Like most of the reviews the interview itself was what I had expected. I showed up a few minutes before the interview having already scoped out the building the day before (theres no exterior signage). There wasnt any line up so just had to wait for security to check everything out and then wait upstairs for my interview(s).
The first interview was with a lady who essentially just checked the paperwork to make sure it was all in order. I had a feeling they would ask for my wifes tax return which I had printed that morning so that was fortunate. I had 2 birth certificates one in english and one from my place of birth and thought I might be in a little trouble since it wasnt translated into English but since the other one was (birth abroad certificate) it wasnt a big issue.
The second interview was a little more in-depth and reviewed the DS-260 especially in the places where you might have run into a little trouble. I overstayed a visa and was denied entry once which I explained in the form and other than asking a few questions it seemed as if everything was going well. In fact the officer indicated my application would be approved.
There was a lot of waiting for what essentially amounted to about 15 mins of interview time but my wife and I enjoyed Montreal and especially China Town.
Overall the consulate process and interview were what I expected and everyone was cordial and professional.
It wasnt till a few days later that we looked up the status and saw the application had been refused. We immediately went into panic mode and scrambled to understand what that meant and what we could do. We tried emailing the contact info on the consulate page (they were not helpful), we tried calling (also not helpful), and logged into both the NVC portal and USvisa-Info site to see if we had received any messages since it clearly states (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/administrative-processing-information.html) -
"When administrative processing is required, the consular officer will inform the applicant at the end of the interview." OR
"When a consular officer refuses a case under 221(g), she or he will convey to the applicant whether the applicant is required to provide any further documentation or information, or whether the case requires additional administrative processing."
From the time we were refused to the time we were approved we were never informed by any messaging system that they needed additional documentation. It wasnt till we were finally able to email montreal-iv-dv@state.gov that we were finally able to get some answers.
I am not sure if this is just a broken system or how we were supposed to know they needed additional documentation but it was a brutal wait just to know they needed something small which we sent the next day courier. We could see they got the documents and the next update still said refused ... I assume they just opened the paperwork but didnt review it. A few days after that I just randomly checked my status again and it had changed to issued. Again no communication until we got a tracking number that the passport and visa were on their way. The paperwork arrived incredibly fast (2 days later) from Montreal to BC.
Due to the nature of administrative processing we wont ever really know what or why they needed the additional paperwork. They indicate most admin cases are resolved in 60 days (and can take up to 180 days) and ours was done in 49 days so that was good but the lack of communication was heart breaking.
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32095
Review on May 25, 2023:
