Cath&Claire

3 minutes ago, rafale1973 said:

My husband is an American citizen living here in Sherbrooke (an hour from Montreal) maybe I could just drive him to the consulate ahahha see if that can get us moving. I honestly doubt they would let him go in without appointment... 

if I lived there, I’d do a daily mini strike. In a disguise of course! 👻 😁 😢 

Today yet another  K1 interview was scheduled.   November 23rd.   

1 hour ago, burmel said:

I am wondering if the month of November has many IR1/CR1 interviews we can't see.  I have seen estimates that Visa Journey members only make up 15 to 20 % of those awaiting IR1/CR1 interviews in Montreal.  There were 101 IR1/CR1 Visa issued by Montreal in September.  Only 23 VJ Members had interviews scheduled that month and Visa Issuance for the later ones may be in the October Report. Only the November IV Issuances Report will tell and we won't see that until late December.  It is frustrating, indeed to be so "in the dark".

It is a small % yes, but that % should  have VJ members at 10-15 interviews, which isn’t the case - I think VJ members with November interviews is at 5? The spreadsheet has been changed and I can’t easily view it on my phone anymore so I’m not sure.  Here’s hoping we see 5-10 more come Monday then!  

1 hour ago, Cath&Claire said:

I agree and it’s definitely an issue when we haven’t seen a CR1/IR1 in how many days/weeks now? it’s pretty much November.  January and February DQ’s have been waiting an additional 6- 7 months now, with no interviews in sight.  Those of us who are May, June, July -  will be waiting even longer at this rate - we won’t see interviews until March, April, May.   They’ve prioritized K1’s over CR1/IR1 before; let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.  

52 minutes ago, Lovepeace0303 said:

It matters to me. If they are being ‘fair’ in scheduling, both categories should receive an equal share of interview slots. If we get 2 slots the week after, that would be fair. If we don’t get anything and they schedule K1s rest of the month, I see that as unfair and prioritizing that category over spousals. Maybe it will balance out ahead, who knows. Currently, it is frustrating for me to see. My personal opinion/view.

I agree and it’s definitely an issue when we haven’t seen a CR1/IR1 in how many days/weeks now? it’s pretty much November.  January and February DQ’s have been waiting an additional 11 months now, with no interviews in sight.  Those of us who are May, June, July - that means we won’t see interviews until March, April, May - if we’re lucky. They’ve prioritized K1’s over CR1/IR1 before; let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.  

3 minutes ago, Cath&Claire said:

Essential workers are exempt from mandatory quarantine.   I saw this last week - the number of people deemed essential who have come to Canada during Covid.  
 

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/10/23/1_5158073.html

If I recall, consular and embassy workers are allowed into Canada and excluded from the travel ban.  Unsure tho if they’re deemed essential - government workers is on the list of essential workers who can skip quar but I didn’t notice anything saying if this applied to consular and embassy workers......

21 minutes ago, Tofu said:

I hope this isn’t the case because if that were true, I’d assume it would be the same situation at Christmas as well. 
 

Also, I think the quarantine requirement is mandatory for everyone - essential or not. 

Essential workers are exempt from mandatory quarantine.   I saw this last week - the number of people deemed essential who have come to Canada during Covid.  
 

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/10/23/1_5158073.html

5 minutes ago, MWhite said:

Are you speaking of the k-1s a few days ago? Their interviews look to have been scheduled week of October 13 but they got the official p4 letters this week. 

Ahhhh ok. They made it sound like they just got their letters. I had thought about them not scheduling those days because they’re all going back home for thanksgiving and have to quarantine on way back —-  but I imagine they’d be deemed essential service? 

49 minutes ago, Lovepeace0303 said:

I know! It’s such a shame that those dates are going empty. 😔 MAYBE, just maybe, they’ll make up for it with extensive Dec scheduling. 

They didn’t give people ample notice for reschedules so perhaps there will be some IL’s the beginning of November.  Two K1 interviews were scheduled with very little notice. I really don’t think they have a handle on things. If the consulate were a private corporation, we’d have little trust in them and they’d be bashed with on line reviews and quickly go bankrupt.   I  received an email back today about my enquiry and the OP said they were doing reschedules!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Even I know that’s not true! Even the automated reply back says they’re scheduling new interviews.  I just shake my head.  

