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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on November 2, 2012: |
VeeNDee
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We had our visa interview this past Friday and thought I'd write you some information about what to expect especially since there are not as many people going through the Vancouver Consulate.
For our interview at 10am, google maps suggested it was an hour drive from my place. From past experience I knew rush hour traffic would be terrible, so we thought to get there by 9:30 we should leave at 8am. In fact it took us an hour and 50 minutes to get to the consulate. It was indeed terrible traffic, so thankfully we had left extra early. We found parking easily enough (not cheap, but it was right across the road so very convenient), and walked over to the lineup at the front.
In the lineup the guards asked what we were there for and we said K1 visa. They took the paperwork and phoned upstairs (I guess to verify our appointment). They went through all our belongings very thoroughly (he even tried to take apart my comb to make sure nothing was inside the handle of the comb!). There was a long line of people outside, but he told the two of us to go stand by the wall and face the wall. We did... only to hear him say 'oh I was just kidding' - whew, anyway they were very nice and friendly.
My fiance asked if he could enter as a US citizen with an enhanced driver's license. They asked if he had proof of his identity of a US citizen and he said yes, so they got him to wait in line. (They never DID ask to see his ID and never asked us about his identity again). Not sure if he just looked extra trustworthy or if they forgot that step, but we were both glad since he had forgotten his passport in the US and only had his enhanced driver's license with him.
Because we were waiting by the door in our 'own' lineup we bypassed the line outside (I am guessing because we had an appointment) and were ushered inside to wait in a new line for more security up a stairwell. When it was our turn they went through everything again and Xrayed all our possessions, including watches, belts, etc and the sealed envelope from the medical. We then went to a new line and waited for the elevator - the lady took us up to level 20 and we were told to go to window B. It didn't seem like everyone had to go there, just us, another couple I saw who had a K visa ticket in their hand and one or two others. There was a small square waiting room and an aisle with chairs in it but it was packed full - there were always at least 5 to 10 people standing in the room with nowhere to sit. I am not sure if that is usual.
We went up to the counter B and flicked the light switch as instructed to alert someone we were there. A lady came and asked us to put our paperwork in a certain order and she would be right back. When she returned she collected all our paperwork and we sat down to wait for our names to be called. They called our number once along with a whole bunch of other numbers but when we got to the window unlike everyone else they said that since we were a K visa I didn't need to get my fingerprints taken at that time so we went to wait again.
Finally our number was called and we went to the indicated numbered window. A man was there going through paperwork and he asked us both several questions such as how we had met, what my fiance did for work, why we wanted to get married and things like that. My fiance and I both felt that the interview was helped by the fact he was there - not that we wouldn't have been approved if he couldn't make it, but it seemed like they were very friendly especially towards him and didn't ask as many questions as we thought they would. The interviewer actually asked us a question about something we had discussed in one of our emails we'd sent as proof of relationship from last year, which surprised us both since it was in the original i-129f package but apparently he had read our emails. He then took my fingerprints and When he was done asking questions told us we were approved and to go to window B.
We went to window B and the lady came back with our documents. She explained how the K1 visa worked (one-time entry, adjustment of status, etc etc) and the next step for us regarding picking up the passport with the visa. She was very helpful!
We then left the consulate and celebrated by getting a drink from the Starbucks on the ground floor  Overall I think it took about two hours in the consulate.
Hope this review was helpful for what you can expect!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10798