Jeremy&Kathy
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Posts posted by Jeremy&Kathy
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Hi
I was required to send additinal documents after the interview in Sept. 2010. It has been 22 weeks since I sent out the documents with the passport by DHL. However, I haven't got any reply. Could any body told me which phone no. I can call to check if the documents were delivered to IVM.
Thank you.
Jo Chin
Oh my, 22 weeks is absolutely terrible. Please read my original post at the beginning of this thread. I describe how I sent a fax to the consulate and received a call back the same day. There is no phone number where you can reach anyone. A fax describing your situation is your best bet. Make sure you address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
Jeremy
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They could have noticed my email but its also for the 6-8 weeks grace period whenever we send documents to the embassy for review.
I got a letter and advised to redo medical and so we did booked asap. I guess my wait is getting extended...
That really sucks. They sent you a letter saying that you must redo the medical because it expired?? I can't believe they would do that when it is their own fault that it expired before they had time to process your case! Did this really happen??
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I called DH and they said the my reference Number is not valid, there is no "S" on it and this number is internal to the embassy when you send package back to them. I have not seen this before so maybe they are planning more documents to send to them and I am thinking if they require another medical exam.....
wheww...
Everyone gets a reference number (and the ability to log in to the CSC website) as soon as your interview is first scheduled. That reference number will be associated with any DHL shipments (either TO or FROM the consulate). At DHL.CA you can enter the reference number to track those shipments. If no shipment has been made yet, then DHL will say that there is no such reference number. Just keep checking with your reference number at DHL.CA and as soon as your visa has been issued you will be able tot see the tracking information.
It's possible that the consulate has slowed down for the holidays. You could try faxing them again in early January if you still haven't heard anything.
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Jeremy&Kathy, you said "ADVICE #7: Don't rely on the CSC website to tell you if your visa has been issued. Use the reference number obtained there to check the tracking status at dhl.ca." Are you saying there is a web site that tells you your visa status (hovewer unreliable that is)? How does this work? Thanks
People ask about this a lot on the Montreal Timeline topic. I answered recently here:
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...nothing happens today, nobody called no update
I'm willing to bet that the supervisor did get your fax. Perhaps he did not call but will still locate your file and get on it! Keep us updated...
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I did closed my eyes and crossed fingers and sent fax to IV Supervisor today.
Hopefully, he will get to it and Lord I am at work and if he calls me I have to find a place where I can talk to him privately.
Hi Tauruslady,
I wish you the best of luck with this... I don't know the correct spelling of Scott's last name. Foswell was my guess based on our phone conversation. I don't know if he is the only supervisor. Best to address it to "IV Unit Supervisor" but it sounds like that's what you did.
I'll be crossing my fingers and hoping for you. It will be informative to us all to find out what happens for you today.
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HI,
I'd been in long waiting and waiting endlessly since March just to get an interview schedule and after my interview, the Officer was not convinced of my financial docs I-864 and required me to submit a co-sponsor (NO CHECK ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING BOX). My interview was 2 weeks ahead of Jeremy&Kathy.
One week after the interview, we complied and submitted these documents together with our passports and I called to check with DOS notes and the agent told me that Montreal received it and is looking into our documents. I asked him if there are other documents required of us or some negative notes on my file, but he said none.
It says in the Refusal Letter issued to me during the interview that it will take 6-8 weeks to process and I respect that. That is why I am hesitant to call, fax or bother them as it may give them a negative impression and instead of approving us it will turn against us.
So, if I count my calendar it is already 6 weeks today and I have to wait for 2 more weeks ( to complete the 8 weeks) and that is by the end of December before bothering them.
Is it a good plan, what do you think?
If you are not desperate because you are separated for the holidays, or otherwise in dire circumstances as a result of the delays, then I think you are doing the right thing by waiting. When we sent the fax and got a call from the supervisor, he was tough on me and needed to be convinced that we deserved special treatment.
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Kathy and our son Adam now have their visas, and we are now together in the US!
