lil_tone76

I was wondering if anyone can help me with this. My US citizen fiance has just received the Notice of Action, the approval notice in the mail yesterday. :PARTY:
However, note that although in our K-1 Visa application(I-129F) we had requested for the Toronto Consulate General for the interview, the INS has (mistakenly, perhaps) assigned us the Montreal Consulate instead. This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about 5-6 hours away from Toronto.

So anyways, because this is a boo boo on the part of the INS(maybe?), do we still need to file the I-824(which costs another $140 USD ) to have them forward my file to the Toronto Consulate or can we simply call up the INS and point out the mistake?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

Matthew Udall

Fiancée visa interviews are only conducted (in Canada) at the U.S. Consulates in Montreal and Vancouver. So it was not an INS screw up.

The INS should be sending your file; according to the facts you gave in your posting, to the U.S. Consulate in Montreal. The post in Montreal will then send the international fiancée the first set of Consular materials.

I don't know where you are in Canada. Am I correct in assuming that processing through Montreal will be more convenient than processing through Vancouver?

Good luck with your case.

Regards,
Matthew Udall
Attorney
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/fiancee.htm

Rete

Unfortunately the mistake was yours and not INS. There are only two US Consulates in Canada that process K visas and they are in Montreal and Vancouver. Since you choose Toronto, I'm assuming you live close to there. If, however, you would prefer to go to Vancouver for processing, contact Vancouver and tell them that your petition approval was sent to Montreal and could they contact them to have it reassigned to them. Then call Montreal and ask them to send it to Vancouver.

If, however, Montreal is the closest place for you, then just proceed when Montreal sends you packet 3.

Rete

L D Jones

Matthew Udall wrote:
    > Originally posted by lil_tone76:
[ ... ]
    > > This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about 5-6 hours
    > > away from Toronto.

[ ... ]

    > I don't know where you are in Canada. Am I correct in assuming that
    > processing through Montreal will be more convenient than processing
    > through Vancouver?

Most likely yes since the poster seems to indicate he or she is
in/from/near Toronto

lil_tone76

Thank you guys so much for responding. I wasn't sure if it was a mistake which was why it was within brackets.
Yeah, I live in Toronto so Montreal would be closer..much much closer actually
I am surprised that they don't conduct interviews over in Toronto since it is a major and much bigger city than Montreal. But oh wells, guess I'll have to make the trip and can't do much about that.
Thanks again!!!

lil_tone76

Thank you guys so much for responding. I wasn't sure if it was a mistake which was why it was within brackets.
Yeah, I live in Toronto so Montreal would be closer..much much closer actually
I am surprised that they don't conduct interviews over in Toronto since it is a major and much bigger city than Montreal. But oh wells, guess I'll have to make the trip and can't do much about that.
Thanks again!!!

Deanna C

    >>This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about 5-6 hours away
from Toronto.

Tell me about it. I'm in Winnipeg and am going thru Montreal. Although I
believe it is a bit closer than Vancouver, it would be much cheaper for me
to fly West.

The bonus of Montreal for me is, after my interview I get to walk to my
works head office and resign to the big boss instead of the local one. I
just can't wait for that.

Deanna
- Stuck in INS hell -



"L D Jones" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Matthew Udall wrote:
    > >
    > > Originally posted by lil_tone76:
    > [ ... ]
    > > > This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about 5-6 hours
    > > > away from Toronto.
    > [ ... ]
    > > I don't know where you are in Canada. Am I correct in assuming that
    > > processing through Montreal will be more convenient than processing
    > > through Vancouver?
    > Most likely yes since the poster seems to indicate he or she is
    > in/from/near Toronto

Margaret

Hi

I originally lived in Hamilton (so not far from you in Toronto).
Going to Montreal is a big pain in the butt. My son and I took a
train and it took us 5 1/2 hours to get there. Going by air was not
an option because believe it or not they wanted about $800 round trip
for the two of us to go out of Toronto just to go one day and come
back the next. This was back in June. I didn't want to do the long
distance drive neither, so the train was the end result. The train
will take you right into downtown Montreal and the U.S. Consulate is
just a few blocks from there - real easy to find. If you take the
train also, you will find it nice and relaxing.

