We started this whole process way back at the end of September 2006. Those of us in this timeframe had our I-130's retained as soon as USCIS approved the I-129f. It seemed an expensive and lengthy process to get the I-130 moving so we just went the I-129 K3 route. At the interview yesterday my husband and I were suprised to get quite a lecture from the officer collecting our documents on how we should have followed through with the I-130 as it is the "holy grail" of visa's and we would not have had to face the daunting prospect of applying for the EAD/AOS with this K3. I swear at first we both thought he was going to hand our paperwork back to us and send us back home to get to work on the I-130. He didn't seem to be aware that USCIS was retaining them and genuinely wanted to know why the heck we didn't go that route after the I-130 was initially approved. Anyway.. these are the documents he asked for:
-birth certificate plus copy for CAD citizen only (kept copy and gave back original)
-divorce certificate plus copy for CAD citizen only (gave it back)
-I-134 from US citizen and copy of his income tax report from last year and also bank managers letter and bank statements (he is self-employed)(he kept these)
-marriage certificate plus copy (gave back original)
-police certificate plus copy (kept the original and gave back the copy)
-sealed medical envelope (had the chest xray with me but he didn't ask for it)
-2 passport photos
OOPs... I'll start from the top to see if I can give any tips to those of you going to Montreal soon. The consulate is this big grey building and the entrance is a set of double glass doors on the side of the building on Rue St. Alexandre. There are some steps up to the door. We arrived before 7am and had no trouble parking right on Rue St. Alexandre. You must pay for parking after 9am but if you put money in the pay machine early it starts your time from 9. I think it was $3.00 in coins for each hour. There was one girl waiting in front of the doors but we were still early. We walked one block to the right on Rene Levesque blvd and went to Tim Hortons. When we returned, the girl waiting in front of the door asked if we were going to use a debit card for the fee we would be paying and I told her it said in the notice to bring USD cash only. She had to leave her spot in a panic to go and find a bank open to obtain US dollars! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CASH. So now we are first in line at 7:05 am and others wander up slowly and they let us in at 7:30. The guards are very serious and efficient and we had to show our interview letter and my husband had to show his US passport right at the door. We emptied our pockets and went through a metal detector and were "wanded". We were given a small cardboard square with the letter B on it. We went inside to wait in this windowless room until the initial group was through security then the guard came in and led us to an elevator. As soon as the door opened he led our group to another small room with chairs where a lady called us up by the letter on your little piece of cardboard. She took the interview letter and sends you to a larger waiting room. We were paged by name after 8am to go see the officer that asked for our documents. He takes everything, originals and copies (and took the expresspost envelope we brought with us) and looks over your file with the documents you've already sent in. The officers are all behind glass in numbered cubicles. He takes our documents and chats and answers questions we have and tells us to go to this window out in the waiting area to pay the cashier the $100 USD fee for K3. We sit and wait and a few minutes later we are paged to go back to his window where he gives us back some of our original documents and the CAD citizen is fingerprinted using this little machine on the counter. We give him the receipt from the cashier that we've paid the $100. We go back and sit again and a little while later we are paged to a door with a number over it. You step inside this little closet-like room and there is a different person inside, behind glass, that conducts your interview. Our interviewer was a young guy that was friendly and it seemed very casual. He asked right away how we met and when we knew when we would get married. He kind of joked and chatted with us. He asked my husband how his "construction business" was doing and asked if I wanted to transfer with my job to the US (which I think I had mentioned on the forms I had sent in for packet 3). He did not want to see any pictures or proof of relationship ... and we only chatted for like less than 5 minutes and he suddenly says "Congratulations, your visa has been approved. Have a nice day." Just like that! My husband says "Is that it? Can we just leave?" He replies "you are all done, you can leave". You walk past the other nervous folks waiting in the waiting room and give them the thumbs up and they say "Congratulations" and you are in the elevator down and walking back out past the guards and next thing you know you are walking back to the Tim Horton's to get another coffee to celebrate!!
We were out before 9:30 am! So now it's back home and back to VJ to figure out the next steps with EAD/AOS. I have to wait for work auth. and a transfer with my job before I can finally move to permanently stay with my husband so we are not quite jumping for joy just yet. But it's a BIG MILESTONE and a great relief to have reached this point and to have the dreaded interview behind us. It wasn't that bad after all! Good luck to all of you having your interviews soon.
Monica and Tony
... didn't feel cheated in the least. Got the hell outta there and didn't even look back! I'd go back to Montreal for another chocolate crepe with chantilly cream.... but NO MORE INTERVIEWS! (until my AOS/EAD stuff in the US of course...sigh)