I just wanted to warn people however about how slow it can be at POE. Kathy flew out of Toronto Pearson Intl, terminal 1. Her flight was booked for Saturday Dec. 11 at 9:15am. She arrived at the airport with our 2yr old son Adam at 6:15am and was face to face with a U.S. customs officer by 7:00am. He instructed her to wait in a secondary area for her visa to be stamped. She waited there for OVER 2 HOURS AND MISSED HER FLIGHT!!! The Air Canada representative in the Customs waiting area could not do anything to help, and told her that this was an unusually slow day. Once she got called up it took only 30 seconds for them to take her papers and stamp her passport. Since her bags had not yet been checked, however, she couldn't board her flight because they need at least 30 minutes to process the baggage.
Kathy and Adam stayed at a hotel and took the same flight the following day. With their visas already processed, they didn't need to wait in the secondary area this time. However, they did notice that on Sunday it was WAY less busy.
I wish someone had told us that this could happen. We thought that arriving at the airport 3 hours early would be plenty of time, but on a bad day apparently not. Be warned!
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wHO SHOULD REGISTER ON THAT WEB SITE THE US CITIZEN AND THE ADD FAMILY MEMBER OR THE CANADIAN???
The applicant (Canadian who will be immigrating to the US) must register. You will choose a DHL courier location where your passports and visas will be mailed to you when they are issued. You will get a "reference ID" that you can use at dhl.ca for tracking purposes.
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A friend of mine got her interview for Jan 12th. Can someone explain the whole DHL thing to us?
Thanks
Your friend's interview letter explains that she must log in to this site using her passport number and birth date:
http://www.usvisa-info.com/en-CA/selfservice/login
Here is a post where I explain the process in detail:
There's a ton of good information if you read through the posts for this topic. I highly recommend it.
Jeremy
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As of this morning, dhl.ca shows that our visas have been shipped! THANK YOU MR. SCOTT F. THE IV UNIT SUPERVISOR!!
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I just created a new topic that tells a summarized version of the story with advice for people in my situation.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/285345-how-to-conquer-the-montreal-consulate-backlog/
As of this morning, dhl.ca shows that our visas have been shipped! Hooray!! Thank you Mr. Scott the IV Unit Supervisor!!!
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Cross posting this topic, which I posted yesterday in another forum.
I have shared details of how we were able to contact a supervisor at the Montreal Consulate and get our cased processed faster than it might have been otherwise.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/285345-how-to-conquer-the-montreal-consulate-backlog
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Good news. I faxed the consulate a second time today and the supervisor called again. He is processing our case now and helping us get through faster. Here is a full post on our story with advice for others:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/285345-how-to-conquer-the-montreal-consulate-backlog/
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Good news. We got through to a supervisor at the consulate and he is helping to get our case through faster. Here is a full post on the details of our story:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/285345-how-to-conquer-the-montreal-consulate-backlog/
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That's great news! Keep us updated.
If you have the time, I think it would be very helpful for others if your experience was available to read in a dedicated post.
I just created a new topic that tells a summarized version of the story with advice for people in my situation.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/285345-how-to-conquer-the-montreal-consulate-backlog/
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I am starting this topic to share our story of how we managed to speed our way through the Montreal Consulate's backlog and get our IR-1 visas issued in a timely manner. The Montreal Consulate is notoriously slow and should you find yourself in the position of having to mail documents to Montreal post-interview, then read on. This topic applies to you.
At our interview on November 12, 2010, we were missing my wife Kathy's medical exam results from Dr. Sieden's office in Toronto. Our medical exam was on Monday November 8th, only 4 days before the interview. Kathy's chest x-ray showed a possible nodule that would need to be further analyzed and this delayed our results. Kathy had no previous x-rays to show that the nodule was there previously and not growing, so Dr. Sieden wanted a CT scan. It was very stressful finding out about this at the last minute. We were fortunate to find a walk-in clinic doctor who was very helpful. She had her assistant call all the local medical imaging labs, and was able to find a lab that could do the CT scan the same day. This was VERY lucky... CT scans can take weeks to schedule! Unfortunately the CT scan results weren't available in time for Dr. Sieden to see them and give us our results before the interview. We did get the CT scan results the following Monday and Kathy was fine (phew!).
ADVICE #1: Schedule your medical exam as far in advance of the interview as you possibly can. If our medical exam was only 1 or 2 days earlier we would have had time to deal with everything in time for the interview.
