At 6:35pm on the 14th, I took a VIA Rail train out of Union Station in Toronto and started on my way. Five and a half hours later I'm in Montreal, a place I had not seen since the last time I moved to the states. I took a cab to my hotel... which turned out to be less than 1km away. But it was late and dark so I suppose it was wort the 6 bucks
I was staying at La Tour Centre-Ville, which the VJ Embassy/Consulate Info page for Montreal will tell you is right across the street from the consulate, and let me tell you... it really is! Well, kind of diagonally across the street, but still just across all the same The hotel is nice enough... an apartment building converted into hotel rooms... but I really didn't spend enough time there to go into more detail than that. I checked in at just after midnight and checked back out again at noon.The next morning I was up and making a pot of coffee around 6:30am. Making sure everything was in order and drinking a cup of coffee took longer than I'd anticipated and I didn't head over to the consulate until close to 7:30... about 20 minutes later than I'd planned. Still, I arrived outside the doors to find only three people ahead of me, so it wasn't so bad. About five minutes later a security guard opened the doors for us and asked me to stand in a different line from the three others. I thought at first this was because they weren't their for interviews, but later on upstairs they pretty much followed the same routine as I did, so I'm really not sure what the separate line was about. Anyway, I went through security which was quick and smooth... the officers were extremely nice and called me ma'am... something that has not happened since I lived in Texas! After I was cleared and had been given a little plastic card with a big letter "C" and "Window #9" written on it, they sent me downstairs to wait by the elevator. I was tempted to stand up and wander near the elevator to see if the mysterious voice would come over the P.A. and ask me to sit down... but I resisted that urge
Around five minutes later another security officer came and took the four of us up in the elevator and pointed us in the right director for our window (#9). I stood right in front of the window, and felt kind of silly doing so because the other three sat down, but I kept thinking about how I'd read a lot of people on here say "stand at the window, someone will come!" and so I did. Eventually, yes, someone came, but there really was no reason for me to stay standing because the little letter I'd been given downstairs seemed to be what determined my position in line, rather than when I turned in my letter at this window. Speaking of which, that's all that happened at Window #9: the lady behind the glass asked for my interview letter and my little plastic card with "C" on it. Then she told us to go sit in the big waiting room until someone called our name.So I sat, waited, and wished I'd brought a book like the person in front of me. The wait wasn't too terrible though. They started calling names just after 8:00am. I was called to Window #12 around 8:20 (or maybe 8:30... I should have taken notes!) and there another lady gave me a half sheet of paper, told me to take it to the cashier at window #14, and then to come right back. So I did and waved good-bye to my $100 US
The cashier attached my receipt to the half sheet of paper and gave it back to me. And back to window #12 I went! There the same lady took the receipt/half sheet back and then proceeded to ask for all my paperwork: My passport, pictures, medical results (during which she informed me that they did not need my x-ray and that it was good for five or six years so I should give it to my doctor once I find one in the states), birth certificate + one copy, my police certificate (and told me "no" when I asked if she wanted a copy as well as the original), the new letter of intent from Brian (and said no again about the copy), the I-134 (and still didn't want a copy, just originals!), my xpresspost envelope (and she asked me if I'd filled it out and made note of my tracking number, which thankfully I had!), my DS-156K (again, she didn't want a copy). She also attached my pictures to my forms and then whited out my signature/date from the DS-156s that I'd previously mailed in and asked me to sign them again in front of her. Then she asked me about my previous green card. She wanted to know what I'd done with it... and this is where I did the stupidest thing ever that had me panicking right up until the interview! See, I still have my old green card. It's useless, but I never got rid of it... it's in a file somewhere in a box in the back of a closet. I'd meant to bring it with me to the interview, but I forgot it! I didn't realise I'd forgotten it until she asked about it! And then the stupidity: instead of saying "I still have it but I forgot to bring it with me" ... for some idiotic reason the words "I destroyed it" came out of my mouth. I think I must have panicked at the thought that maybe not having it with me would delay things... I wish I could have stopped myself from doing that! Anyway, she didn't seem overly pleased with this statement. She repeated my words back to me as a question, to which I blurted out "I was only 19 when I came back to Canada and I didn't know what I was supposed to do with it". And I guess that satisfied her because she made a little note on my paperwork and didn't say anything else. But I was still scared I'd just screwed up! After that little hitch, the lady then asked me to take a seat while she turned in my paperwork and said she'd be back to take my fingerprints. So I sat... waited... and watched two other people get their fingerprints taken, and then it was my turn. I go back up to the window and the lady says "Is your father William Franklin Harvey?" to which I reply "yes". Then she says, "Oh, I have his case here in front of me." With no other explanation at all, which was kind of odd. My only guess is that she pulled up his old case to see if I was mentioned at all (for those who don't know, my father went through this lovely process when I was 16 because my step-mother is from Texas. I moved with him, but did not go through the usual K-2 process, I was paroled into the country instead.). Then she took my fingerprints and said to go back to the waiting room and wait for my name to be called again.
So I sat down again and waited... and looked out at the skyline (you can see the Biodome from up there!). And I watched as the three people from before me in line were called to the interview room. Then, around 9:30, over the P.A. system comes a man saying "Amy Harvey, door number 8 please". For one brief second I had this image of a game show and someone asking me to guess what was behind door number 8!
Anyway, I went in and found myself in a tiny square of a room with a window separating me from the consular officer. He was an older gentleman who seemed very pleasant and was nowhere near as intimidating as his voice was over the P.A. system! He asked me how I was doing and then told me he was going to verify my fingerprints and asked me to place my left thumb on a little digital reader. Once that was done, I took the oath swearing that everything I was about to say was true and so forth. He then proceeded to fiddle around with an elastic band that was attached to a paper clip for a couple minutes... attempting to get the elastic off the paperclip. He muttered something like "more trouble than it's worth" and then broke the elastic, used the paperclip to attach my receipt to my original birth certificate, and then handed those back to me through the slot under the window. It was rather amusing and by that point I was 100% relaxed, even despite previous worries over what I'd said about my green card. He gave me my DS-156K and asked me to sign it. Then he flipped through my paperwork and asked me a few questions such as "how did you meet?" "What does your fiance do for a living?" "What do you do for a living?" and "What are you plans for the wedding?". Then he flipped through the paperwork again, stopping at my police certificate and says "Well, the law says you're not a criminal", then he flips to my medical and says "and the doctors say you're healthy", then flips to Brian's letter of intent and says "And your fiance still wants to marry you!" To which I just say "I'm glad" . Then he says "you've been in the states before!" and I told him that I'd moved there with my father. He asked how my father ended up there and kind of laughed when he realised my dad went through the same thing. And that was it! He didn't mention my old green card at all, much to my relief! And then he said "Well, everything here is in order so we're going to approve this for you" and told me it could be up to 10 days before I receive the visa in the mail. I say thank you very much and leave! I glance at the clock on my way out and it's just after 9:45am.All I can really say for those of you heading to Montreal yourselves in the coming months is: you're in for a treat!
Compared to the rest of this journey, the interview really is the best part! Also: try to think before you say things! Save yourself some panic and don't blurt out things like "I destroyed my green card" if you really didn't! I am so lucky that it didn't come back to haunt me!And, as a last bit of good news, I checked the Canada Post website and Montreal sent my visa out in the mail this morning! That was FAST!
