdown my timeline first below. 
 
I'm asking the senior and regular active members here to try to refrain from continuously sharing FALSE information about WoM. In the past several weeks I have read numerous comments from many of the senior members on other WoM posts DISCOURAGING people to move forward yet admitting to not knowing much about it or how it works.  First of all you are not lawyers. Try not discourage on a subject you don't know much about. That's what petitioners and beneficiaries should seek legal consultations for. No two WOM's are alike. Only a lawyer can tell you if you are a good candidate and hopefully, you will consult with a lawyer like mine who insisted he see the petition and hear our case before agreeing.
 
So here is my timeline and what happened with my WOM:
 
- Visa Category, K-1
- Fiance's consulate Interview was 9/8/2019 (I-129F petition filed 3/23/2018)
- Agent at window advised we need to wait for a call that would "come in shortly" and returned passport
- Numerous emails sent to the Embassy inquiring what they needed with no response
- October 31, 2019 received an email from embassy asking for proof of relationship....we sent the same exact package they returned to us 10 minutes before his interview. Only thing we added were a few more photos
- No updates or word from them until January 2020 where I saw several updates on CEAC, no communication.
- February 2020 pandemic hit, no word. AP changed to REFUSED
- Researched writ of mandamus just in case we didn't hear anything soon and in fear pandemic will drag our case
- April 2020 located the best lawyer for me with long successful track record and paid for a 30 minutes consultation. After hearing my story and seeing my case, he accepted my case.
- May 15th I started my case. 
- May 22nd my case was sent to the 8 agencies my lawyer was suing. They have 60 days to respond.
- Those 8 agencies are: USCIS,  DEPT OF STATE,  DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,  US CONSULATE AMMAN JORDAN,  SECRETARY OF THE DEPT OF DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,  THE DIRECTOR OF USCIS, SECRETARY OF STATE, CHARGE' D'affaires of the US CONSULATE AMMAN JORDAN. 
- June 29, my fiance receives a call from the US Embassy Amman asking him to update his Medical and send it in with his passport. We wait. 
- July 18, Passport is sent back to my fiance with a list of 10 questions (similar to DS-5535) and to email responses back and wait for a call. Paper states it can take 2-6 weeks.
- July 18 also, US Attorney emails my lawyer and asks for a 60 day extension since its close to deadline. Judge also grants it. 
- July 23, I email the responses to the 10 questions to Embassy.
- August 26, Embassy calls my fiance back to resend his passport again
- September 2, my lawyer receives an email from the US Attorney advising him that the Visa has been issued and CEAC status changes an hour later to "ISSUED"
- September 3, my fiance tracks the tracking number and sees Visa is already at Aramex and goes picks it up.
 
It took a total of about 3 1/2 months from the time they were served to finish. Definitely worth it. I have read some members giving incorrect information that the WoM could cost around $15,000 and read other outrageous numbers. It does not. I checked numerous lawyers before hiring mine and have received quotes anywhere from $4000 to $8000. Definitely have not heard more. I paid for my consultation which was then applied towards my WoM.  My lawyer charged me on the lower end than most.  I hired Jim Hacking of The Hacking Law Firm. I would only recommend him. 
 
Please feel free to message me if you have any questions. Wishing you all love and happiness! 
 
 

Confirmed: Montreal is scheduling weekly

Montreal updated from all red to a mixture of colours as of this afternoon. 

Yeah same. I’m sure they’ll post it soon for something more concrete

They should probably upgrade the Immigrant Visa section from red to a yellow if they're gonna start interviewing spouses again. Or maybe more an orange? It definitely sounds like more than just emergencies.

They are only processing emergency cases in Montreal https://ca.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/consular-operations-updates/
But much better news than 0 processing!!!

Just in case anyone's wondering...Montreal denied request for expedite of CR-1 based on the fact that I'm a nurse. They said I don't meet criteria for expedite, and a blurb about all routine services being suspended. Requested this at the end of May and they replied today (Aug 14). Woah. 
Anyway, took forever to hear back from them.

Hang in there visa journey-ers! Some day we will have our green cards in hand. 

 

The office thing is correct. Quebec only allows 25% of the office to go into work. And they kinda don't even want the 25% less is even better. I work at an office downtown Montreal, and we've been WFH since March, and hardly anyone has gone into the office, and HR still doesn't know when we can. Even when they allow it, they still have to abide by the 6 feet rule, masks etc, so it's kinda annoying for them.

It’s tone deaf I agree.
at a certain point safety concerns don’t garner sympathy as dental, medical, food and entertainment services have found and implemented solutions and have resumed their modified operations months ago. 
It would be great to just have some more details because the impression this leaves is that they are not motivated in the least. 
do we continue to call and demand information? 

