VRG

On 3/22/2025 at 12:02 PM, eoej said:

Hi everyone,

 

I wish to share my experience in this ‘journey that requires patience.’ I extend my sincere gratitude to all those who have shared their experiences, as your contributions are immensely valuable to this community. Too long, but may be helpful for others!

 

Background:

• I was in the U.S. on an F1 visa and worked under STEM OPT for 2.5 years. I missed out on the H1B lottery twice. My employer then decided to sponsor my green card and had to leave the U.S. because my OPT expired. I applied for Canada PR when I was studying in the U.S., so I moved to Canada.
• I continued working for my US employer from Canada while the green card process was ongoing. While in Canada, I missed out on the H1B lottery again twice. During my time in Canada, I applied for B1/B2 so I can visit the States.
• I visited the States via the land border more than 100 times for personal reasons with no problems at the border. I applied for Canadian citizenship at the end of last year, and it is still in process (it was a pain filling out my absences due to my numerous travels).

Profile:

• Class: EB2
• Country: ROW
• Priority date: 21 Sep 2022
• I-140 Approval: 9 Sep 2023 (approved in 3 days via premium processing)
• NVC Welcome Letter: 02 Oct 2023
• Civil documents ‘A’ received by NVC: 18 Jan 2024
• Civil documents ‘B’ received by NVC: 29 Jan 2024
  • I got a letter back from NVC to send in my proof of residence in Canada. I forgot to add to the first document.
• DQ: 09 Feb 2024
• Interview Letter (IL) received: 31 Jan 2025
  • For some time now, Montreal sends IL for EB category at the end of the month.
• Interview Date: 18 Mar 2025 @ 9:30AM
  • Once you get an IL, your status will show ‘In-Transit’, then when Montreal receives the physical files from NVC, it will change to “At Montreal’, then it will later change to ‘Ready’.
• Current visa status: Issued as of 18 March.

Medical exams:

• I did medicals on February 25, with Dr. Lydon. The process was smooth. Be sure to get all your vaccines and send them to him when you register for an appointment. Depending on your age, you may need only an x-ray, an x-ray and blood test, or an x-ray, blood test, and urine test. The x-ray is in the basement of the building. Blood and urine tests are done across the street at Life Labs (it’s recommended to make an appointment online ahead of time to reduce waiting time).
• In my experience, you will spend a maximum of 20 minutes at Dr. Lydon’s office and about 20 minutes at the x-ray. The medicals were sent to the consulate about 10 days after the exam (unless you have a follow-up with Dr. Lydon). You will see an update to the ‘Last Update date’ to your DS-260 case status once they receive your medical results.

Hotel reservation:

I stayed at the Best Western Hotel (recommended: a 2–3-minute walk to the US Consulate, fair price, friendly reception, and flexible with late check-out).

 

Interview:

Interview was scheduled for 9:30AM. Arrived at the embassy at 9:20AM. If you have kids and cannot get a babysitter for them, go with them (It’s nice to email the Consulate about that but not required). Remember to take their ID and some books for them and yourself to keep them busy while waiting. I went through TSA/Airport-like security and was given a ticket number and a small piece of paper that tells you how to arrange your documents before you see the officer. You will then be directed to go to the first floor.

Once I got to the first floor, I just grabbed a seat and waited for your number to show up on the screen.

• First Officer: Documents check and verification. They will ask for the originals of the civil documents. You will NOT need to go with photocopies as they have all the photocopies that were sent to NVC. They will cross check to make sure all the information is correct. The Officer asked for a copy of I-140 approval (weird). I told her I would have to look through my documents if I brought it. She later asked me to sit down and show it to the officer during the interview, if I find it. The time with this Officer took about 20-25 minutes because she also checked my spouse’s documents as we applied together. I was then asked to sit down and wait for my number to show up to see the second officer.
• Second Officer: Fingerprints. She took my biometrics (4 left fingers, 4 right fingers, and then the index fingers) and told me to sit down until I am called for the interview with the officer. She took about 5-10 minutes.
• Third Officer: Actual interview. There was a long wait before we were called. We were first asked to take an oath to provide true information. After the oath, our biometrics were taken (this time, only the left 4 fingers) as a form of a signature to the oath. I was asked to sign the offer letter (note: this is employer sponsored. Not required for NIW folks!), and she signed her portion. She did not ask about the i-797 form (i-140 approval) – this is not required so I do not understand why the first officer asked!
  • She asked a couple of questions:
    • How long have you been working for your employer?
    • What is your job title?
    • Where are you intending to settle in the US?
    • Have you been arrested before?
    • What was your visa status when you were in the US?
    • Have you had trouble crossing the border in the past?
    • How long have you been in Canada?
  • After these, she told me your visas have been approved, and I have issued your visas. You should get your passport soon and she handed us a paper on how we can track our passports. She told me to do our landing before 25 August (which is 6 months from the medical). The interview took about 15 minutes and finished at 12PM exactly. So, expect about 2.5 hours (it could be less depending on your ticket number) to go through this process.

All the staff (visa officers and security) were nice and friendly.  This is more like formality and nothing serious!