I heard that up until a couple of years ago Ottawa did the fiancee
visas. Now that would have been better.

Good luck to you.


lil_tone76 wrote in message news:...
    > Thank you guys so much for responding. I wasn't sure if it was a mistake
    > which was why it was within brackets.
    > Yeah, I live in Toronto so Montreal would be closer..much much closer
    > actually
    > I am surprised that they don't conduct interviews over in Toronto since
    > it is a major and much bigger city than Montreal. But oh wells, guess
    > I'll have to make the trip and can't do much about that.
    > Thanks again!!!
    > --

lil_tone76

That was an expensive quote for the airfare to Montreal. I thought Montreal was cheap to fly to...atleast from Toronto, unless you were flying in from Hamilton, in which case, I don't know much about.
I hope they can schedule the interview in around Dec coz that's when he'll be here so we can actually go up there together
:P
Also, how long did you wait for inbetween interview date and the time when you received your approval notice?
Thanks!!!

lil_tone76

Wouldn't it be so much more satisfying to quit in person right to the big boss' face?? hehehe
When is your interview scheduled for?
Yeah, I had the impression that Vancouver was closer to Winnepeg...
Good luck to you too!!!

Rete

Suppose they had to appease Quebec in some small way. Montreal is the only US Consulate in all of Canada that processes immigration visas. So if you were a spouse of a USC who filed an I-130 for you, then you would have to interview in Montreal regardless of where in lived in all of Canada.

At least the K visa seekers get a choice of two US Consulates.

Just fyi, until March, '98 all US Consulates in Canada did the K-1. It was in March of '98 that the US Government changed this to be only Vancouver and Montreal for non-immigration (K) visas and only Montreal for immigration (Spousal) visas and discontinued Direct Consular Filing for Americans married to Canadians. They know have to file the I-130 with the service center in the US and then wait for NVC to finish after that before they interview in Montreal.

Rete

lil_tone76

Hi Rete,
Thanks so much for all the info. I sounded selfish when I mentioned they should have it in Toronto instead but I was just venting coz I have to make the trip.
It does make sense to have it located where it's most convenient for canadians from all over.
Thanks again for everything.
-Lilian

Deanna C

Don't actually have my interview date yet. I'm hoping it's in the mail any
day now. This has been the worst wait of the whole process.

I'm looking forward to seeing Montreal this once in my life. I hear it's
nice.

Deanna


"lil_tone76" wrote in message
news:446862.1034879012@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Wouldn't it be so much more satisfying to quit in person right to the
    > big boss' face?? hehehe
    > When is your interview scheduled for?
    > Yeah, I had the impression that Vancouver was closer to Winnepeg...
    > Good luck to you too!!!
    > Originally posted by Deanna C:
    > > >>This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about 5-6
    > > hours away
    > > from Toronto.
    > >
    > > Tell me about it. I'm in Winnipeg and am going thru Montreal.
    > > Although I
    > > believe it is a bit closer than Vancouver, it would be much
    > > cheaper for me
    > > to fly West.
    > >
    > > The bonus of Montreal for me is, after my interview I get to
    > > walk to my
    > > works head office and resign to the big boss instead of the
    > > local one. I
    > > just can't wait for that.
    > >
    > > Deanna
    > > - Stuck in INS hell -
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > "L D Jones" wrote in message
    > > news:[email protected][/ur-
    > > l]"]news:3DAE282C.A5F4BFAD@yaho-
    > > o.co.uk    ...
    > > > Matthew Udall wrote:
    > > > >
    > > > > Originally posted by lil_tone76:
    > > > [ ... ]
    > > > > > This puts me at quite an inconvenience as Montreal is about
    > > 5-6 hours
    > > > > > away from Toronto.
    > > > [ ... ]
    > > > > I don't know where you are in Canada. Am I correct in assuming
    > > that
    > > > > processing through Montreal will be more convenient than
    > > processing
    > > > > through Vancouver?
    > > > Most likely yes since the poster seems to indicate he or she
    > > is
    > > > in/from/near Toronto
    > --

Deanna C

A question about direct consular filing.

