AJSin1

@T.J My status went from Ready to Issued by the same afternoon. The portal has some glitches. The trick with the ceac portal is to add 'NA' in the passport number and Surname. That should bring up your case status. @OWO I had received an email a couple of weeks before the interview informing me that I needed to provide an updated Canadian police certificate since the one I submitted initially was over two years old. You bring all the originals and updated documents to the actual appointment. I confirmed this with the staff at the consulate via email. I received my passport with the stamp today. Had opted for premium delivery.

Hi everyone, here's our entire interview experience. Hope that it helps all of you. I've updated the spreadsheet as well. Thanks to the VJ community for all the support throughout the years. Visa Category - EB1A Foreign state of Chargeability - Canada DQ Date - Sep 27, 2023 Interview Letter Date - Oct 29, 2025 Interview Date - Dec 12, 2025 Medical Exam Experience: Took the exam at Visa Doctor (Dr. Lyndon Mascarenhas) in Toronto on Nov 24. Cost was 420 CAD per person. Bring a debit card/cash if you'd like to avoid the 3% credit card fees. We received confirmation of the results getting submitted on Dec 8. Everything with submitted to the consulate electronically. Interview Experience: My wife and I arrived the evening before and stayed at Comfort Suites Downtown which is a 6 minute walk from the consulate. Nothing special but gets the job done and had breakfast and coffee starting at 630 AM. We had our appointment at 750 AM. We arrived at 740 AM. Maybe since we were one of the first ones, there wasn't a line. I've heard people have had to wait outside so please dress appropriately for Montreal cold. Upon entering the building, the security asked us to come in the door, checked our names, photos and passport, followed by airport style security. There is a tiny locker for phones and smart watches. They also handed us a print out with a checklist for documents. Everyone was professional and nice. After security, we took the elevator to the main consulate area on floor 1. There were only 2-3 other applicants at this time. There was a table where they asked us to reorganize our documents. Documents included passports, 2 photos, marriage certificate, birth certificates, police certificates from all countries you've lived in for longer than 6 months. Other civil documents were listed such as death and divorce certificates but they didn't apply to us. First stop: We went to a desk where someone helped with the initial check of names, visa category, documents and photocopies. They also put all documents in their preferred order and stapled for us as needed. Finally, they gave us a ticket number and asked us to wait for next step. Took 5-10 minutes. Second stop: We were called to a window where they did a thorough check of our civil documents, asked questions about full names, current address, phone number, lawyer on file, if we've had previous marriage, kids and name changes. The woman pulled a giant folder with our entire file so she didn't ask for any supporting documents since they already had everything. They also confirmed the address in the US but we took this as an opportunity to change the US address we had on file since our plans had changed since we first submitted our DS-260. If you plan to do the same, it'll be helpful to bring a piece of paper with the name and full address of the address you want your green card and social security card to get delivered. She asked us if we had changed it online and we said no. She said she can't confirm the change she input will be applied. Third stop: Next, we moved to another window right away where we provided our fingerprints. Took about 5 minutes. Final stop: I've heard people have waited for an hour or so for their final interview but we waited 10 minutes max before we were called to a window around the corner and down the hall for the final interview with a consulate officer. Officer was pleasant and told us to not be nervous. My wife is the principal applicant and a very accomplished Canadian athlete (hence the EB1A). He even said to her "It's an honour to meet you ma'am" which I'm sure she really enjoyed. He asked very basic questions around the work we'll be doing in the US, where we've lived for more than 6 months. He spent majority of the time confirming our civil documents. He didn't look at anything else and thanked us for being overprepared. He kept our passports, photos and original police certificates. Returned everything else. Took a total of 15 minutes max. At the end, the officer said that everything looks good and that he'll approve the visa later in the afternoon. He also provided a print out that included information about tracking the passport delivery. Few more things: We brought a giant file with every document imaginable but they only cared about passports, photos, police certificates, birth certificates and marriage certificate. However, we're glad that we were overprepared. We had originals and scans in color, and then copies in black and white to make it obvious and quick which was which. Bring one photocopy of every civil document. Stick to straightforward and concise answers. Just answer with yes or no if asked a yes/no question. At the first window, I provided more context than I was asked and they told me to just answer their question which threw me off. There were no trick questions. Everything revolved around checking your documents and very easy questions. We overheard other applicants with the staff and some people did not have some documents with them such as marriage certificates. Be prepared. Review the requirements. Save yourself stress! And just like that, our nearly 3 year journey concluded. We were in and about in about 40 minutes since we barely had any waiting time. We love Canada and will probably return one day but I have to say, waiting out in the Montreal winter really made us want to move to warmer temperatures in the US 😀

Hi everyone, I also finally received my IL. Doesn't feel real. Category - EB1A DQ - Sep 2023 IL - Oct 28, 2025 Interview Date - December 12, 2025 PD - Current Country of Chargeability - Canada Please note that my case got stuck for almost one extra year because of some error by the NVC since I had transferred my case twice. Hence, the Sep 2023 DQ date. I'll continue to share my experience once the interview is completed.

Congrats! Happy to see an IL for EB candidates after so long. Was your case expedited or just regular processing?

Hi everyone! I'm back in this group. For some reason, VJ didn't work for me in India. Life happened and I had to move to India so I transferred my case to Mumbai in Aug 2024. Sadly, I never got my IL even though I should have got one. Mumbai seems to have really slowed down with EB interviews. For anyone considering moving their EB case to India, please keep this in mind. Now that I'm back in Canada, I just transferred my case back to Montreal. EB1A, DQ date is Sep 2023 and PD is current. Hopefully, I get an IL soon since Montreal has already reached Jan 2024 DQ dates. I'll keep everyone posted.

Question - I have a remote friendly job here in Canada. Once I move to the States after receiving the green card, is it possible to work my Canadian job down there for a couple of months while I search for a new job locally? I'm not sure how the tax situation works once you enter the US as a green card resident.

I'm flying to NYC next month and would like to get my COVID shot down south since they are not available in Canada at the moment. Is it possible to get a shot if you're traveling the US as a tourist?

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.

Nice to see another solid jump in the number of EB green cards issued by Montreal in May - 192. Up from 121 in April and 87 in March. Just need to see them send out more interview letters soon. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html

Good to see they've added that section back for transparency. Although it looks like there's been no progress on the EB interview wait times.

Strange. That's usually for when the visa is issued. I have heard that status changes before letters go out, maybe yours got changed to something else by accident. You can probably expect an IL soon in my opinion. What's your DQ date?

Not sure if this has been shared already but good to see 121 green cards being issued under the Employment category at Montreal in April. It was 87 in March. Lack of transparency and consistency from Montreal consulate isn't great but they seem to be working towards clearing that backlog. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html

If your case status says at NVC, you need to contact NVC to transfer your case through their public enquiry form. Include your proof of citizenship in the attachments. That is what has worked for the multiple people I spoke with. Switching consulates is pretty common and straightforward. Just make sure you know are prepared with all your documents and how to go about medical/biometrics for the consulate in France since you'll have to leave the country for a few weeks to go through the process. Here is all the information for the green card consular processing at the consulate in Paris - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/PRS-Paris.html

Yes Montreal is the one of the slowest consulates to process applications and are also notorious for putting many applicants through administrative processing that adds about an additional year in processing. You should do some research on the US consulate in France and check the processing times there. You can easily transfer your case to France based on your citizenship. I know a bunch of people who have moved their cases and gotten approved way faster. I'm planning to move my case as well.

I'm still waiting for my interview and I've been to the US many times after being DQ'd. I even got my Nexus card approved this week. Never had any questions asked about my green card application. Just be honest if they ever ask.