 

After Interview:

• In about 2.5 hours after the interview, my status had changed from Ready to Issued.
• At 12:40PM on 19 March, I received an email that my passport has been released to Purolator with the tracking information.
• At 1PM on 20 March, I missed the delivery, although I was home. They did not knock harder or ring the bell. Purolator left a notice at my door.
• At 9:30AM on 21 March, I picked up my envelope (passport & do not open envelope’) from the Purolator office.

Next steps:

• Looking forward to landing before 25 Aug 2025.
• Planning on apply re-entry permits to enable me stay in Canada for 1 more year due to some personal reasons.
• Navigating tax residency issues.

 

I’m happy to answer any questions. Good luck everyone!

 

Glory to God! God is the greatest! Jesus is Lord! #gratefulheart🙏

Thank you for taking time and sharing all the details. Very helpful.

4 hours ago, God Is Good CA said:

Amazing! Last week I received an IL from the Consulate for end of June. As my case has expedited, I believe they scheduled. What were the dates/months available when you logged?

 

Good to know you got your interview letter. That's better than scheduling the interview by yourself. When I logged, it was showing only one date and one time slot available. It must be due to someone cancelled the interview.

On 4/15/2025 at 6:33 PM, Panda_ said:

 

Yes,  sent an email to the consulate and also talked to Customer support. The standard answer is to keep trying. For me, this is the first time scheduling the interview.

@Panda_ @God Is Good CA @samq26 I just booked my appointment. I was getting the same System is busy message for several days. I just checked randomly and found one slot was open and able to book it. Did you book your interviews as well?

18 hours ago, Najee said:

Hello,

i have requested to transfer my IV case from Pakistan to Montreal Canada. The Us consulate approved my request in Sep 2024, but still I haven’t heard back. 
I contacted US consulate in Montreal, they said we haven’t received the file.

how long more it will take to Montreal receive my case file from Pakistan?

Can you contact the US consulate in Pakistan and inquire about the case transfer? If Montreal has not received yet, the file is probably still at US consulate in Pakistan.

14 hours ago, EngrYaseen said:

Hi guys, I am also in a similar situation for my parent`s IR5 case transfer from Islamabad to Montreal. We made a request to Montreal in June got accepted on 24th July 2024, and since then there hasn't been any update. Had emailed Montreal 3 times but no response yet. Their CAEC status hasn't even changed since their last interview date ( in July 2024 ) . My parents had missed their interview twice in Islamabad as both times they were in Canada. We all siblings are in America and they are super old to stay backhome alone. I am wondering should I wait for couple of months more and then request ISL to schedule their interview again ? Is it normal that it has been close to 4 Months and not even status update on CAEC ???

 

I have talked to people whose cases were in NVC state when they made request to transfer to Montreal and was done in 2-3 weeks. 

From my understanding, once Montreal approve the case transfer, they will request the foreign consulate to send the case file to Montreal. Once the file is received and based on their work load, Montreal will schedule the interview. Your parent's case file might have been transferred to Montreal already and waiting for interview scheduling. This is my guess. Also, I'm not sure if the consulate to consulate transfer will change the status in NVC.

My case transfer request sent to Montreal in July is still pending and no response yet other than one response in September that they are reviewing the request. Did Montreal send you an email accepting the case transfer in July?

I did contact NVC and they redirected to reach out to the consulate we are transferring to and follow their process.

12 hours ago, samq26 said:

@VRG did you request to transfer the case to Montreal? How was the experience? Could you please share the process? Thanks..

I've initiated the transfer from Mumbai to Montreal following the process mentioned in below link.

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=dFDPZv5a0UimkaErISH0Sy1YoH0qhFtLmlsn5fRWtORUM1VNMVlYWFAzNldZRU5KUjgwTjhFOVFWTCQlQCN0PWcu&route=shorturl

Montreal consulate responded after 8 weeks that they have received the request and reviewing it and will provide next steps after the review is complete. I'm still waiting for them to approve the case transfer and request Mumbai to send them the case file. It will be 3 months in another week and still waiting.

15 hours ago, mam521 said:

Montreal, in general, takes 6-8 weeks to respond to anything.  

Thank you for the insight

14 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

If you're really happy with the wait at Montreal and are resident in Canada, then follow the process given here - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html#ivp13

 

Good luck. 

Thanks for the response. Though not happy with the wait, I don't see any other option. So, I have initiated the Case Transfer to Montreal couple of weeks back by sending email to Montreal. Still waiting for a response. 

Anyone has transferred their case to Montreal before and can provide a sense of response times for case transfer requests from Montreal? Appreciate it.

Hi,

Has anyone transferred their case to US Consulate Montreal after interview letter for employment based immigrant visa is received from NVC for a consulate in another country. 

As we are Canadian citizens and reside in Canada, we wanted to transfer our case to Montreal. If anyone has taken this path before, I would like to understand the process and how much delay this will add.

We are well aware of the huge backlog in Montreal and the ILs not being sent out for EB category for months. But we are in a situation where we can't get all the documents for the interview at another country and also the kid's college that can't be skipped.

