Had my interview... need help Nichole

[JKS]

I had my interview in Montreal on July 27, 2009. It went well and the gentleman that interviewed me was cool. What caused a problem was my admission of the fact that I had an incident at the border about seven years ago. I was barred from entering the country for one year following that incident. He asked me a few other questions about how my fiancee and I met (she was with me in the interview room). He asked her directly (very pleasantly) what she did for a living. That was all easy and straight forward.

Towards the end of the interview he told me he was trying to access the details of this incident at the border but the system was "slow". He told me to go outside and wait for half an hour or so. I waited for at least 2. He finally called me back in and explained that the system was down and he could not get the details. He mentioned that I was not the only person affected by this problem that day. He told me that once he accessed the system, he would either mail me my visa or send my a letter requesting more information. I told him I was going to Quebec City that evening and returning to the Montreal area the next day before heading back home to Toronto, and asked if it would be sorted out by then. He told me he couldn't predict that, enjoy Quebec City because he was just there the weekend before with his wife, and the consulate will contact me as soon as the problem is fixed.

Have you heard of this ever happening before?

[nichole]

Oddly enough, at my fiances interview in London the computers were down. He said you are "tentatively" approved but I have to run your info through one last database. So those parts are similar. It seems if everything is in order, the final step is clearing through a database even if there are no issues like your border incident. Yours should process fine unless he wants specific information about that incident and has to find it elsewhere. Some different database checks take longer to get the ok back on. If your incident didn't involve something super negative, like drug smuggling, or criminal activity then I would say it's resolve being a long time ago and past your one year ban. I don't believe he would have told you to wait 30 minutes on the computer if he thought it would be a long issue to resolve. The visa in our case took a week to arrive by courier instead of days like some. I was able to call DOS and find out the visa was printed in the afternoon two days after the interview. Normally that could happen the same afternoon or by the next for sure if the computers aren't down. And the courier was then slow delivering, but at least I had the information that the visa had been printed

[JKS]

What a coincidence. I guess this problem does happen more than I thought. I e-mailed the consulate two days after my interview to inquire about my case and I received this reply:

Hi
The problem has still not be solved.
As soon as it is we will notify you.
Thank you for your patience .

That was a week ago. My wedding is planned for the end of August, do you think I should e-mail them again? Or, is there a number I can call to find out?

Your advice has been much appreciated over the past few months. Thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge and experience.