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Canada US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 4.2
/ 5
1647 Review(s)
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| Montreal, Canada |  Review #689 on July 16, 2006: |
no one
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Just returned from Montréal... debriefing time!
I'd stayed at McGill's Royal Victoria College, one of the university's residences that's open to the public in the summer. It's a 15 min's walk from the US Consulate. At $56.36/night (incl. taxes), it's comparable to a private room in a hostel.
My K1 interview was on Thurs morning. Arriving just before 7am, I was the first one there. A guard opened the doors at 7:30am -- be sure to have both your passport and interview letter ready!
Went through the room with the x-ray machines. I'd kept my keys inside my portfolio (I didn't bring a purse with me, and I'd worn clothes with no pockets); that was a bad idea, because the guards had to take the keys out to examine them.
Walked downstairs to the waiting room with the elevator and the photo booth. The photo booth takes only loonies and toonies, in case you want to get your passport photos done there.
As most of you know by now, as soon as the guard removes the barrier to the elevator, rush to the back of it, because it'll open from the back once it gets to the 19th floor.
Some people I met that day either read this forum, or know people who have gone through the same process, because some people knew exactly what to do as well!
On the 19th floor, turn left and look for Window 14. There are arrows on the floor showing you the way, but as I was sitting in the waiting room later on, many people had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do once they got to the 19th floor. Get karma points for ushering them in the right direction 
The girl at Window 14 was really cheerful. I gave her the interview letter and she gave me two C1 tickets.
At this point, you have around 15-20 min to use the washroom or get some snacks from the vending machines. The view from the 19th floor's not too bad.
Once C1 was called, I went to another window to give the guy one of my C1 tickets and all of my documents. He wanted everything except for my chest x-ray stuff and more evidence of ongoing relationship (he did need the signed letter from my fiancé saying that he is still willing and able to marry me though). He took the original copy of my birth cert and the photocopy, but the original will be returned to you at the interview. While he was collecting my documents, he asked me a few questions about where I was born and at what age I came to Canada. He then told me to return to Window 14, pay the $100 USD fee, and return with the receipt and drop it off even though he won't be there.
Waited and waited in the sitting area... by this time, Mr C2 had finished his interview! This worried me and I wondered if I'd done something incorrectly. Finally, 20-25 min later, I was called into the interview room where I gave my interviewer the second C1 ticket.
After taking my fingerprints, my interviewer asked me at least 20 questions. He was friendly, but after reading on VJ that most people were asked only a couple of questions, I started to worry. He seemed concerned that my fiancé is Caucasian and I'm Chinese. When I told him that I'd immigrated to Canada when I was seven years old, he said, "So you're practically a Canadian." 
In the end, he appeared satisfied with my responses, gave me an orange card (that allowed me to re-enter the Consulate), and told me to return at 2:30pm the next day for the visa.
The next day, saw Mr C2 again. Apparently he was there for a different visa -- not a K1 -- so the moral of the story is this: don't worry even though you don't seem to be going through what everyone else is going though. 
| | | Montreal, Canada | Review #686 on July 11, 2006: |
KiminON
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I stayed at the Days Inn down the street (10min walk) as the closer Centreville hotel was booked due to the Jazz Festival. I was able to leave my car in their lot with their parking pass which was nice.
I had zero problems going through security (although I think the lady that controls the door lock enjoys having people push and pull a couple of times before she opens it).
The lady that asked for all of my paperwork was polite and patient as I pulled the requested documents from my file. The cashier was super nice and almost too cheerful for so early in the day
The gentleman that interviewed me was awesome. Did everything he could to make me feel comfortable. We got the official stuff 'out of the way' (his words) and then he chatted with me more about our hobby than our relationship and then said he'd not keep me any longer! It took about 8 minutes. I had my Visa sent to me via pre-paid courier and I received it by 2pm the following day.
All in all very painless. Well, except for driving in Montreal.
| | | Montreal, Canada | Review #684 on July 10, 2006: |
echoota
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The interview process was completely painless. Only one thing worth mentioning here is that any type of cloth bag or briefcase is not allowed. We had to go stash ours in the middle of some parking lot and hope it wouldn't get tossed or stolen. Paper shopping bags and plastic bags seem acceptable.
I didn't even have to bring my X-ray. They told me to just give it to a doc when I settle in here.
| | | Montreal, Canada | Review #663 on June 29, 2006: |
happyimmigrant
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our interview was scheduled for 9:40 am. We headed over to the US Consulate at 7:30. There were a few people milling about outside the doors, and a couple security guards were there. The consulate itself is completely nondescript - there are no signs, and the entrance is off the side of a building - if you didn't know just where to look for it, you'd have no hope of ever finding it.