That’s the thing I think we have all shown tremendous patience regarding being separated from family members. We just want to have an idea of a general time frame and specific barriers. 
Many times it feels like they don’t understand we are intelligent people and think we will be satisfied with answers that make no sense. 
I have called the embassy before and have been told “well your interview got canceled because of a global pandemic called Covid-19” and then today “we are still figuring out how people can be safe in a building”.  
just a little condescending 
 
 

Right. And not to sound completely unsympathetic to the challenges that I'm sure the consulate is facing...but it's widely known that several consulates have started interviews again. In my line of work when we don't have an immediate answer, we call our colleagues. You mean to tell me a group of highly intelligent consulate staff haven't been able to muster up any sort of plan? Or haven't thought to get in touch with their colleagues on how to safely reopen?
 
If casinos in Montreal can get it done, surely the consulate has the same ability.

I appreciate them acknowledging concerns but they also put themselves in a position where people are repeatedly asking for information day in and day out because they've provided none. But how discouraging to hear that they're "actively working on a plan" again, with no details. Was no one actively working on a plan the last several months? This is beyond exhausting.

Just watched this. I got really excited at first thinking they would give some concrete dates but it’s still the same wishy-washy automated info we’ve been getting visa email just in video format

We all faced hills during our own times of travail.  Everyone else in my monthly filing group had been approved, as well as many who had filed in later months.  I was going "aysheep," as Mrs. T-B.-to-be observed.  Little did I know that my anguish over USCIS's petition-processing slowness would be dwarfed by the unspeakable monkeyshines at an evil, grossly mismanaged consulate.
 
This coronavirus and the government's response to it completely suck, but at least you know that everyone is in your same boat.  One boon is that you can use this time to become a student of the entire immigration process, and make plans for the beneficiary to hit the ground running after moving here.
 
See this thread for some perspective:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/410945-k-1-journey-completed/

I mean different people have different circumstances..... I get the CR1 has big advantages, especially during the pandemic, but the amount of K1 bashing I see on this site can be discouraging 

Found this just decided to share

You can’t. You can’t adjust from an ESTA on any basis other than IR. And you can’t adjust status from an overstay of any status through marriage to an LPR either. So it’s a double “you can’t”. Your AOS application will be denied and by the time that happens, you’ll have accrued enough overstay to face a ban as well. Your only option is to return home before your ESTA stay expires and await processing for an F2A visa.
 
 

Thanks, this is why I thought it was only affecting new diplomats: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/updates/2020-accredited-officials.html Also TRVs are only needed for new diplomats who have not received acceptance. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/visitors/diplomatic-official-visas.html#trv-req-when
 
I'm compulsively checking the Canada immigration website as well, because I'm an immigrant here and because the US is not processing my visa in time, I've had to reapply to a new permit here as I now don't think I will get the US one before my Canadian one expires. I hope I hear good news from someone soon, I'm so stressed out =(. At this rate I will become an immigration lawyer.

If the mom can afford the $500,000 for EB-5 visas, maybe they should spend some money for a competent immigration lawyer to guide them.

The information you have given is full of errors.  

I saw that you were trying to suggest a reason. I'm saying I disagree with it. Furthering that, you implying that because the situation is emotional means that people can't be logical was the major point I was disagreeing with. I'm not going to convince you to change your opinion and I wasn't trying to. But trying to imply because people are emotional they can't see the reason behind choices is just wrong.
 
I am emotional about this but I can clearly see that other consulates are making decisions that are based in logic and safety that are different than montreal. On top of that montreal has not given a valid safety or logistical reason for why they have not started other than local conditions. The conditions in montreal are better than some that are opening. 
 
I am not someone who tries to create a narrative. I am comparing the decisions being made in montreal to other branches of the same organization around the world based on the criteria they gave me. To be honest it sounds like you are creating a narrative to try and explain away why people deserve to be frustrated with montreal. You have the choice to visit your daughter. It might not make sense financially or safety wise which is your choice. Our choice has been taken from us and they won't even give a valid reason why. If like you said its to protect people from going somewhere they are unsafe then give people extensions who prefer to wait. But as far as I know once I'm in the US I am no longer Canada's problem medically.
 
You are incorrect in the self isolation requirements you are relaying. I have done research and called the phone number the government of Canada provides and you can quarantine with family provided you have your own sleeping arrangement, bathroom and maintain physical distancing. Barring that you can have your family isolate with you if you don't want to do that. But I wasnt talking about visits I was specifically replying to your reasoning for montreal not doing interviews even though they have clear direction to continue.
 
And as a final note no I don't believe or agree with the idea that either government is worried about what is best for me but that is not a discussion that needs to happen here.

Someone else posted that picture on twitter and Dept of State - Travel replied saying that Montreal is NOT doing anything.

If you mean those visa classes listed in the proclamation they have not. Someone else reported their senator was told that the Montreal consulate does not acknowledge those visa classes as mission critical and are still only processing on emergency basis. It is ridiculous.