PNWUnited

Ladies, gentlemen, others, I am pleased to announce that 3.5 years and a $5,000 USD mandamus suit later, we have lift-off.
 

This afternoon I have sent my passport and supporting items to Montreal. One step closer. Just hoping that re-opening the DS-260 not another dirty trick for delaying me; I am somewhat paranoid at this point. Otherwise, it felt good.

Hi everyone, I finally have some great news. My status changed from "Ready" to "Issued" on December 23, 2022. I received tracking info on December 29, 2022 and received my passport on January 3, 2023. I also successfully crossed to the US on January 3 as well. Got really busy over the holidays and with the moving that I didn't get the chance to update you all.
 
The tracking would have been received sooner and the passport as well however, due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, it was delayed. Regardless, happy to finally be done with this entire process!

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

It's sad. We of course should be happy for the people who have been pushed forward. It feels all the more lonely because other people get to go, and we don't, right? There is just no fairness or justice in this situation, it seems. There is no discernible political or institutional pressure to speak of that would push them to solve Administrative Processing cases with any speed. 
 
It's sort of the--and excuse my dramatic wording here-- "evil genius" of this AP category; no one really cares too much about getting people out of it. After all, the *original* presumption for this status category is that there was something wrong, somehow, with your application, maybe missing documentation on the innocuous side, or a background that reasonably calls for them to give you more scrutiny than already given, etc. That's clearly not what it is actually being used for in a lot of our cases, now, but that is the institutional idea that surrounds it.
 
And so no one cares about the AP people. AP is like a dumping ground where they can leave you and forget about you for a long while, after already having processed you through other background checks and the interview, just leaving you in a black hole. It is a tool that the govt already had, that as of late has been used, at least in all appearances, cynically. This has left us people in this thread in a no-win position where we are either forced to wait indefinitely or try to buy our way out (with very expensive WOM suits). 
 
Make no mistake, I feel your sadness. I am more able than many to afford to travel to see my wife and be able to access sufficient credit to get the lawsuit going, but it has done financial harm to me. It has all added insult to injury, and it is being done to genuine, honest people who (in all cases that I know of) have faithfully followed the immigration laws of the United States, even while we continually hear in the news about people that do it the wrong way but find ways to stay there. I am not happy with the whole thing and, yes, i do find what has happened to myself, and to you, and to the others, as a form of injustice.
 
Let us hope for better times ahead. We are not there yet.
 

for timeline purposes, my moms passport shipped today. about 4 full business days after approval. She was approved on December 9th

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

After my fiancé received the 221g, we had paperwork arrive to the processing center on Oct 7th and we are still waiting for a response. However, another VJ member that had docs arrive on Oct 3rd just had their visa processed on Nov 10th, and another member that had their docs arrive Sept 13th had their visa issued Oct 20th. It appears that they do not typically get processed sooner than 5-6 weeks, although like everyone else stated- they can be quite unpredictable! I can let you know when if I get an update on mine just to give you more of an idea on their current processing times!

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

Just figured I’d put my timeline update in here for any that are silently tracking timelines:
-interview date for K1 visa on October 6, 2022 - PO verbally said approved but needed to submit a certified doc. 221g issued ONLY.
- doc arrived at third party document facility Oct 7th.
*** Doc was shipped from the US so I used FedEx hoping to get it in their hands before Thanksgiving on Oct 10th. Later I learned the facility only picks up on Mondays and Thursday’s anyways, so keep that in mind in case you are ever debating if you need to spend more on faster delivery (if using a different courier)
- Oct 13th: sent them email to inform them they it should have arrived. 
- Oct 21st: reply from Montreal saying it takes a few days to reach them after it’s shipped and a generic reply saying once docs are received and review is complete, I’ll get further details.
*** they also said using a different courier may cause longer mail processing delays (it just didn’t make sense for us to use their courier unfortunately)
-Oct 27: emailed Montreal to see if they could at least confirm they have my document and that it’s not lost somewhere 
- Nov 7: reply from consulate with a generic reply, and the same closing statement that I’ll receive more info once complete. The shot answer is no, they cannot.
- Nov 22: googled the address of the third party mail site and it came up as Clippers. We called them and had confirmation that the document was passed on to the embassy and in fact picked up.
- Nov 24: emailed them asking if I should just send another document with their courier and if they would be easier to process.
- Nov 29: status changed to application received 
- Dec 5: sorta ignored my question BUT the closing statement now changed to “your passport and sealed visa packet will be returned to you as soon as the visa is issued” instead of the regular “we cannot predict when the processing of your visa will be compete blah blah blah.. we will contact you as soon as it’s complete”. This made me think it should be any day now..
-Dec 7th: status changed to application approved 
- Dec 8th: status changed to issued in the morning
- tracking emailed on Dec 8th (few hours after status changed) and updated on the courier website.
- Dec 12 visa arrived in Vancouver BC literally as soon as the post office opened. Received an email that it was ready for pick up by 9:30am.
- Fiancé crossed at Blaine/Peace arch border and the border agents were SUPER nice. Went inside for 30 minutes while they went through the paperwork, didn’t even need to look through all the stuff in the cars (Canadian vehicle was not being imported at the time). 