ADVICE #2: Get a chest X-ray from your family doctor months in advance of your interview. It doesn't hurt (figuratively or literally), and if there is a nodule that is questionable, then you can get a CT scan and deal with it long in advance.
The man at the consulate who was collecting our documents told us that we would need to send the medical exam results DHL courier as soon as we have them, and that they have a backlog of mail so it will be another few weeks of waiting before the visa is issued. He pointed to a large stack of documents on top of the cabinet behind him and said "that's mail that arrived over a month ago". We begged him for any information on how we could get our mail processed quicker. He told us to address our correspondence to "IV Unit Supervisor". This was the secret ingredient that ended up saving our butts.
ADVICE #3: Make sure that you are not missing ANYTHING at your interview. It will delay getting your visa by weeks.
Our actual interview went well and the officer said that our case looked great. As soon as the medical results were recieved, he couldn't see us having any problem getting the visas issued.
On November 18th, Kathy got her medical results from Dr. Sieden's office and immediately shipped them DHL to the Montreal Consulate. Through the dhl.ca tracking we could see that it was delivered on November 19th in the morning. We learned later that the Montreal Consulate screens all their mail for anthrax and other bad things, so it did not arrive upstairs at the IV Unit until November 23rd.
ADVICE #4: Don't assume they have your mail as soon as DHL says so. Add an extra 3 business days.
Not only did we address the DHL package directly to the IV Unit Supervisor, we also faxed the Montreal Consulate as well at two different fax numbers we tracked down: 514-398-0973 and 514-398-9748. The fax/email was a single page with large bold letters "PLEASE PRIORITIZE: URGENT: TRAVEL PENDING" addressed to the IV Unit Supervior. In the one-page fax, I briefly explained our situation that we are now separated and my wife is stuck in Toronto staying with friends, and we have paid our son's school fees and he is missing classes. I creatively begged and pleaded in various ways and asked them to do their best to prioritize our case, which was missing only the medical results and was otherwise approved.
Two hours after I sent the faxes to these two numbers, I got a call from a 514 number. It was the IV Unit Supervisor named Scott Foswell (sp?) with a french Canadian accent. He was very irate with me and asking why he has this letter on his desk with the huge bold font. I may have went a bit overboard, thinking that they probably ignore most stuff like this, but I was wrong. After a 10 minute conversation with Scott (who I presume was the IV Unit Supervisor), he was reassuring me that he would do his best to get our case processed quickly. I had told him that we had flights booked for December 7th, so that was a goal he could aim for.
ADVICE #5: If you DO get stuck in the Montreal Consulate's mail backlog, Send a fax to 514-398-0973 and 514-398-9748, and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
The things that really helped convince him to help us were:
- Our son was missing classes at school in the U.S. that we had paid his registration for
- We had a flight booked
- My son was 2 years old and I was missing weeks of his childhood
- The holidays were approaching and we desperately wanted to be together
He asked me why I paid for my son's school when there are no guarantees of when a visa will be issued. I told him that we had no choice because one of the pieces of evidence they specifically ask for is proof that children are registered for school. When I said this, his demeanor changed significantly. It really helped.
ADVICE #6: If you do fax the consulate, present good reasons why your situation is especially difficult and why you deserve to be processed quickly.
Scott offered no guarantees but did say he'd do his best. We left it at that and began waiting. At first, we were following these instructions to check whether our visa had been issued. Then we were told by another VJ member that this was basically useless because it didn't show any information until AFTER the visa had arrived at their DHL location. So then we began checking at dhl.ca using our "reference number" obtained through the CSC website.
ADVICE #7: Don't rely on the CSC website to tell you if your visa has been issued. Use the reference number obtained there to check the tracking status at dhl.ca.
On December 2, 2010, almost 2 weeks after the first fax I sent when the IV Unit Supervisor Scott Foswell (sp) called me, I faxed the consulate again. This time I did away with the crazy bold font and huge text across the top, not wanting to annoy him. I re-stated our situation and apologized for the interruption to his day, and issued a gentle reminder of our situation and of the fact that our scheduled flights were only 5 days away.
