VISA APPROVED! - Montreal - My Experience

[candiizz 5]

FIRST OF ALL, I want to say THANK YOU TO VJ! I was able to do this without an immigration lawyer and it saved us tons of money. Also, thank you to the people that offered help, God knows I needed a lot of it! Here's what my experience was like:

The Hotel

I arrived in Montreal Sunday night and checked into the hotel. I chose the Days Inn Downtown on Boul. Rene-Levesque. I chose it because it was decently priced and the reviews that I read were better than the Travelodge, although it was about a block further.

I took a "practice walk" that night to make sure I could find it in the morning to avoid any delays. SUPER EASY. Take a right out of the hotel and walk straight down Boul. Rene-Levesque until you get to St-Alexandre. The consulate is on that corner. It was about a 10 minute walk

The Morning Of

Woke up at 6am, was ready by 7am. I left everything in the Hotel room (including purse, cell phone, etc.) with the exception of my paperwork. I put it all in a plastic bag to protect it since it was a rainy morning. I left the hotel at about 7:15am and arrived at the consulate at 7:30am for my 8:00am appointment. There was already a line of about 10 people when I got there, but in the grand scheme of things that doesn't really matter all that much.

When the guard opened the door he lets you in to see a lady right beside the door that checks your passport and Loomis Ref Number. She put a sticker on my passport with the Ref number and handed it back to me. Then directed me to the second set of doors which is security. Much like airport security, put everything in bins, walk through the scanners. A few people with me had backpacks, which are not permitted inside the embassy and were sent away to put them somewhere (they will not hold backpacks). Cell phones are also not permitted, but security will hold it for you if you bring it from what I saw. After security, they direct you to go down the stairs and sit in the waiting room.

As per everyone's GREAT advice on VJ, I sat right near the elevator in the waiting room. The waiting room filled up fast. We were only waiting about 10 minutes before the guard let us on the elevator. I listened to everyone again and went directly to the BACK of the elevator. We went up to floor 19 and the back door of the elevator opened up and directed us to a receptionist where she again checked our passport and appointment confirmation. I ended up being THIRD in line.

She directed us to the window to wait in another line to get our numbers. I got C3. I just sat down when I got called. No waiting at all. At the 2nd window she asked for paperwork and took fingerprints. Birth certificate, photocopy of birth certificate, police check, affidavit of support, etc. This admin. process took about 5 minutes tops. She then told me to take a seat and wait for my number to be called again.

My number got called within 5 minutes of me sitting down. I was directed to a private room where I took an oath and she took my fingerprints again to make sure I was the same person they just fingerprinted. She asked the usual questions: How did we meet? When did he propose? How often do we see eachother? Have I met his parents? Has he met my parents? What do I do for a living? What do I intend on doing for a living in the US? What does he do for a living? Why am I moving there as opposed to him moving here?

She then stated "I have approved this Visa." And handed me a "Welcome to the United States of America" paper that had further instructions on how I was going to get my passport. She was really nice and we were able to laugh and joke around during the questioning. My waist belt broke and she offered me a safety pin hahahha. I was out of the embassy by 9:30am.

Got back to the hotel, packed up, and headed off on the 7 hour drive home. By the time I got home my Visa status already says Issued!!! Kudos to MTL for making this quick and easy.

[Fayeara 8]

Yay! Congrats!!! So happy for you

What did you bring as evidence of relationship?

My interview is in about 2 weeks, but I'm already starting to stress about it XD. People were nice over there?

When are you planning to move?

[candiizz 5]

Yay! Congrats!!! So happy for you

What did you bring as evidence of relationship?

My interview is in about 2 weeks, but I'm already starting to stress about it XD. People were nice over there?

When are you planning to move?

Thank you!

I brought a bunch of pictures, and a couple pages of chat logs. They never asked for it at all though. Everyone was really nice. Wasn't overly uptight or serious at all. Was able to joke around

I bought a plane ticket for September 9th, 2 weeks away. I wanted sooner, but any other date was $200 more expensive. My visa says issued so that should be more than enough time i hope.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

congratulations

[NikLR 13,227]

[mstewart 6]

Yay! Sound slike you had a super easy experience! Congrats!

[kc247 22]

Congrats!! I am stressing about my interview already and I don't even have a date! Hoping I don't have to wait too long for one when I do get to schedule one.

[candiizz 5]

congratulations

Thank you!

Thank you!

Yay! Sound slike you had a super easy experience! Congrats!

Thank you It went very smoothly.

Congrats!! I am stressing about my interview already and I don't even have a date! Hoping I don't have to wait too long for one when I do get to schedule one.

Thank you! No reason to stress, just have everything on the checklist + your medical results and you should be fine

[johnnyv 20]

I'm so happy for you! I'm happy you had such a good experience.

Btw, what did they say when they asked you why are you moving to the US rather than him moving to Canada?

[candiizz 5]

I'm so happy for you! I'm happy you had such a good experience.

Btw, what did they say when they asked you why are you moving to the US rather than him moving to Canada?

I answered that we had looked into both options and both required one of us to not be employed for a length of time. We decided that he was able to better support me than I was him.

[Hannah777 8]

How long did it take you to get the visa in hand?

[candiizz 5]

How long did it take you to get the visa in hand?

got it today... so less than 72 hours after the interview.

[Fayeara 8]

*cheers* woohoo!

I hope I'll get mine as quickly. Honey is booking tickets to come pick me up one week after the interview.