Any thoughts on Montreal Visa Issuance TimelInes after 601 Approval?

[AmazingGrace]

My Waiver was approved from vermont in November 07.
Montreal Embassy Contacted me to submit additional paperwork including DS230 1 &2 which I submitted 2 weeks ago. I recently contacted Montreal and I was told it can few more weeks.

Does anyone has experience with Monteral and suggest me that how long further I need to wait?

[emt103c]

They seem to take forever on EVERY step.

If they put you off too much longer, I would contact a Senator or Congressman to get them on the ball. You already waited for the approval of the waiver. . .they shouldn't have that much work left to do and your case was approveable otherwise.

Have they accepted a new I-864 yet? Did they have you send in the passport with the DS230?

There are a couple of people who've dealt with Montreal in this situation though. . .I'm sure one of them will give you an idea of how long it took in their case.

[AmazingGrace]

Thanx for quick respond.
Yes, Montreal did ask for a new I-864, dS230 along with my Passport.

[AmazingGrace]

additional responses are welcome.

[emt103c]

If you have turned all of that in already, it shouldn't take that much longer for it to come back. They have all they need. You sent a return xpresspost envelope, right?

Keep emailing them. You can ask for a Senator to do an inquiry, sometimes that will speed them up.

[Pinkpig]

My Waiver was approved from vermont in November 07.
Montreal Embassy Contacted me to submit additional paperwork including DS230 1 &2 which I submitted 2 weeks ago. I recently contacted Montreal and I was told it can few more weeks.

Does anyone has experience with Monteral and suggest me that how long further I need to wait?

Yes, they do seem to take forever and need things that seem unreasonable. You might find some information on this thread:

http://immigrate2us.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3668&highlight=montreal

Kenaly usually checks in with Montreal questions, so you might want to send a message to her.

Hope this is a bit of help. Many members have struggled with this consulate.

[emt103c]

My great Montreal experience:

Interviewed on February 15, 2007. . .they said they needed to confirm hubby's divorce document--a court certificate from Karachi Court on Govt of Pakistan watermarked paper with seal. They denied this was good enough.

At the interview they told us we would need, get this, a 601 AND 212 for an expedited removal WITH NO OTHER INADMISSIBILITIES. Even on the consular sheet they only marked the expedited removal which means only a 212.

It took us five months to obtain a "union council" divorce certificate from a council in an area my husband NEVER LIVED IN, but was "required" as proof of his divorce. Once they got it, that wasn't good enough either. . .it's been sitting on someone's desk for more than six months waiting on "document validation."

Meanwhile, Montreal, at the interview and in multiple emails has told me I have to wait for the AP to be over before I can file the 212 so that they can "review it" and "forward it for adjudication." This consulate doesn't accept 212's without a 601.

After THREE attorney consultations with FULL review of ALL documents, it became clear they were full of CRAP. I can't wait for AP to be over so I can start the argument over why a 601 is not required in our situation. *insert full sarcasm here*

Though, since it's been a year since our interview, and will have been at least 18 months by the time the 212 and AP are complete, hopefully the CO who thought we needed a 601 with no reason will have transferred by then.

[Pinkpig]

Emt103c,

Hope you get some news soon. I know it has been a struggle for you. That consulate seems to be troublesome for many folks. Sending good luck to all involved.

I think Slubbery had to submit his waiver 3 times and on the third submission they had it bound into a leather book.

Keep the faith it will happen...

[emt103c]

Emt103c,

Hope you get some news soon. I know it has been a struggle for you. That consulate seems to be troublesome for many folks. Sending good luck to all involved.

I think Slubbery had to submit his waiver 3 times and on the third submission they had it bound into a leather book.

Keep the faith it will happen...

Thank you Pinkpig. . .sluberry's book sounds like something I would do :-P

[kenaly]

Montreal is VERY slow with the e-mail responses. It took about 5 weeks for our paperwork to get from VSC to Montreal. My hubbys paspport and updated RCMP report were sent to the consulate as soon as he got the approval via e-mail from USCIS. The visa was sent out a couple days after Montreal got the waiver from VSC. Waiver approval was 6-17-05, visa arrived 7-21-05.

[slubberry]

I thought montreal was going to be faster once they moved the waivers to VSC but I guess they are just as slow. It took us about 4 1/2 years total from start to finish but to be fair, we delayed it by about 4 months so my wife could obtain her Canadian citizenship. We were also caught during the transition from processing waivers in Montreal ( or somewhere nearby) to processing waivers at VSC. They made us hand in both a 212 and 601 waiver even though my wife was never deported. We received a letter from USCIS stating that we were due a $250 refund on our 212 ( which we still haven't received ). We were RFI'ed twice for more information ( information which we already provided ) so we didn't take any chances and had our full waive packet bound with a hard leather cover with table of contents, indexes, every page was notarized, and tabbed thick chapter separaters. We included everything from the usual marriage certificate to phone records, plane ticket receipts, credit card bills, bank statements, and even a letter of recommendation from an INS officer. The damned thing weighed about 5 pounds when everything was put together and was the size of a NYC telephone book. Then we went one step further and sent the package via legal courier serviceto make sure that it got into the right hands.

On the bright side, everyone (except for some overweight old lady) was very nice at the consulate, the consulate was heated even during the cold Montreal winter, and my wife and son are in the US.

[AmazingGrace]

Slubbery - How Long it took you after Montreal received 601 approval notice?

[slubberry]

it took about a month before we got a letter stating that we had to redo the medical, affidavit of support, police report etc. When we received the letter, we contacted the consulate to find out how long the approval is good for and we delayed sending in the documents until my wife received her Canadian citizenship. After sending all the documentation, it took about 3 weeks for the letter stating that everything was in order and we were given an appointment to return to the consulate to get our documents stamped. We handed in our documents and we were told to return later on in the afternoon to pick up our welcome packet.

[emt103c]

I hope they are still at 3 weeks. They are no longer returning emails. They now have a generic email they sent out when you send and inquiry and the IV unit is no longer required to take phone calls--found this out after 20 minutes of hold time.

My congressmen are getting dialing workouts!!!