Total 9 weeks and 4 days until visa in hand (this included 2 holidays - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day).
 
Glad to not be dealing with Montreal anymore and I’m wishing the best of luck to anyone else waiting on them!!! Hopefully this helps some other soul looking for a timeline, cause I was surely was!
 
 

It’ll go by quick! Wanna hear something crazy? We found out he got approved on November 10th and when he got his visa, it said it expires Jan 25th. I’m like… that is so quick! I guess they went by his medical exam. We thought we would have a few months but nope… hahaha.

Correction!! He said it took him 10 business days to receive the visa. Before it said 4-6 but after he got approved, it took 10 days!

Congratulations to you and your family!! 
Quick question- Do they email when the passport has been shipped? We were issued on the 6th, but haven't heard anything since. 

Congrats on your visa! And awesome it delivered fast! 
 
and yes we are so happy about the timing of the issuance. Thanks again for sharing your timeline and the number to call see if embassy picked up the documents from sorting facility 

Congratulations!!! Should only be a matter of days now Ours changed to issued on the 8th and will be arriving today (all the way to Vancouver B.C) so looks like your mom should have a visa in hand in no time. So happy to hear you got that Christmas miracle!!

Congratulations!!! Should only be a matter of days now Ours changed to issued on the 8th and will be arriving today (all the way to Vancouver B.C) so looks like your mom should have a visa in hand in no time. So happy to hear you got that Christmas miracle!!

OMG my moms visa is issued!!!! I cannot believe I saw those words on CEAC site. 
432 days after her interview, it’s been issued. 
 
man I’m so happy and thankful for this. 
 
on Tuesday my congressperson got a reply from embassy that they didn’t have my documents. I had sent everything and it was received by third party sorting facility on November 10. 

this Wednesday the date changed. It changed again Thursday. It changed again today. And two later later the status changed from refused to issued! 
 
what a hellish process and im really
hoping people see issues soon for their cases

Omg guys!!! Our status just changed to APPROVED!!!!!!! I can’t believe we made it!!!! 😭 

Just thought I would give you guys an update and share the good news.
 
As of Dec 6th the CEAC portal is showing issued!!! I have not received an email yet but the in the portal it says my visa is in final processing and should be mailed to me within the next 10 days! 😀
 
What a journey, been waiting since 2019. I am so thankful it is coming to an end and I can move on from this chapter and start my married life with my partner. 
 
To everyone else waiting, stay positive, i know its a struggle, and its not fair, but it will happen for you too! 
 

My status changed to "ISSUED" this morning!!  3 weeks + 1 day from my interview and 1 business day after we put in a request with our congressperson.  I will update you all when I receive my tracking # and passport as I couldn't find many threads about medicals delaying this process.  My medical was received by the consulate the morning after my interview.  I was completely dumbfounded by how long this took.  

My interview was on November 14th at 8:00am - I was approved pending medical.  I had my medical appointment over a week in advance but there was an issue with getting the X-Ray back so my medical wasn't received by the consulate until November 15th am.  The consulate officer told me that if my medical was received in short order that it wouldn't put me behind at all and that my passport should be mailed on that Friday.  I now know from reading these forums that it was a blatant lie.  There was an update to my file on November 15th and November 22nd.
 
It is now December 2nd and I'm still 'refused' in the CEAC portal which means at best my passport will go out next Friday (4 weeks post interview).  I am posting this because this forum has been so helpful for me trying to get answers since the consulate seems to have a problem giving people any information while their lives hang in the balance.  When I went for my interview there were 15 windows and only 3 seemed operational.  Obviously there is a staffing problem! This is beyond infuriating knowing that if the doctor's office hadn't messed up, I would probably be with my hubby in the US by now!  
 
This is my story and I will update regularly in hopes of helping some other poor soul in this situation find peace.  My in laws are pretty heavily involved in politics in VA.  I have my father in law reaching out to his congress person today and he will escalate this to the Governor if need be.  This is not acceptable to hold onto people's passports (from another country - in my case Canada) for this length of time with no communication.  I have clients in the US and my hubby and I are seeing a fertility specialist in NYC so this is beyond maddening as I'm sure it is for all of us here in this situation. 
 
I have been in this process since late 2019 and to have this delay at the end is maddening.  I will update here as Montreal updates me at their glacial pace!

Not at all. I emailed the embassy 2 weeks after my interview since I was placed in administrative processing and originally was told no additional documents were needed. There was no update to my file since the day of my interview. They responded to me a week later and told me they were waiting to receive my police certificate. If I didn't email them I wouldn't have known this.