Idlewild

Just wanted to provide an update on my case. Passport picked up today, with visa approved. Some notes I've collected for this great forum that avoided the need for any consultant or lawyer to get through it... Thanks to @From_CAN_2_US for his thorough list of documents to bring to the interview. Didn't end of needing more than what was listed on official websites, but good piece of mind. Do as much of the medical BEFORE the actual medical. What I mean is, get all your shots not long after being DQ'd. In our case, it was mostly boosters. Some shots require 2 rounds, several weeks apart. The medical process for us, was a complete cakewalk by being prepared. The Dr. even commended our preparedness. Denial of Entry to the US during COVID lockdowns, even though officially known as "Withdrawn", is still a Denial of Entry. If this happened to you as it did for my immigrating spouse, go file a FOIA request to at least get the document/evidence showing this incident. Answer honestly on the DS-260. The officer will confirm this info, but honesty seems to be the best policy. You CAN "delay" the overall visa process. In our case, we wanted to wait a bit before leaving Canada. After the I-130 was approved, we waited about 8-9 months before submitting the DS-260. No issue doing that. Montreal is a great city for food, budget some time ahead of the interview if you can, to enjoy what it offers, even when it's freezing out. Book a hotel within a 15-20 minute walk of the consulate to avoid needing cabs. We will cross sometime later this month via US-preclearance at YYZ. Good luck to the remainder of you!

Interesting. Did they also take the sponsors birth certificate?

Yeah I suppose I can see some misunderstanding. One older couple in front of us was debating with the Dr. over one shot apparently not required for over 60 or something like that. I wouldn't ever risk this, just get them all! Anyway good luck to us both - we're almost there!

Thanks for the review, I was going to do a similar post for the medical experience yesterday, so I'll piggyback on to your post with it: Location: Scarborough (Toronto) Dr: Dr Randall Lee Experience: Overall, very good interactions with the Dr and office staff, but brutal wait times. Not really organized well. Arrived early for 9:30AM appointment, and was out of there by 3pm. I recommend arriving 30 minutes early for this office, as 15 minutes early put us behind a very slow family. Advice: BE PREPARED. <rant> I'm sure I'll get hate for this, but it truly blows my mind how unprepared some people are for this. I am the USC assisting my spouse through the process, and made sure my spouse had all boosters, vaccinations, before the medical exam. Dr. Lee told my spouse directly "Thank you for being so organized", as if most people are not prepared. Made his life so much easier, and there was zero followup required after the exam. Multiple people before and after us were missing a multitude of shots from what I overheard in the office. I cannot understand why, as all this info is on this wonderful forum, among official websites that lay it all out perfectly clearly, yet it seemed like none of them ever even looked at the required list. One guy had his family (of 5) in for an exam and was super nonchalant about the whole medical exam, saying "I wasn't sure if I needed to do this". Complete idiot. </rant>. Anyhow, we were told we'd be notified of when our medical info would be submitted to the consulate, and also told we had "plenty of time" (interview is April 4).

This really is a great option. I did this several times moving to (and living in) Canada. Now my spouse is moving with me to the US. I would recommend from cheapest to most expensive: Flights (without checking) over a long period of several trips. @WeekendPizzaiolo's mention of Amtrak. Fantastic idea. Even Greyhound may offer this option. UHaul/trailer - but a lot of driving... uPack/PODS Full service mover

That's what I was afraid of. Did you get the notification at a US address, or a from a (former) Canadian address? I ask, because I plan to sever all ties as part of my immigration, and not really have any Canadian address any longer.

Can you share how you got notified? I was trying to do some research recently as to how I need to notify the government of a US address / non-resident status.

Same for me, IL received overnight, April 4 interview, DQ 11/21.

Thanks for notifying about this stat on the consulate page, I had no idea. https://ca.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/consular-operations-updates/ The timeline search is frustrating to use, and it's too bad the operators of VJ don't create a few pages on the data entered to answer your question (like they do for NOA1, NOA2 data), but from what I can scrounge from the timelines: Based on this and data maintained by @Hawk Riders, Nov DQ's should expect the IL to come any day now...

Kinda coincidental that we both have the same date of August 29, 2022 on our RCMP check, even though my fingerprint was done later on August 5. I went through a local Commissionaires office and they used "Other" in the Type section. Unfortunately, I think others are correct, you will have to resubmit the background check so it shows the proper Type.

To pick at this a bit, is there a rule stating anywhere from USCIS/State Dept.? From a practical standpoint, I think this statement is agreeable (USC already had to prove US ties, most people travel together, etc.). Is this because the IR1/CR1 visa legally assumes that the USC is already-in, or will be in the US at the time of the spouse immigrant entry?

