Canadian24

Hello everyone! I am happy to say I've got IL! Our interview is September 19. I'm DQ July 23. Country of chargeability Canada.
There must be a bunch coming this week!🎉

No, no one asked... But my vehicle was added to my husband's policy.  Wasn't too hard, just had to get my SSN first. 

@Lemonslice Thank you! I'm still thinking about it... You are right with the amount of bandwidth. I will follow up if I decide to go ahead!

Yes, lots of consulates with much longer waits - Dhaka for example, currently has a 4 year wait for EB applicants. Lagos is 2.5 years. Ditto Abu Dhabi.
 
Montreal was a 2 year wait not long ago, so they're making progress in getting through the backlog. 

At first I thought this delay in EB visas was due to the current administration deliberately slowing things down, but when I started checking the other consulates around the world, they are all doing very well with many interviewing applicants who DQd in Jun/July 2025. This seems to be a Canada specific issue and I don't understand why and how Montreal could be so far behind other consulates. Can anyone find a single consulate that is doing worse than Montreal? I'm using the IV tool (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/iv-wait-times.html)

A few examples for the G7 countries that are scheduling interviews based on DQ date: 
Canada Montreal (Consulate General) - Apr-2024
France Paris (Embassy) - Apr-2025
Germany Frankfurt (Consulate General) -  Jul-2025
Italy Naples (Consulate General) - Jul-2025
Japan Tokyo (Consulate General) - Jul-2025
United Kingdom London (Embassy) - Feb-2025

Even China, India, and Mexico are doing better than Canada
China Guangzhou - Jun-2025
India Mumbai (Bombay) - Jun-2025
Mexico Ciudad Juarez - May-2024

EB2-NIW- Canadain-Montreal. DQ September 2024, got  60 days reminder on June 2nd said next communication could be IL , still waiting......

Country of birth India, country of residence Canada. EB1 approved Oct 2024, DQ May 15 2025, waiting for interview from Montreal consulate. 

@appleblossom Yes, that’s exactly how I’ve been trying to use the VJ timeline too, but like you said, there isn't enough EB data to be useful at all, or Montreal consulate data to be useful at all. Personally, I also prefer seeing all the raw data in a nice spreadsheet, rather than having VisaJourney select just a few comparables. Agree to disagree on that front, but we’ll make sure the Google Sheet keeps getting passed along and shared with editor access.

@appleblossom Hi! I’ve been on this forum for about two years, and I’ve honestly never found the VisaJourney timeline tool helpful at all. When I search for data, it gives me non-useful info (not specific enough to EB) or super spotty info. Is there a specific way you're using it that actually makes it useful? Or are you working with VisaJourney to help populate the timeline data? If so, fair enough!
On the other hand, the Google spreadsheets have been incredibly helpful over the years, especially for tracking progress in EB, seeing who among us received ILs, and getting a statistical sense of how fast things are moving.

Depressing !
 
https://www.newsweek.com/us-immigration-backlog-hits-all-time-high-2095846

@Journeyman23  I feel you! As someone else said here, it might be perhaps because of summer vacations. But also, they usually hit the quota in August so they might not want to schedule too many. The quota restart October 1st. Last year they did a big jump in August, fingers crossed it's the same this year.  Here are my notes from last year:
As of May/June 2024, they are scheduling January 2023
As of July 2024, they are scheduling January 2023
As of August 2024, they are scheduling May 2023 (January to May (someone is January 5 and another is May 15 at the same time)
As of 3 September 2024, they are scheduling June- August 2023 for end Sept interviews 
 
You can also check out the "Consular Updates" tab in our Google Sheet to get a sense of the patterns. It really varies month to month, sometimes there's nothing for ages, then suddenly a bunch come in. 
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnYTWRgdQB9gj2SyQjBL3fzz5-OS9FJZQXFXCbSe0Ig/edit?gid=911492914#gid=911492914
Really hoping it’s like last year and we see a wave in August, and it's not a slowdown because of the new administration. Fingers crossed!
 

@Canuck201 Made you an editor!
 