Appreciate any insight. Thank you.

1 minute ago, EternalWait said:

That's a very weird requirement. I hope this can be waived in your (exceptional) case.

Hope so. I'm writing to them now.

2 minutes ago, EternalWait said:

There is no issue in providing the PCC at the interview, or even later. In the latter case, the officer will just 'refuse' your application until you submit the PCC (you will have to mail it to the embassy after the interview asap). Once that's processed, you will get the visa issued. (not having all the docs at the interview is sth that happens to a lot of people, so don't worry)

Thank you. Mumbai consulate have a requirement to have PCC from India to even admit into the building. There is no way I can get a PCC before my interview date. I'm exploring all the options.

15 minutes ago, EternalWait said:

What's your DQ date? If it's before Dec 2022 and you are in no hurry to get to the US (like waiting 5 months or so is fine), then you should contact the Mumbai embassy directly to transfer to Montreal. Otherwise, I would strongly suggest you to go to the interview, because Montreal is notoriously slow and quite infamous in sending cases with a variety of nationalities to un-ending administrative processing (basically it's the worst place for EB2s).

Thanks for the reply. My DQ is June 2023. I've been following the Montreal processing thinking my case also will be processed in Montreal. I had no clue my case was assigned to Mumbai, India until I received the IL. I will reach out to Mumbai embassy and ask them about the Indian PCC requirements as that's the only challenge I have now to attend the interview. Otherwise, I will have to request to transfer the case to Montreal. My other worry was if my DQ date will be retained. Looking at your message in this thread, looks like the original DQ will be retained. Thank you!

Hello,

Has anyone transferred the case to a different country you currently reside after the Interview Letter has been received?

Example: I currently reside in Canada. But I got an interview letter for Mumbai, India location. Can NVC transfer my case to Montreal Consulate after the Interview Letter is sent?

Thanks

2 hours ago, AJSin1 said:

Congrats on receiving your IL! Not sure why your case is in Mumbai and not Montreal but it is likely because of your citizenship/residence at the time of the initial application. I'm also planning to transfer my case to Mumbai since cases are being processed much faster there than Montreal when it comes to EB applicants. 

 

Please note that you do require Indian police certificate to enter the Mumbai consulate for your interview. It is stated on the website. See link below. You can get your police certificate from India or from the Indian consulate in Canada but the latter takes several weeks so I'm not sure if it'll come through in time for your interview in August.

 

Also, you have to book a biometrics appointment separately in India as they are not done at the consulate during your interview.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/BMB-Mumbai.html

 

Let's connect. Would love to learn from each others experience.

Thank you. I have sent you a personal message.

5 hours ago, sophie22 said:

 

You should contact NVC (via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html ) to tell them about your situation and change your interview location from India to Canada. 

Thanks. I have reached out to them.

2 hours ago, canadian85 said:

That's interesting. Does your case ID start with MTL or BMB?

My case ID starts with BMB. I didn't know the significance of that until you mentioned.

Hello Everyone,

I've received a surprise email from NVC today morning with Interview Letter at US Consulate at Mumbai, India. I was not expecting an interview from Mumbai as we are Canadian Citizens and currently reside in Canada. We have renounced our Indian citizenship when we become Canadian citizens.

I'm pleasantly surprised as well as confused as we are not residing in India and why it was scheduled at Mumbai vs Montreal. The interview is on August 20 and we need to get the medicals done in India.

When we applied DS-260 and sent the documents to NVC, we've sent the PCC only from Canada as there is no need for Indian PCC for Canadian citizens. Also, my son do not have an OCI (rest of us have OCI) and he have only visitor visa to India. Will this cause any issues/delays if we go for interview at Mumbai on a visitor visa for my son.

I'm not sure if anyone has gone through this scenario. Please provide your guidance on getting the EB2 Interview from the country of chargeability where you don't reside currently.

Category: EB-2

Country of Chargeability: India

Priority Date: Apr 2012

DQ: Jun 2023

Thank you.

11 hours ago, jimmy2k said:

I am in the same boat, EB2 India , 01FEB2011.

 

I sent documents to NVC after the retrogression happened, will they continue with the DQ process?

My understanding is that they will continue the DQ process as long as the filing date is current. 

2 hours ago, mm_101 said:

@VRG

you can raise a nvc inquiry by submitting online inquiry form with your case number 

they will add your kids to your file within a week

Thank you so much.

Hello Everyone! I have been following this topic for a while and got a lot of knowledge and information from all the participants. Thank you so much everyone for sharing your experience.

I have received an email from NVC to pay the IV Application Processing Fee for myself and my spouse. But my kids are missing in the invoice. Has anyone gone through this situation? Please provide any information on how you have added the dependents to the case after the NVC sent the invoice for Primary applicant and Spouse. Appreciate your help.

My Case Details Below:

EB-2 India - Priority Date: Apr 19, 2012

I-824 to transfer to NVC Receipt Date: Dec 20, 2021

I-824 Approved: Mar 24, 2023

I will add my details to the Google sheet.

Thank you.