I got another call from Scott that afternoon after he received my fax. He said that he couldn't guarantee anything but would do his best. He said that he had located our file and would process it himself immediately. It would then be submitted for FBI name/fingerprint screening and if all goes well our visas would be printed THE NEXT DAY!! I couldn't believe our luck at getting his support like this. I have read stories on VJ of people waiting over 2 months and getting their congressmen involved. For what it's worth, the "secret technique" that seemed to do the trick was to fax the Montreal Consulate and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
Well, now anyone on VJ who reads this knows the secret technique that worked for me. I hope that it helps others avoid what can be a nightmarishly long wait.
- GeorgeE and Jared&Roxy
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Wow, crazy update to our story. I would add this to my review but I can't find a way to edit it...
Another update!
It's been about 2 weeks since the IV Unit Supervisor Scott Foswell (sp) called me in response to my "plea for help" fax. This morning I faxed the consulate again begging and pleading to have our very simple case processed in time for the holidays, and preferably by next week when we had booked flights.
I got another call from Scott this afternoon after he received my fax. He explained to me that it takes 4 days for their mail to get from the ground floor up to the consulate because all of their mail goes through a security screening process (they screen for anthrax and other bad stuff). So although DHL tracking said the consulate received our mail on Nov 19, it didn't reach the supervisor's desk until Nov 23. Just a little fact for others to be aware of!
He said that he had located our file and would process it himself today. It would then be submitted for FBI name/fingerprint screening and if all goes well our visas should be printed TOMORROW!!
I was astonished to actually get this level of response and attention directly from the Consulate, after the other stories I have heard. For what it's worth, the "secret technique" that seemed to do the trick was to fax the Montreal Consulate and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor". They have two fax numbers and I sent it to both:
514.398.0973
514.398.9748
I'm thinking I will probably start a new topic to tell this whole story again. I have posted it here because I wasn't sure where else to put it... but now that I think of it I could just start another topic and post links elsewhere that reference it.
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They need to have your passport in order to issue the visa. If you ask them to return it, then you would need to send it back again and you'd be at the end of the long lineup again.
If I were you, I'd continue to wait if you can... You can also try faxing them if email didn't work. 514-398-9748 and address it to "IV Unit Supervisor".
We sent my wife and son's passports in on November 17th or so. We are terrified that it could take as long for us as it did for you. We desperately want to be together for Christmas.
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Wow, I would strongly suspect that something is definitely wrong if it has been more than 2 months since you sent in your passports. Their automated phone system says 2-3 weeks. When we were at our interview the officer there told us 1 month.
You could try emailing or faxing the consulate. If you do, direct your correspondence to "IV Unit Supervisor" and make sure your primary applicant's case number and name appear in the subject line.
Fax: 514-398-9748 (or 514.398.0973, not sure which one is best)
Email: montreal-iv-dv@state.gov
I did this and I ended up getting a call from the supervisor himself. He was annoyed but at the same time understanding. I'm not sure if it helped... we are still waiting for our visas to be issued as well.
Jeremy
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We showed up at 6:30 and waited in the cold at least 40 minutes before anyone else arrived. There were 3 groups in line when doors opened at 7:30. It wouldn't have made any difference if we were 1st or 3rd in that line!
How'd it go today CanAmBride??
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probably I still suggust giving dos a call to check in
Good idea. They are closed for the day so I'll try tomorrow.
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did you put it in the reference track box?
Yes. The middle column where I entered it under "Reference Number:". I'm guessing this is probably normal and as soon as it's been shipped it will display some tracking information.
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From The dhl.ca site using the reference ID
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Hey Canadiandggal, thanks for the info. Very glad I asked!
I just went to dhl.ca, clicked on "Track" and then entered our reference ID. It just says "No record found for this reference number.". Is that normal and should I assume it just means that Montreal hasn't yet sent it? Or should I worry that something is wrong?
Jeremy
How to Conquer the Montreal Consulate Backlog
in IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures
Posted
Did you register for DHL delivery to a specific DHL location online? You should have got a "reference number". You can use this reference number at dhl.ca to check if your passport has been shipped yet. If it has been shipped then you will see the current status and whether it is ready for pickup yet.
Jeremy