Based on some quick analysis I did yesterday, I think you should see an April, perhaps even May interview. I scanned the timelines of a variety of folks who now show scheduled interview dates for IR1/CR1, and it seems like some in the mid/later October DQ dates got mid-late March interview dates.

As a further update, in the past week, YYZ removed all but about 6 GE machines in Terminal 1. I hope this gets replaced by about new 30 machines. I don't mean to get into politics (it's news!), but the meeting between the US/Canada last week did result in "un-freezing" some headaches with NEXUS approval and such. Hopefully that means things get back to pre-covid efficiency.

Apologies to bring this up again, but I finally saw my FOIA request complete from DHS. All I have is an almost entirely blank I-213 form, from a COVID-19 land crossing that was attempted but failed (when the border was closed to US non-residents/citizens). There's only basics like name, and such. At the bottom it does say "Withdrawal (WD2)". I'm assuming this means voluntary departure, as that is exactly what we did. Just turned around, and went back to Canada. Googling, most people that have real issues with DHS have what appears to be a whole rap sheet of details - physical appearance, criminal history, etc. This one I received provides almost zero info about the incident, beyond date/time. I'm assuming that is a good thing? Tagging @Chancy and @mam521

Fascinating, this should be stickied somewhere. My spouse was "denied" during covid in 2021, as a Canadian driving to the US, with me the USC as the driver. Far as I know, there was no official record taken of that, because we didn't actually cross. I nonetheless made sure to list this incident on the application, and since then, been DQ'd. I'm not sure if our Nexus cards would've shown this record though, at the least, a very short "US stay". We were told by US CBP in kinda odd-to-hear-terms, that we could try another border crossing (the same day!) to try our luck. We didn't. But, still an incredibly odd process/procedure, as like many have said for a variety of reasons - it's ALWAYS the discretion of the officer(s)! The officers were very nice about it, and we didn't debate them at all, as we already knew Canadian's were not allowed to cross for a period of time during covid (although it worked once before during covid). I may be naive, but I have to believe any Montreal officer would know a denied crossing during covid would be a very reasonable denial and not something to be flagged/look-into further.

Yes, they do have GE machines, but the pandemic hasn't gone well for them. I've left from YYZ a couple times since the start, and many machines are off or not working. Usually only about 6 of about 30 are functional in Terminal 1. I do miss the pre-pandemic days when it was almost always very smooth, with plenty of machines available. My NEXUS card didn't work, or the facial recognition a few weeks ago when I used it. It still saves a ton of time even if you have to stand in line for a talk with an officer, as the NEXUS/GE lines are very short. I think during the pandemic, they updated the software to use facial recognition a bit differently, but I could be wrong. I used to just scan my card, wait for the photo snap, and get a receipt. Nowadays, it's almost entirely driven by photo for full identification, and is more finicky. The newer (black) NEXUS machines are like this, but are much slower to use than the old Red kiosks IMO.

Few questions if you don't mind... How did they know you were in-process for immigration in May, did they ask? At what part of the process were you in during the border crossing? From your timeline, it would appear you were waiting for DQ. Are you working on getting an IR1/CR1? How long was the trip, and was it just for leisure, or work? I'm asking because my spouse has a trip booked via air to the US early next year, and was just DQ'd. We're just doing a weeklong trip for leisure. Since starting this very long application journey, I now bring along a moderately recent pay stub, tax payment, and mortgage contract as evidence that there is no reason to break immigration law - and that these are just short-term visits.

Really appreciate this update. Take your time, and thanks for this effort. Thought I had pissed you off or something! 😀

Ha! Appropriate response, it’s 22 on my laptop, but 21 EST, so no time traveling just time zone shifting! Fully DQ’d as far as I can see from the simple message in the NVC inbox, that said “Documentarily Qualified”. I assumed I’d be delayed a little because of the missing photo at first submission, which had everything else needed.

Initial submission: October 1 Added photo within a week later DQ'd : November 22

I wouldn't read too much into that situation. The poster says "Actually NVC made a mistake about my case last time". Who knows what that vague sentence means, but I'd guess for anyone submitting their application for the first time to the NVC, they'll have to wait for the reported ~60 days wait.

I just submitted all the stuff a few weeks ago, and had this exact same problem. First upload - fail, second - right through. Was wondering if it might be due to some browser extensions I have in Firefox, but not sure why. Either way, I see the files, and the expected "date uploaded", so I have to have faith everything is good.

I'd roll with what I linked you, as it does say you need within-6-months photos. I'm just about to submit my application, with only one thing left - ironically just need to get a fresh set of photos! 😅

What did you submit with your DS-260? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/photos.html

Arrived today! 3 weeks to the day! Not too shabby...