Hello Folks,

I have my IR1 interview at the Montreal Consulate in Feb at 8:30 am. I am planning for the trip and I have some questions which I would appreciate your feedback on. (sorry if these questions have been answered previously):
1- On my interview letter it says visa will not be issued the same day, is this actually happening now?
2- Which is the closest hotel to the Montreal Consulate
3- What time should I plan on flying back to Toronto around 8:00 PM?
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hi Fak and Congrats on your interview!!!

Take a hop over to the Canada forum...........there are folks who have some really valuable info over there that can more than answer your questions.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showforum=93

1. That is correct, they now mail out the visa to ur Cdn address, Unless ur residing in the USA now, if so they give it to u next day.

2. Closest is the tour de centre ville. Ok hotel, not spiffy, but like a 2 minute walk http://www.hotelcentreville.com/eng/contacts.htm Check rates on Expedia.ca, hotel.com or phone, they do give gov't rates!! there are nicer hotels that are not that far away.

3. If your there first thing in the morning and Murphys law does not come into effect, you should be out of there in a few hours!! 8pm would be more than suffice!! back in 2005 I was out of there by 1030 am, I know others have been out around same time and even earlier!! But nice to have extra time just in case!!

There is a shuttle that goes from the Mtl airport to downtown, save a few bucks and get a round trip. The shuttle is just outside the arrivals gate. You would catch it to downtown Mtl. Drops you off at the train Stn, THEN you could catch a smaller shuttle to the hotel. And for the return trip, just the reverse!! The hotel wil store ur bags in a smal room if you get there early, or check out late!!

Cheers

Thank you so very much for the info!

I just had my interview Jan 11th, and they said they are now changing their process and sending all visa's back in the mail using canada post expresspost mailers supplied by the applicant.
As to hotels I stayed in the Four Points Sheraton, an easy walk to the consulate. There are allot of hotels nearby, and I used the internet to narrow them down, then called the hotel directly and got a better rate than the internet offered.
Is it necessary for you to fly back the same day? I was able to return the next day to pick up my visa and it turns out they had lost my original ds-230 form and hadn't noticed the day before during the interview. I was able to give them another one and all was well, but another woman there was not so lucky. The consulate had lost her original I-130 form and she hadn't been able to get in touch with her husband (he had left to go back to the U.S.), to get all the info she needed to fill out another. I was there over an hour and when I left they still had not decided how to handle her case. I also ran into two other people that had to return to the consulate post-interview to provide more paperwork. In short, things may not always be cleared up in one day, so if you can afford to stay over one day then maybe you should. After all, it's Montreal so it's not like there's nothing to do in your spare time:-)

Hope this helps.

Tom

[quote name='flames9' post='676728' date='Jan 22 2007, 01:34 PM'][quote name='Fak' post='676610' date='Jan 22 2007, 12:50 PM']Hello Folks,

I have my IR1 interview at the Montreal Consulate in Feb at 8:30 am. I am planning for the trip and I have some questions which I would appreciate your feedback on. (sorry if these questions have been answered previously):
1- On my interview letter it says visa will not be issued the same day, is this actually happening now?
2- Which is the closest hotel to the Montreal Consulate
3- What time should I plan on flying back to Toronto around 8:00 PM?
Any feedback would be appreciated.