We actually filed ours at the airport and complely skipped the NSC. Isn't
this considered direct filing? I was always confused on that.

Deanna

"Rete" wrote in message
news:446903.1034881557@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Originally posted by lil_tone76:
    > > Thank you guys so much for responding. I wasn't sure if it was a
    > > mistake which was why it was within brackets.
    > > Yeah, I live in Toronto so Montreal would be closer..much much closer
    > > actually
    > > I am surprised that they don't conduct interviews over in Toronto
    > > since it is a major and much bigger city than Montreal. But oh wells,
    > > guess I'll have to make the trip and can't do much about that.
    > > Thanks again!!!
    > Suppose they had to appease Quebec in some small way. Montreal is the
    > only US Consulate in all of Canada that processes immigration visas.
    > So if you were a spouse of a USC who filed an I-130 for you, then you
    > would have to interview in Montreal regardless of where in lived in all
    > of Canada.
    > At least the K visa seekers get a choice of two US Consulates.
    > Just fyi, until March, '98 all US Consulates in Canada did the K-1. It
    > was in March of '98 that the US Government changed this to be only
    > Vancouver and Montreal for non-immigration (K) visas and only Montreal
    > for immigration (Spousal) visas and discontinued Direct Consular Filing
    > for Americans married to Canadians. They know have to file the I-130
    > with the service center in the US and then wait for NVC to finish after
    > that before they interview in Montreal.
    > Rete
    > --

Margaret

I got my approval date from Nebraska INS on February 28 this year. At
that point I still needed to get my long birth certificate and my
son's. Then that was at the time the provincial government workers
went on strike, so I had to wait until the strike was over. Finally
my checklist got sent out to Montreal on May 10 and I received my
interview date of June 19th.

Also no flights went out of Hamilton to Montreal. Westjet had been
thinking of going that route but still nothing has happened.

But great news, from what I understand Northwest Airlines is looking
at Hamilton airport as a future destination, possibly within the next
2 years. That would mean I can take one of their planes from here in
Boise, Idaho with a stopover in Minnesota and then on to Hamilton when
I go to visit my family. My parents live in Niagara Falls.



lil_tone76 wrote in message news:...
    > That was an expensive quote for the airfare to Montreal. I thought
    > Montreal was cheap to fly to...atleast from Toronto, unless you were
    > flying in from Hamilton, in which case, I don't know much about.
    > I hope they can schedule the interview in around Dec coz that's when
    > he'll be here so we can actually go up there together
    > :P
    > Also, how long did you wait for inbetween interview date and the time
    > when you received your approval notice?
    > Thanks!!!
    > Originally posted by Margaret:
    > > Hi
    > >
    > > I originally lived in Hamilton (so not far from you in Toronto).
    > > Going to Montreal is a big pain in the butt. My son and I took a
    > > train and it took us 5 1/2 hours to get there. Going by air was not
    > > an option because believe it or not they wanted about $800 round trip
    > > for the two of us to go out of Toronto just to go one day and come
    > > back the next. This was back in June. I didn't want to do the long
    > > distance drive neither, so the train was the end result. The train
    > > will take you right into downtown Montreal and the U.S. Consulate is
    > > just a few blocks from there - real easy to find. If you take the
    > > train also, you will find it nice and relaxing.
    > >
    > > I heard that up until a couple of years ago Ottawa did the fiancee
    > > visas. Now that would have been better.
    > >
    > > Good luck to you.
    > >
    > >
    > > lil_tone76 wrote in message news:news:...
    > > > Thank you guys so much for responding. I wasn't sure if it was a
    > mistake
    > > > which was why it was within brackets.
    > > > Yeah, I live in Toronto so Montreal would be closer..much much
    > closer
    > > > actually
    > > > I am surprised that they don't conduct interviews over in
    > Toronto since
    > > > it is a major and much bigger city than Montreal. But oh wells,
    > guess
    > > > I'll have to make the trip and can't do much about that.
    > > > Thanks again!!!
    > > > --
    > --