At 7:45 they opened the doors and let us in. We were amongst the first allowed inside. They checked my interview letter first, and Holly's US passport. We were sent through a metal detector, and our belongings X-rayed, just like at an airport. Some people who got in before us had things they were not allowed to have (cell phone, etc) and had to sign them in to retrieve later. As a result, we were the first ones sent through to the elevator waiting room. We sat down and waited for the elevator to open (it had a temporary barrier against it).
At 8:00, a guard came in, removed the barrier, and opened the elevator. We were the first ones in - knowing that we would be exiting out the back of the elevator, we went straight to the back - but then turned around to face the front, as one would normally do in an elevator. Everyone else that entered saw us facing the front, and did the same. The doors shut and we rode up to the 19th floor. It arrived, we turned around, and the door opened, letting us out first. Holly headed right, but I knew to turn left out of the elevator, saw Window 14, and lined up in front of it immediately. We were first in line. The woman checked my letter and gave us a ticket - C1, first one of the day. Even though our interview was not scheduled until 9:40 am, we knew that it was actually done on a first-come first-served basis. Holly heard the couple behind us muttering and complaining that they didn't get to be first in line. They got ticket C2.
Every window in the place is thick bulletproof glass, you talk to the employees through a speaker, and there is a small slot at the bottom to pass documents through.
We sat and waited for about 15 minutes until our ticket was called. We got called to window 8, where a woman asked for my documents in rapid fire - faster than I could produce them. She seemed to be satisfied with what I gave her, however. I did not give her any financial support information, any photographs - nothing except the official USCIS forms that they wanted, my passport, my passport pictures (2), medical packet, and the other things on the checklist they had sent in Packet 3. When she asked one question, and I answered "no" rather softly, she looked up, not having heard. Holly said to her, "he said no." She butted in, "I didn't ask YOU, I asked HIM." She was really not very nice.
She then told us to return to Window 14, pay our $100 fee, and return with the receipt to her window. She said, even if she wasn't there, just to slip the receipt through the slot. She told us not to wait for her there, because we would miss being called for our interview. We headed off to Window 14, paid our $100 (US, cash), got our receipt, and returned to Window 14. By then, there was another employee there, talking to two more clients. We stood there for about five minutes waiting for her to finish with them. I told Holly to go back to the waiting room in case our number was called for the interview. A minute later, it became obvious that the people at that window were confused and disorganized and were going to be there a long time. I butted in and asked the woman behind the window if I could put my receipt through the slot. She said, "oh, just put it through the slot in the window next to me, that will be fine." So I did, and returned to the waiting room.
We waited. And waited. Ticket C2 was called, the couple got up and went to their interview. I heard my name called, asking me to go to Window 8 again. We got up, and the original woman was there. She asked where my receipt was. I told her that I had put it through the next window, as the other woman had told me to. She very angrily said, "well that is NOT what *I* told you to do! I don't care what SHE told you to do, *I* said to put it through THIS window!" She found my receipt, and we returned to the waiting area. As we left her area, I was muttering obscenities under my breath about how this was so typical of this entire process, how you are continually told contradictory things by different people, and Holly quickly hushed me up, sensing that a year's worth of frustration with this idiotic system was about to emerge just before our interview. She was probably right.
The C2 couple emerged from their interview. They had been in there for a good 20 minutes. They did not look happy. They had looked nervous to begin with, and as they were leaving, Holly thought that the girl was blinking as if holding back tears. Not good. We were called into our interview shortly after.
The interview itself was the easiest part of this entire process. The interviewer was a kind and polite man who didn't bother with any formalities - no swearing of oaths, nothing. He immediately put us at ease. He asked us how we met, where we planned to live, and when we were going to get married. That was it! We answered together, and I think it was rather apparent that we were together and happy. He told us to come back at 2:30 the next day to get the visa, and gave us a little card that would gain us entry back into the consulate. It was 9:30 am.
| | | Montreal, Canada | Review #655 on June 22, 2006: |
Harding
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
The interview at Montreal was flawless. The building (and entrance) was easy to find, there was a modest linup but no chaos. Thanks to info from vj I knew exactly where to go and what to expect. I arrived at 6:45am - a bit too early! - and returned later with coffee and newspaper in hand to wait at the door. Doors opened at 7:30, passed through security, after a brief wait an officer escorted everyone to the 18th floor. Took numbers, called in to submit documents (passport and medical info), brief wait again, and then the "interview." Interview consisted of four questions - any trouble with law (no), any trouble crossing the border into U.S. (no), when did you meet, when did you get married. The interviewing officer then told me that our visa was approved, and that I should expect the official green card in the mail within 2-3 weeks.
We're now happily together... it's over, and it was all worth it!!! 
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