Success Story: 221(G) Blue Slip Ottawa

[manufacturingirl]

4th April : I attended Visa interview at US consulate, Ottawa. I have a Masters in Chemical Engineering and I work for a Manufacturing company as a Process Engineer. This is my second stamping, and I am working for a different employer. My first H-1B stamping was also at Ottawa in 2015 and I had no issues whatsoever.

Consular officer asked about employer and about my research. She just asked for my CV and issued 221g blue slip. Only one item was ticked "you application needs additional processing before a final decision can be made". She also asked me to send my CV in an email to the email address listed in the blue slip. Passport and all documents were returned to me. I sent the email with my CV on the same day. Instantly received an automated response asking not to contact them until 60 business days have passed.

At CEAC website, passport tracking showed "Admin Processing" Case created: March 31 and Case Updated April 4 (day of interview).

5th April: Received an email response to my CV email containing just one word: "Received"

18th April: Sent a frustrated email (same email listed in blue slip) asking about extending timelines and updates on my case. Received the typical automated response and a couple of hours later another generic email which had the same content as the automated response but just sounded nicer. 

19th April: Received an email from the CEAC website with instructions on how to drop off my passport for "further visa processing" with a list of Canada Post Centers where it can be dropped of. Asked to include passport, actual 221G form and another sheet of paper that came with the email. Dropped off said contents at Canada Post. CEAC Website still showed status as Admin Processing with last updated date as April 4. 

20th April: Tracking showed that Passport was delivered to the Consulate. 

24th April : Received an email from the CEAC website that my passport was ready for pick up at the Canada Post location that I had chosen at the time of appointment booking, with tracking link. CEAC website shows ISSUED

25th April: Picked up passport from Canada Post. Visa approved until the I-797 date. Returned to US same day. No issues at POE.

Good luck everyone, hope you found this useful! 

[pontevecchio]

Good for you. You did know about TAL and this is par for the course.

[ajaysharma]

Glad to hear @manufacturingirl and thanks for posting an update.

I will likely go to Canada in the near future for stamping, and while I've never had issues in the past one never knows.

[Vips1982]

Congratulations !

[Miral Shah]

Hi @manufacturingirl Congratulations for your visa! I am in similar situation got 221G blue for F1 restamping probably because of TAL in Ottawa on 24th April, 2017. 

I am actually in little hurry to go back as I have my commencement ceremony in school on 7th May. As I read from your post you send a "frustrating email" about extending timelines and it seems it pretty much worked for you! 

Do you mind sharing that email contents with us that you send to embassy on 18th April. I just want to make sure I just make right choices of words so that it does not impact my application in any negative way. Thanks. 

[manufacturingirl]

9 hours ago, Miral Shah said:

Hi @manufacturingirl Congratulations for your visa! I am in similar situation got 221G blue for F1 restamping probably because of TAL in Ottawa on 24th April, 2017. 

I am actually in little hurry to go back as I have my commencement ceremony in school on 7th May. As I read from your post you send a "frustrating email" about extending timelines and it seems it pretty much worked for you! 

Do you mind sharing that email contents with us that you send to embassy on 18th April. I just want to make sure I just make right choices of words so that it does not impact my application in any negative way. Thanks. 

Hi Miral,

I am on the whatsapp group you are in for the 221g's from Ottawa. I had shared my e-mail experience with everyone there on the same day I sent the email, but of course you joined the group recently - what I received was a very standard response. Very generic explaining that these timelines are to be expected. Later I found out that the same email is verbatim used by the US consulate at Vancouver as their automatic reply message. 

Once I shared my experience with the others on the whatsapp group, everyone sent similar emails and received some variation of the response that I received. But you do know the status of the others.

I strongly believe that sending the email has nothing to do with the progress of your case. 

If you still do want to send the email - all I did was note my case number in the subject and basically inquired about the status of my case expressed my frustration at the delay and stated that I was ready to send any additional documents that they may need. That is all.

Good luck! 

 

 

 

[Miral Shah]

Alright, thanks for the help! I would probably send atleast an email inquiring about status of my application and send them invitation letter I recieved from school as a proof of my commencement ceremony. I understand the fact that there is nothing they can do about it once they send docs to DOS, Washington. But Atleast I can make sure my docs are not just kept in piles in embassy and atleast something is done on my case. And in best scenario they may end up inquiring about my case in DOS ( which seems to be rare, but never know) 

I really appreciate your help and time to answer my question. Thanks a lot! 

[manufacturingirl]

No problem at all! Wishing you good luck!