1 hour ago, rafale1973 said:

Where did you see this ? I haven’t seen anything new for K1 either 

Screen  shot sent of the group title.  
Someone in the group also keeps a spread sheet that captures VJ data as well. 
 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1yXsBaODEcERCnBkkVhTklmw1LrFVkY9dE6z2Q5D2kCc/htmlview

1 hour ago, rafale1973 said:

Where did you see this ? I haven’t seen anything new for K1 either 

Just saw on a Facebook group 2 K1’s received their interview letters for November 4th and 16th yesterday.  Maybe they’re just far behind? 🤞🏻 🤞🏻 

43 minutes ago, DGF said:

Montreal issued 16 CR1 visas and 85 IR1 visas in September. Pretty similar to pre-covid numbers. October issuances will be interesting with the abysmal amount of ILs that went out this month.

 

Tbh I'm impressed that 16 people managed to make it through without the honour of being "upgraded" to IR1. 

I’m of 2 minds: I want my interview ASAP, and  I want my interview after February 10th so I’ll get the 10 year GC!  🤓

Just now, legendqueue said:

Yeah absolutely, personal comfort with what you're doing is a huge part of things.  If an officer decides to not let you in or even issue you a ban you have little recourse.  

 

"overstaying" is a specific term related to the visitor visa -- I texted the immigration lawyer after reading this and they've never heard of a case where someone was denied a visa because they spent whatever amount of time in the USA, and they've been involved in hundreds of Canada-USA specific ones.  But again it's about personal comfort and I *totally totally get* that it stresses you out, and honestly it stresses me out too.  Ugh this process huh?

 

If I can recall where I read it, I’ll dig it out. It was sometime ago. Im sure your lawyer is absolutely correct!   Do they happen to know what’s going on with the consulate? 😂😂😂

16 minutes ago, legendqueue said:

 

I have to correct this, sorry and please understand I don't mean it to sound like I'm bashing you at all.  I mean it to be helpful because as you'll read I also believed this and it was a major pain and source of big-time anxiety.

 

The 182 days rolling calendar thing is a massively common misconception.  The misconception seems to stem from someone in a news article or snowbird blog post years ago conflating the "visitor visas only last 6 months" thing with the IRS "you have a maximum number of days per year or you gotta file US taxes" thing.  Then another article/blog researches theirs by googling and finding the first, and so on and so on, until now when you search it you find countless articles stating it as fact.  Here's an article clarifying what the real deal is:

 

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bb7206f5-69f7-472f-94a2-cfb18755e3ea

I have had this confirmed by two separate officers at the Peace Arch border a little over a year ago, after believing the misconception for almost two years, keeping a careful spreadsheet, checking Maps timeline to make sure I hadn't missed any days, crossing south at 5 minutes after midnight to "save a day", etc.  I have always spent more time in Canada over a year, but because "a day" is counted by the IRS whether you're there for 24 hours or 24 minutes, staying a Sunday night and driving to Canada for work and then staying until Friday night still counted, so I was there for a weekend plus Friday evening but it counted as 4 days, which times 52 weeks is over 182, which was a source of major stress for a long time!

 

This is no reason to be carefree about travel as a tourist over the border though.  You can be denied entry based on suspicions of an officer about your intentions.  Anyone planning on crossing regularly like this needs to keep documents proving their connections to Canada and that they're planning to return, so return plane ticket if you're flying, details of your plans while in the USA, and documentation including but not limited to your Canadian home ownership/lease documents, several months of different utility bills, recent letter from your Canadian work saying you work there and they love you to bits, and so on.  Like the article above says, you aren't entitled to six seconds in the USA.  You are a visitor and you can be denied for any reason.  Be honest and have documentation and you probably won't have any issues, but again don't be blithe about it, it's an international border not a drive-thru.  

 

On a separate note, you *can* apply for an extension of the tourist visa and need to supply a reason, and apparently COVID-related reasons have been treated as acceptable this year.  This is only what I've heard from an immigration lawyer, though, so I don't know how difficult the process is, how to do it, etc.

 

Finally I should plunk down the IRS thing I mentioned above because it's important.  If the number of days you spent in the US the past year, plus 1/3 the number of days the year before that, plus 1/6 the number of days the year before *that* all total to 183 or more, the IRS requires you to file US taxes.  This is a surprisingly easy number to reach.

 

https://cardinalpointwealth.com/2015/01/07/am-i-a-u-s-tax-resident/#:~:text=Simply put%2C you become a,the past three calendar years.

