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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on July 26, 2012: |
benoi027
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Overall, very good experience.
Woking Medical:
To keep this short, showed up at 6:05 and was 5th in line. I'd recommend trying to be early, since in general, you get out in the order you arrive. Tests themselves were easy and fast, very nice (but efficient) staff. I was done all tests by 9:00. My only complaint is that we had to come back at 10:30 (for xray results) and again at 1:00 (for sealed envelope/immunization record/xray CD). Seems like they could have grouped these together rather than having us take three trips.
I got the additional sealed envelope for AOS. When I first went up to give in my forms, I asked about this, and they said they were happy I was doing it proactively. In order to get the additional envelope, I brought two photos (rather than 1) and a bank draft for $400 (rather than $350).
All in all, it went very smoothly for me... BUT, I spoke to a girl there who had used a lawyer for this whole process, and she showed up with only her passport. Woking was very accomodating and made copies of her passport for her, as well as let her leave to get photos taken, a bank draft drawn, and copies of her immunization records. I'm amazed people go into this so unprepared, but nice to know that if someone forgets something, there is a way around it!
Consulate:
I had my appointment the day after the medical. Showed up around 9:25, and there was absolutely no line! Someone was being trained, so I was lucky enough to have everything explained to him (and therefore me!) very clearly. Went through security outside, a second checkpoint (with metal detector) up one flight of stairs, and then was brought to the 20th floor on an elevator. Was sent to window B, and someone arrived to help me immediately. All of this took about 10 minutes (i.e. around 9:35).
The person at window B took all my documents (and commented that I was very prepared- thanks VJ'ers!), gave me a number, and told me to wait in the waiting room. I was number 78, and they were on number 35. Yes- this took as long as you'd expect. I was finally called up around 12:20. The interviewer had me take an oath, then asked the following questions:
-Who are you marrying?
-When is the wedding?
-What does he do for a living?
-What do you do for a living?
-What is your salary?
-When did you meet?
-What happened between then and when you got engaged?
-When did you get engaged?
-Where will you live?
-What does your fiance study/when will he be done?
-What are his job prospects?
He then asked what I'd brought to show him (evidence of relationship), and I started showing him pictures and explaining what they were. BUT, after a few seconds, I noticed he wasn't even looking at the pictures (he was typing), so I waited. He then told me to keep going, so I basically just said, "I have a bunch of pictures and a phone bill that shows how often we talk". He literally didn't look at any of it, but said, "looks good". He then said "you're approved", I went back to window B to pick up originals of things I had submitted and to get instructions on picking up my passport, and that was it!
Left the consulate at 12:35.
Despite the very long wait, it really wasn't as nerve-wracking as I'd expected. Most of the people I dealt with were very nice and seemed to try to make things as easy as possible. As long as you go in prepared, it seems to go smoothly!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10082