We arrived at the Consulate at approx. 8:00. There was a few people waiting outside, and the entrance was absolutely packed, so we too had to wait outside. After a few minutes, enough room was cleared up to fit us in, so we entered the lobby.
The security guards were extremely professional, and focused on doing their job. We waited in the entrance for about 30 min, then got motioned through to the security indoors. We emptied our pockets, took off our coats, etc, then walked through the sensor thingies. I was a little surprised that they didn't make us take off our shoes like they do at the airport. After they were finished with us there, we were told to follow the yellow arrows down the steps, then take the elevator up to the 19th floor and go to window 14.
The lady at the window was very nice, and gave us our number, C11.
About 30 minutes later, I was called to the window and handed in all our documents. They never asked to see our updated sponsorship info, which was a pleasant surprise
While at the window, I was observing some of the other folks handing in their documents at the windows next to me. One guy seemed to be having a lot of trouble with the black fuzzy haired lady I hear so many complaints about. He was very nervous, and she was making it worse. Also, he was in La Tour Centreville when the fire happened, so I'm sure the poor bugger was also running on about 2 hours sleep, I felt pretty bad for him:(Moving on...
After handing in my documents, Syvlie Ann (the window lady) told me to have a seat in the window room, and she would come back in a few minutes to take my finger prints. I waited about 15 minutes, did some more observing, then did my fingerprints when she came back.
Afterwards, she told me to go back to the waiting room and wait for my name to be called for the interview.
This was the longest part, because we waited approximately two hours. The Consulate was pretty full that day, so I'm guessing that is what the long waits were all about. No big deal though, the time still seemed to go by pretty quick. It sure helps having someone there with you to chat with, so I'm very glad my MIL came along
At about 11:45ish, I was called for my interview. I was surprised because there was a couple other couples who I thought had been there before me, but I was called ahead of them.
I walked into room number 7, and was greeted by a young man known here on VJ only as "the movie guy." Unfortunately, I'm a little fuzzy about exactly what questions he asked, but they were very few, and he was extremely friendly, and helped me feel at ease. After doing the oath, the conversation went something like this:
CO: "So how did you meet your husband?"
Me: "We met in an online game, Star Wars Galaxies."
CO: "What characters did you guys play?"
Me: "He was a Jedi, and I was a bounty hunter?"
CO: "So how exactly did all this go down?"
Me: "Well it's kind of funny actually, because it is a bounty hunter's job to pull missions on random jedi, and kill them, thus taking away alot of their hard earned xp. I pulled a mission, and was quite surprised when it pulled up my husband's name, since I had run into him before, and he had been very nice. I sent him a message telling him I had his mission, but I remembered that he was so nice, so I just couldn't bring myself to kill him. We had a good laugh about the situation, and I dropped his mission. We chatted everyday for a few months after that, until we met in person."
CO: "Haha, yes that is a very unique situation, and you are actually the first Star Wars couple I've heard of here. After meeting in person, you sure didn't wait long to get married, hey?"
Me: (giggling) "No, we were pretty sure it was meant to be right from the moment we met."
CO: "Well your visa has been approved, and it should arrive in about a week."
Me: (crying tears of joy) "Thank you sir!"
That was about it. I went back out to the waiting room still crying happy tears like a baby lol, and practically jumped on my MIL while I was telling her the good news.
All in all, it was a pretty good experience, and I was pleased with how comfortable the folks at the Consulate made me feel.
Yay for Montreal!
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