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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on July 27, 2013: |
bsd058
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Got to the consulate around 6:30am. People were already lined up, but I wasn't paying attention and went in front of them. Oops! Mean Lady set me straight! lol.
When it was time to open, the guard let us in about 2 people at a time. I brought my keys to my car and my papers only. There is a big sign showing prohibited items, and these were on the sign. They just take your prohibited items and check them for you. Doesn't cost anything and the guards are very polite.
Essentially after the metal detectors and Xray machines, they get you to walk down some stairs into what I can only describe is a basement. Acoustic ceiling. Kind of old looking. There was a photo booth, so if you forget your photos (not likely) you can stop and get them done right there.
We all waited until a guard came into the room and opened the elevator for us. We all lined up and packed into the elevator as much as possible.
When we reached the 18th or 19th floor, we all got off and lined up on the left to get an interview number. I got a VERY unlucky C3 (I'll explain later why this was unlucky). We all sat down on the other side of the room from where you get your interview number.
Over the intercom they started calling numbers: C1, C2, C4...wait...didn't they skip C3 you might ask? Yes! They did! But I was sure they had their reasons. C5, C6, C8. Wait a minute. They skipped C7! Right you are!
Essentially how the initial biographics and interview takes place is this: There are 4 windows side by side. They call you up in order of window. Window 1 takes {C1,C5,C9,...,Cn,Cn+4}. Window 2 takes {C2,C6,...,Cm,Cm+4}. And it's the same for the rest of the 4 windows.
Window 3 must have decided not to show up that day. No one seemed to notice or care, though.
Eventually they got to C18 and I had to interrupt (sorry C18). I asked them what was happening, and showed them my C3. They obviously weren't paying attention to the numbers, since they said that window 3's person must be out sick today or something and they will probably stay home. I asked if I should go and get another number or something because they are handing out window 3's numbers, but aren't calling them. Window 2's operator went to the back and spoke with a supervisor, came out and asked me to have a seat and told me he would get someone ASAP.
Thank you!
C20, C21, C3!! Finally!
By this time my buddies Mean Lady and Back to KY were already approved and gone. But it all worked out. It didn't take long to complete the actual interview. As soon as I was done with my fingerprints and document checking, they asked me to come to window 7 for the interview.
I was sworn in and answered questions like, "Where did you meet?" "Do you have any children?" "What do you do?" "What does she do?" etc. Very simple questions. The first one wasn't as simple. I told him we actually didn't know, because we had met like 8-9 years ago and were only friends until a couple of years before we got married. I had to explain that we did the long distance thing for a couple of years with me visiting a few times before we were married and moved to Canada for a few years.
After all of that, the guy said that my paperwork seemed to all be in order and that he was going to approve my visa.
From there, he gave me the Welcome to the United States of America letter and sent me on my way!
It was a good experience overall, but a little stressful when they weren't calling window 3's numbers.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #12417