CBM

So for anyone wondering about the new Packet 3 and Packet 4 from Montreal - apparently it IS helping somewhat!

I sent back P3 on November 10th, and was HOPING we'd hear quickly, but I didn't think it would be this quickly!

For whatever reason, Montreal now sends letters to both the foreign fiance(e) AND the USC, and my fiance received Packet 4 in today's mail! It said I was free to schedule my interview, as they were done reviewing my case, and to please proceed to the website to schedule!

I was shocked and happppy!

The earliest interview was March 8th, 2011.... which is still about a 3.5-ish month wait, but I'm so happy that it is not the 6 months I was expecting to wait!

So for all of you who recently sent back Packet 3, or are waiting for Packet 3 - you might still wait for the actual interview for a few months, but the wait to schedule won't be too long!

So, ahem, I have to........

Just got a phonecall from my fiancé he received our Hard copy in the mail today dated nov 17th!!! i have never felt so relieved in my life

congrats!! wahoooooooo!

now c'mon over to the Canadian forum and join us! Are you going through Montreal or Vancouver?? If it's Montreal, you'll be receiving the new packet 3 shortly! everything is basically done online now, but you still send hard copies of the forms back

Congrats!!!!

good dedication, Gervl! haha I like your style

I'm pretty sure NVC assigns the new case number as soon as the case arrives, so they should have assigned it by now!

for what it's worth, it only took days between NVC and DOS to know the case number. I called on maybe the 3rd and DOS said they had sent Packet 3 as of Nov 1st... but wait, I needed my MTL number to ask.

Umm.... I think we got the MTL number from the letter NVC sent. Which arrived really quickly after NOA2! Less than a week, if I recall.

for your debit card - is it similar to the Chase card I have (I have both Canadian & American banking)..... where it's a debit card, but also a visa/mastercard??

I'm not sure if that makes a difference, because your bank should have a record of what you spent and where.... for example, if you go online (if you do online banking), you should be able to click on the card or bank account you want to view, and view transactions. It should list the store & possibly location (it does for me if it's outside of my province) and the amount spent.

If you have something like that, it will show you were there.

Hope that helps!

I have visited my fiance many, many times and only have a few stamps - it just depends on the Officer at the border that day. I noticed they started stamping me more often as I was visiting more, just to put a limit on my length of stay, I assume.

Long story short - Canadians sometimes, but rarely, get stamped!

If your bus ticket is dated, and same for luggage tags, you should be okay. Do you also have credit card receipts from being in the same city at the same time? And photos? While they are not primary evidence, they can be used as secondary evidence.

Ps - welcome to VJ! check out the guides at the top. great resources for this process

Be sure to check out the guides - they are super helpful no matter which visa you pursue, and the wikis can be helpful, too.

Good luck!

Well... for your last question.... we filed May 24th, 2010.... and our tentative wedding date is June 5th, 2011. That's leaving us some wiggle room, but I highly doubt you could have the entire process finished by June.

CSC and VSC are currently taking about 4 to 5 months just to issue the approval of the i-129F. Then your fiance would need to wait for Packet 3 from his consulate and wait for an interview.

I would aim for a wedding late in later 2011 if I were you!

Good luck

Okay, here is my opinion. Take it as just an opinion.

If you are willing to be married and living apart, do the CR-1. You can get married over Christmas on your next visit, as long as you have time to get the marriage license together and whatnot, from whichever office you get it from in Florida.

Or, you can get married on your next visit there, later in the year.

The reason I suggest the CR-1 is because you are stuck in Ontario waiting out school, so you have to be here anyway... and the CR-1 may take a bit longer, but remember - you're here anyway doing school! so what is a few extra months? you say 2 more semesters... so you'll be here til at least next December, and it may take just a year or a little over a year to do the CR-1, so you are good that way. And the CR-1 is cheaper than the K-1 (fiance visa), AND you will have your green card immediately, and not have to wait several months for work authorization to get a job in the US. That can be a lot of student loan payments!! (if you have any!)