 

Snowbirds get out of this by filing a "closer connection exemption" as mentioned in the article.  What the article does not mention (and I had to dig into the actual tax law to find this, then speak to a US tax accountant, then speak to the IRS) is that if your spouse is a US citizen or resident and lives there, you don't have a closer connection exemption to Canada even if your primary residence and work are there.  Yikes, you say, I don't want to pay taxes twice!  But luckily there is another thing in the tax treaty (and a separate form you file with the IRS) to say "here is my 1040 tax form saying that I owe X dollars, and here is my other form and documentation showing that I paid Y dollars in Canadian taxes, and Y is more than X so please work it out with Canada" and you're done.  The only time this becomes an issue is when for some reason the US taxes are higher than the Canadian taxes, for example if there is some exemption/deduction available in Canada that isn't in the US.  Did you know that in Canada you do not get charged any capital gains taxes on the sale of a primary residence, but in the USA you do not get charged capital gains on only the first $250k?  Given what real estate markets have done in the past 10+ years if you sold a house while subject to this rule you could be in for a bummer of a surprise.

 

Anyway sorry giant post.  I hope someone finds all or part of it interesting!

 

I will always keep my days on a rolling calendar - even though you may indeed be correct!   All it takes is one officer who says otherwise.  One thing I think many of us have learned during this Covid ordeal is that border agents in both Canada and the USA give conflicting  and inaccurate information All. The.  Time. Just read the occurrences on the Family Advocacy Facebook page.  It’s actually concerning how different one officer can be over the next.   I’ve read accounts on here of people being denied a green card because they ‘over stayed!’  That stresses me out!  

8 hours ago, PBabz said:

Good luck to you too!! 

I know the time is long but you are all so lucky! In Canada we’re stuck at people DQ’d since January 7th.  I have 52 VJ members ahead of me. My DQ was June 1st. At this rate,  I won’t have an interview for 8 more months, I’d that.  Be thankful you have a working consulate.   🙏 

29 minutes ago, Cammabear said:

I've heard of many people travelling after their DQ and I'm glad it had no repercussions for them.  Before My DQ I travelled every month for almost 3 years with my Nexus card and was never asked once to show the proof of return to Canada I would bring with me. After my DQ though I was advised not to travel as I could be seen as a flight risk. Why any border agent would think that after over 2 years of marriage and almost 2 years of waiting to be allowed to move to the US I would risk it all near the end is beyond me, but it's not a risk we want to take. It would be my luck that I would get an agent having a bad day who would end up making me have a very bad day if I was denied entry to the US. It's probably not likely but I have to go with what I was told by two different people with more knowledge of this than me. In January it will be 2 years since my packet was received in Nebraska. It's such a long wait for us, I wish they would outsource these interviews to other provinces! 

Such a long time! Hopefully your DQ is January/February and you are almost done!? 

1 minute ago, DGF said:

"Canadian visitors can usually stay in the United States for 6 months without a visa. There is no set period that you must wait to re-enter the United States after the end of your authorized stay. However, if a CBP officer suspects you are spending more time in the United States than in Canada, it will be up to you to prove to the officer that you are a temporary visitor, not a U.S. resident." - https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-states?wbdisable=true

Also there is the IRS substantial presence test which looks at your days over the last 3 calendar years and if you meet this you may need to file US taxes. 

A green card applicant advised me you can apply for an extension of the 6 months. I don’t know much about it however, except it has to be done within 45 days of when you’d have to leave. Not sure if there would be tax implications ...and past 6 months it could affect your Canadian medical.   

14 minutes ago, Tristan&Whit said:

Does anyone know how many of us IR1/CR1 with DQ are currently waiting on Montreal for interviews? 

Here’s the spread sheet with that info. 
 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1LvnDvX95_tfWtTvsJJM49PDPPvPKal0WG2rgdZHhsz0/htmlview#gid=1638721492

5 minutes ago, Tristan&Whit said:

Happy to hear that. My wife has PR as well. How many days can you stay pe year? 

180 days - rolling calendar. That’s how we do it. Some people will say it’s 180 days each visit but it’s not. Basically 6 months, as you’re able to do now ....hope it warm where you are!  

13 minutes ago, Cammabear said:

My attorney told me the same thing, and when I spoke to a CBSA recently, she reaffirmed that I should not be trying to go to the US to visit my husband while I am DQ'd and waiting for an interview. I haven't seen my husband in Iowa since February, and him coming here is difficult with the mandatory 15 day stay and where to quarantine (I live with my senior mother who would be high risk if she got COVID). My DQ date was June 1st so I could be looking at maybe March or April before I get an interview. It's very tough to be living apart for so long, I feel for all of us going through this. I wish we had done the reverse immigration path to be honest but I've invested so much time and money to try and live in the US, I have to keep going with it. Then, we will start his process to come to Canada lol. 

