Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
April 20, 2009 |
| Embassy Review : |
We had our interview April 17, 2009. We arrived the day before (I drove from Toronto, my fiance flew in to meet me). We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel down the road from the Consulate. We did a trial walk over there the day before, it took us 15 min. The morning of our interview, we arrived at 6:30am, and were the first in line. By 6:45am, a few more people showed up. The Embassy opened at 7:30am, the security guy opened to door, and asked if he could help us. I handed him our interview letter and he let us in. We were the first through security check and the security guy who screened us was very organized and very nice. He took our passports and clipped them to a number and a form, the form outlined what documents we would need right away and in what order. We were sent into the basement to wait for someone to take us up in the elevator. While we waited, we got all the documents out that the form asked for. We waited till 7:45am, and the elevator opened with a security guy, he let a group of us in (about 10 people) and took our interview letters. He escorted us upstairs and had us sit in a certain section upstairs. He was really nice and said to wait for our name to be called. He actually would walk by every few minutes and crack jokes like 'hey, no having fun up here (with a smirk). We were called within 10 mins to a window. The guy said he would start going through all my forms and request them one by one. It was a smaller room, and my fiance was able to pull up a chair for me to place my file on, for easy access. The guy was pleasant and very organized. I had my forms and my 5 year old sons...so he said he would do mine first, then my sons. It was basically an exchange of, give me this form, you keep this...etc. He had me print my fiances name on the DS156K. He asked a few brief questions, especially about me having permission from my ex-husband for my son to move (which I had the documents). Once he had everything he needed, he handed my a slip and told me to go to the cashier to pay. My fiance sat behind me the entire time, in the same room, waiting. We then walked over to the cashier, there was only 1 person in front of us. But when we got up there, the guy said his computer was acting up and he could not process our payment. He made us wait for about 15 min, then called us back up when it was finally working. We paid our fee, and were told to sit back down until our name was called for fingerprints. We waited about 15 min and my name was called. I went back to the first guy, he did my fingerprints and asked for us to go sit back down and wait for our name to be called. We sat down...up to this point, everyone was friendly and very organized. As we were waiting, we noticed that people that were 2nd and 3rd in line, started to get called in for interviews before us. I started to get a little worried saying to my fiance that it was taking longer that people after us (I was worried that they were looking at our file and perhaps something was missing or not right). At about 9:30am, my name was called, we went into the interview room. There was a lady behind the glass, and one chair in the room. I told my fiance to sit in the chair, and she said 'no, if you could please both stand'. She asked for me to place my file on the chair so it wouldn't fall over on the ledge and asked us to hang up our coats. She was very pleasant and friendly. She swore us both in, and asked a few questions (that I can remember)
*Asked if I ever lived anywhere else except for Canada?
*Asked if I ever had any run ins with the law etc...?
*How did you meet?
*What has been your longest visit to the US?
*How is you ex-husband with the move?
*What do you do for a living?
*Do you take any prescription Meds?
*How did you get engaged and when?
*When is the wedding?
She asked if I was bringing my son at the same time as my entry and that was pretty much it. No further proof requested or anything. Actually when we got in there, she was very social and the three of us started joking around and laughing over small talk. She was super cool and down to earth (smiled the entire time). She then said, that it all looked good, and she was approving the Visa, and then said 'i'd like to be the first to welcome you to the United States of America'. I hugged my fiance and thanked her a million times. I actually told her if there was no glass separating us, I would have hugged her (she was laughing). She explained what my next steps were, how to apply for AOS, and that I would have to wait for approval to work (my fiance joked asking her 'how soon can I get her working 3 jobs) she laughed. She also reminded us that if we were marrying on the beach (just us two) that we would need a witness...she was very informative. She handed us an info sheet and gave me instruction on what to expect when the Visa arrives (not to open the envelope), and explained what would happen when I took my packet to the POE. She returned all my original documents, and said that I would rec've my Visa within 2 weeks....and that was it!!!! We were walking out and I started crying, and went straight into the bathroom, I WAS SO HAPPY! She saw me crying and seemed very empathetic. I asked her what her first name was so I could remember her. While I was in the bathroom, I ran into another VJ'er that had just gotten approved and she looked at me crying thinking I was sad... lol! I explained that i'm a fool and cry easily! HAHA! When I walked out, I must have scared all the people waiting, as they were all staring at my swollen eyes lol! 
Overall, it was an amazing experience. Everyone was very friendly and down to earth. The place is intimidating, but I think that was just more my nerves. I am so happy that we got such a wonderful woman as an interviewer, I could not have hoped for a better person, she was amazing!!! Even though the process took long from when we originally filed, I am very impressed and happy with all my interactions with USCIS so far  I didn't believe people's advise here in VJ before when they said that Montreal was simple, nice and nothing to worry about, but now that I have experienced it first hand, I could not explain it better myself! I am so excited to finally get my Visa and FINALLY be with the love of my life! |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0