That's a good idea. Just easier for everyone. Perhaps we can update the link in the top post

Yes of course! I think I just made everyone an editor. If you are not in it, just request editing acces directly in the Google sheet and I'll accept it.
Here is the link again: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnYTWRgdQB9gj2SyQjBL3fzz5-OS9FJZQXFXCbSe0Ig/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Yes of course! I think I just made everyone an editor. If you are not in it, just request editing acces directly in the Google sheet and I'll accept it.
Here is the link again: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnYTWRgdQB9gj2SyQjBL3fzz5-OS9FJZQXFXCbSe0Ig/edit?gid=0#gid=0

@Cryons4time  That's a great point! I didn't think about that. Fingers crossed you are right! You are giving us some hope! And thank you for your info. I added to the spreedsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnYTWRgdQB9gj2SyQjBL3fzz5-OS9FJZQXFXCbSe0Ig/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Yes of course! I think I just made everyone an editor. If you are not in it, just request editing acces directly in the Google sheet and I'll accept it.
Here is the link again: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnYTWRgdQB9gj2SyQjBL3fzz5-OS9FJZQXFXCbSe0Ig/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Thanks for trying to stay on top of the spreadsheet to keep things organized. Could I have access to the new spreadsheet as well? 

Chargeability- Philippines 
PD - Feb 2019
DQ- April 2024.
 
 
not sure if you noticed from this spreadsheet ! Last year - people who were DQ’ed Jan 2023 to May 2023- most got the IL in Aug 2024. Probably they are short staffed due to summer vacations. Just saying !
 

My DQ is April 2024 for EB1. No IL for me yet. Waiting for it patiently.

Omg! Congrats!! You must be so happy! Thank you for letting us know! So ggod to hear that things are moving!

Hello!
EB2-NIW
PD: Jul 03, 2023
DQ: Jan 03, 2024
IL: Jun 24, 2025
Interview: Aug 08, 2025

PD Jun 9, 2023; DQ Feb 2024. EB2-NIW, filed with Chen. At the time of filing 4 peer reviewed scientific journal publications. Citations were only 50+, but my case was strong as the publications belong to the top journals in my field.
 
Regarding the interview. We spent a total of 1.5 hours at the Consulate, from security screening to leaving the building. I trust someone must have post their interview details in this forum so I won’t go in details about the interview. Below are the procedures and especially some notes that will be useful for many applicants at MTL:
 
1. Security screening:
 
Once entered the Consulate premise on the ground floor, I was instructed to take my backpack elsewhere as backpacks are not allowed in the building. A Tims Horton nearby with a kind lady allowed me to leave my bag in the store after I explained to her my circumstances.
 
Only my documents and water bottles were allowed. Phones had to be switched off. Phones, keys, electronics, earphones were stored in a locker before I headed to the interview floor.
 
2. The interview procedure itself consisted of 4 parts:
 
- All documents and photocopies were checked and verified for completeness, given back to us; then we were issued a ticket number and waited for the next step.
- An officer called our number to collect our documents, scan our photos and passports, and asked a few questions about our visa category, current address, employment, etc. Pretty straightforward. Then we waited.
- Called again for fingerprinting
- Called for the last time for the formal, actual interview by another officer. Interview questions were more personal such as my career goals and my endeavors are, what companies I wish to work for upon migrating to the US, how long we’ve married for, where did we live in the past 10 years. He went thru our police certificates and made sure the Canadian ones are valid (less than 2 years old). Questions were into the details, but the officer was courteous and polite. We were told that he would need to do “another security check before finalizing the approval”. Kept our passports and told us to check the status the following week (our interview was on a Friday).
 
I checked my status in the afternoon on the same date and it was “Issued”. We were pleasantly surprised for the quick results.
 
Some noted for interview candidates at Mtl:
 
- Don’t bring your backpack. Just your documents and a clear file.
- Make photocopies of ALL original documents before the interview. They don’t make photocopies for you. You will be turned away if you don’t have copies of important documents like passports and birth certificates.
- For our case, expired police certificates from previous countries of residence were accepted, although we visited (short trips for a few days) those countries after the certificates were issued. We never come back there to live or work. If we did, I guess we would have to obtain the latest certificates.
- Once you leave the building after the interview, you won’t be allowed to come back in.
 
Hope that helps!

I had an interview at MTL consulate this morning. My case is EB2-NIW. The interview went well, original police certs and birth certs were given back to us at the interview, except for our passports. The officer said that he “will approve our case in the afternoon or next week after a security check”. Wondering what that is and any chance of getting AP or refusal? He kept our passports and gave us an instruction sheet on how to check the visa status and the passport shipment. 
 
Any idea what that “security check” is? Most people got their approval on spot but we didn’t. We just don’t want to have our passports at the embassy for months if our case goes to admin process.

Have anyone received IL for EB2-NIW this week?