I have gone to the USA and have had no  issues.  The consulate isn’t working too hard or too fast .. so it’s rather ludicrous they tell us not to travel.  When I went down last,  the US border guy rolled his eyes and gave a guffaw when I told him I was waiting for the consulate to resume processing; he said that likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon and he was right! I think lawyers tell their clients not to travel in the event something happens to absolve them of responsibility.   I’ve never heard of anyone having repercussions  travelling for a visit - just for over staying the allotted number of days in a year.  People are also posting that their lawyers are saying things will soon pick up with the consulate - but really - they don’t know anything, because it’s not happening.   I do hope lawyers are telling people about the current state of affairs  and warning them that the process is tedious and lengthy

One thing I am thankful for is that my spouse has her PR.  Given the absurd timelines, we’re able to explore opportunities in both countries.  

This is the situation in the UK right now. How many of us would have had our interview completed or scheduled  by now? 🙋🏻‍♀️
 

3 hours ago, Todd@Alya said:

Here is a PDF of the two figures I sent my senator with the text I used the describe the issue. 

MTL IR1 CR1 Data Figures.pdf 188.55 kB · 16 downloads

Nice work! I really like the charts.  They sent out interview letters last on October 13th I think  - 2 weeks ago Tuesday.  I can’t even imagine that we will see any new ones come out tomorrow because that would be too good to be true and wishful thinking and the consulate doing their job. And why would they want us to feel all warm and fuzzy and elated? 😂😢🦠😝

26 minutes ago, Todd@Alya said:

I am including for the benefit of this group the some of the stats I included in the letter to my senator. Hopefully this information is useful for advocacy from the rest of this group.

 

 

 

"The average waiting period for an IR1/CR1 interview since 2013 has been 80 days (2.5 months). However, the average waiting period for an interview at the Montreal Consulate General (MTLCG) by late 2019 was 6 months and that has increased to over 300 days (10 months) due to the pandemic (shown below in Figure 1). In fact, the MTLCG has only within the last month scheduled interviews for families who were document qualitied (DQ) for an interview as of December 2019. 

 

While at first glance it may seem that the current COVID-19 pandemic is the main cause of increased waiting times at the MTLCG, there is more to the story. If you compare the monthly average number of IR1/CR1 immigrant visas issued over time in Canada and a peer group country of the UK the delays and backlog started to build up in mid-2019 when the MTLCG fell significantly behind in its visa issuance. 

 

The situation was made worse when the MTLCG delayed opening by two months relative to London despite similar public health policies in the two countries. As a result, IR1/CR1 applicants in the UK are not currently experiencing a backlog and are waiting the normal 2.5 months on average for an interview. This is a direct result of their consistently well-run operation and earlier restart from the pandemic relative to Montreal.

 

The MTLCG has never acknowledged what happen in 2019 that caused them to nearly stop issuing IR1/CR1 visas that has resulted in today’s significant backlog. The Consular General in Montreal abruptly left earlier this year and one theory is that he was not a good manager. Another theory is that it was actually the breakdown in US/Canada trade relations at the core. Finally, there is a theory that the US Ambassador to Canada caused the disruption when she departed in 2019."

Great letter! Are you going to personalize it and how it has impacted you and your spouse?  

On 10/21/2020 at 9:52 PM, shammykay said:

I have created a massive database for the Immigrant Visa statistics by month plus a visualization of Montreal vs. London for 2019 & 2020.  This is a start of what we could use for social media campaigns / advocacy.

 

EXCEL DATABASE --> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JjNOMFN1ypFVMGzYMn7e3jcJ_CUWZt3W/view?usp=sharing

GRAPH LONDON vs. MONTREAL --> https://drive.google.com/file/d/14qDtq1C-J84MIRAjODRbMp4KuqyfpamO/view?usp=sharing

Good day to you!  Hope everyone reading had a good weekend! 
 

@shammykay, are you able to make a table that compares the UK rates to CAN rates so we can post to the consulates social media and to send via email?  Something compact like the one I posted last week? 
 

If anyone is afraid to use their own social media to message the consulate, make a new one that isn’t identifiable.  This week is the week we should inundate them with messages if we don’t see movement.  I know people are frustrated.  This isn’t what we had in mind when choosing to move to be with our spouses.