Also, Jim mentioned visiting while you have a visa pending is harder... is it, but it won't be impossible. Especially if you're enrolled in school. That is a great tie to Canada, especially since you most likely either live in the dorms or have a lease. Also good ties to Canada. So, visiting with a CR-1 pending, while in school is definitely doable.

We personally filed for the K-1, but truthfully, I wish we had done the CR-1 visa for some reasons. The reason we didnt was because we didn't want to be apart during our first year of marriage... but looking back, we've been apart for almost 3 years anyway, so we could have managed to be apart for another year, as a married couple. CR-1 is cheaper, we could have had our real, actual white wedding after I moved there for good, and I would have been able to work immediately.

Again, just my opinion!

What school are you at?! I'm at the U of Windsor doing my Bachelor of Education (ie- teacher's college as everyone here calls it!)

I called NVC to see if they received our file since we got touched a week ago and no mail or online status change.

And guess what NVC said?

IT'S THERE!!!!!!!!!!!

APPPPPROVED

APPROVED!!!!!!

I just called NVC to see if maybe they received our file and they did, today. So even though USCIS hasn't told me yet, we are approved!!! WOO HOOO :dance:

I GOT MY NOA2!!!!!

It's like holding a newborn baby.

Guys....I have dreamed about typing this very post for nearly 5 months and I can't believe I'm about to say this:

I AM HOLDING MY NOA2!!!!!

:dance: :dance:

as promised............

haha yayyyyyyyyyyyy!! I'm so excited! wahoooooooooo!

J - your NOA2 is on the way!!!

Hey! Yes, but it's not as bad as it was. Haha I'm eating granola bars and watching bad TV.

It's so strange that 5 people were approved on Nov. 19th and their case status was updated online, yet so many of us were touched but no electronic update. I really hope that touch was an approval.

I bet it was your approval! We probably had the same adjudicator who didn't update it online. I checked my case status a while ago just for kicks, and it still says initial review! I bet you will be receiving it soon! I think it took about 4 or 5 days from what we thought was the last touch for my fiance to receive it. And, he actually got it on a Saturday but didn't check the mail until late Sunday night... so it was the day before.

You should be getting it soon!

haha I ran out of granola bars earlier this week and haven't gotten groceries yet

Vent I need to get off my chest...

In teacher's college, there are a LOT of group projects, which for most intelligent people, are h-e-double-hockey sticks (J - that's for you, haha) on earth. For the lazy bums who choose to slide through life, they are wonderful.

Now, said group projects wouldn't be AS bad if you at least got to choose your group... but ooohhhh no. No such luck. And somehow I got placed with 2 identical groups in 2 different classes. The other 4 people in my group go home every weekend and we start going back to classes tomorrow after we have just been teaching for a month.... and now, we have gotten nowhere on our projects because I am stuck with a bunch of people who don't really care.

I care a LOT. and I want A's. So, I end up doing most of the work so I know we are at least submitting something decent. I have now finished most of the 2 projects due this week because I refuse to throw something together at the last minute and get a ####### grade.

And it's not like I haven't talked to them - I have initiated MANY group meetings, but there's always excuses - I'm going home, I'm busy, I'm really swamped with other work. I finally sent them an email earlier outlining exactly what they needed to do, and that we weren't leaving it to the last minute.

I don't understand the point of going away to university when you go home every single stinking weekend!!!

And I don't like when people say to me that they're busy..... well, let's see... we're in ALL the same classes, plus I work part time, plus I have immigration stuff to tend to, plus I'm planning a wedding. It's called prioritizing, people!!!

Phew, okay, end rant.

gap1 - are you still sick?

I am... and I've reached a fairly all time low. Sunday evening, not even 7 pm yet.... in sweats & a UCLA shirt my fiance sent me a few years ago... replacing dinner with "Smart pop" popcorn HAHA.... hope that at least makes you smile, if you are still not feeling well!

if it helps, it took about 10 days for me to receive anything from NVC... give it some time

gap1 and J - I have a sneaking suspicion you will be receiving the letter in the mail soon! there seems to be several July approvals right now!!

congrats to the recent NOA2-ers!!

You are not supposed to schedule your interview right after getting NOA2. When you receive Packet 3 from Montreal (if you haven't already), read it over, and somewhere in the first page, it gives you the website for scheduling your interview and choosing a DHL location for your visa to be shipped back to.

Then, it also says do not schedule your interview at this time, and that you can schedule your interview when Montreal emails you back via the email address you provide in the DS-230.

I was confused about this at first, because we got our NOA2 on October 20th, and I was all excited thinking I could schedule my interview as soon as I got Packet 3, with the new online scheduling system, but it tells you not to.

Also, I went on to see how far it would let me get to, and I know the screen you mean, where it says the first available one is March 1st... and I clicked on that, and clicked on a bunch more stuff, and it took me to a spot where I had to click a box basically promising I had been giving permission to schedule my own interview (which wasn't true).... and below somewhere, it says something like, if you have not been given permission to schedule and you schedule, you will be turned away at your interview.

Now, J of JLovesA and I have been debating how they would KNOW when you were allowed to schedule, unless they compared the Packet 4 (now sent via email) date of being sent and the date you actually scheduled.

I'm not saying it's a good idea, and I'm waiting until I get my Packet 4 email, but there's a chance you could schedule now and still be okay.

I'm personally waiting until I get the email, just because after filing in May, and waiting 5 months for NOA2.... I don't want to be turned away at the interview! I know it will probably be April by the time we get to interview, but at least we won't be turned away at the door.

If you have any information I don't, and you are actually allowed to schedule - PLEASE let me know! I would be more than happy to go online today and schedule my interview!! Maybe I read the Packet 3 information incorrectly and I'm being a dork just waiting for this email thing.

I'm sick too. I was home from work sick on Wed when we got our touch and I was so excited I forgot about it until today when my entire upper-body became congested.

yeah, something is definitely going around. I've got the sore throat and earache thing going on. when I get an earache, I revert back to when I was 5 and just want to cry about it, haha. I have no tolerance for ear pain

I hope you're feeling better soon! ... does this help?

And J - me & google are always happy to come to the rescue, haha. Come visit before Christmas break and we'll call it even

Another lame Friday night. Weeeee. I love living alone and checking government websites instead of being with my fiance like all my friends are doing right now. I should probably look up how to give myself the Heimlich Maneuver in case I choke on this entire container of Pad See Ewe I'm about to devour in front of Food Network reruns. If I died here, I give my art student neighbors 7 days before discovering my body.

I also spent a lame Friday night

First, I creeped on facebook for far too long. Then, I talked to my fiance for a couple hours.... and by talk, I really mean whine about being sick. And be sad listening to stories of the company's anniversary party yesterday at DISNEY!! that I couldn't go to

It's funny you mentioned the Heimlich because I told a kid today to take something out of her mouth because I wasn't in the mood to give her the Heimlich and possibly revive her. haha... pretty sure she didn't know what I meant, but she still listened.

I had a lean cuisine for dinner. yuck. haha

Your approval is on it's way

The actual visa is now $350, not $131, unfortunately. They changed it earlier this year. Also, you can pay by credit card (not sure if you could before), and now with the new online scheduling, you pay online before your actual interview. So, you basically pay to get a slot to book your interview.

At least, that's what my packet 3 or the website says (can't remember which) - my P3 hasn't been logged yet so I haven't actually scheduled or paid yet.

Good luck

hahah you know I have a soft spot for that little guy....

Gap1 - here's how it went down for me - liltiggster & tallfrond, both from Canada as well.. we all got touched on the exact same day, except their "touch" was really their approval, and the next day, I had another touch, or what I thought was a touch, but really, it was our approval which wasn't updated online... so an extra touch from J most likely doesn't mean anything!! It is probably your approval letter winging it's way to you right this moment!

Trust me, just ask J - after 2 touches in a row, and then NOTHING, I just about lost it haha... just thinking we were getting RFE'ed or the big mean guy with the cigar & rejected stamp you described was hovering above our petition..... but in the end, the approval notice came about a week after that.

I hope you do get updated online, but more than that, I hope your approval is already on it's way!!

I bet it is