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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on September 1, 2013: |
JustBreathe
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Stayed at the Holiday Inn Select at 99 Viger Ave and St. Urbain. Paid roughly $125.00/night (it was Labour Day weekend, so the prices might have been a bit higher) The room was quite big, was very clean and very quiet and the king size bed was super comfy! I highly recommend this place. The staff were all super friendly and helpful when I was asking for directions or had questions. The best part was it was less than a 10 min walk to the consulate and about a 10 min walk to Old Montreal! There was also a Tim Horton's across the street near the Metro station. Perfect location!
I walked to the Consulate at 6:30am with my accordion file folder and my original I129F packet in a plastic bag, no one was there yet, so I walked down the block to the Tim Horton's on the corner, got a coffee and came back.
Arrived there at 6:40am and was the first one there!
Within 10mins, two other people arrived (both were VJ'ers) by 7:00am there was about 8 or 10 other people. At 7:30am the security guard opened the door. He let people in one at a time. Once inside, there was a lady there with a clipboard- she asked to see my passport and Loomis confirmation. She put a sticker on my passport with the Courier Reference number and confirmed on her list that I had an appt. that day. She then gave me my passport and Loomis confirmation back. I was then told to go through the airport type security. Standard procedure- put your bag, paperwork through the scanner, empty your pockets, take off your belt, etc and walk through the metal detector. Just as Saylin's map shows- you walk down a flight of stairs into the basement where you sit in chairs in front of the elevator until the security gaurd comes at 8:00am and let you onto the elevator.
At exactly 8am, he came and let everyone in. The 3 of us VJ'ers knew what we had to do!!! We joked how it was like the Amazing Race. We all went to the back of the elevator as an alliance.hahaha. I was first in line so took the back left spot. He then told us to go to window 14 when we got up to the correct floor. I walked off the elevator and turned left immediately and went to window 14 and was given the C1 ticket!
Sat down in the chairs and was called at exactly 8:30am. Went to window 1 and was asked for the following in this order:
- passport and appointment letter
- medical
- long form Birth Certificate and one copy
- criminal record check (original)
- Divorce Certificate (original and copy)
-letter of intent
- I-134 and supporting financial documents (she asked for 3 years of fiance's tax returns), letter from fiance's employer, and pay stubs
She did not ask for passport pictures, any proof of relationship. She then took my fingerprints.
I could see my file and saw that although I sent in the wrong sized passport pics ( i had not cut them to USA standard when I sent in packet 3) they still used them and attached them to the forms anyways.
This was the longest part and it took 10 mins max! They told me to sit back down and I would be called for the interview. C1 was called within 5 mins to interview room 10. Which is not a room at all. You stand at a window talking to the officer. I had a nice girl who looked about 30 years old. She had me read an oath and then took my finger prints again. Then told me she was going to go through my file with me. We made small talk and she worked in some questions. Such as- do you guys have a big wedding planned? How long have you been dating, and what does he do for a living? And she asked me if he still lived at his current address. Then she told me she was approving the visa!!!! She gave me the "welcome to the USA" letter and explained how my passport would be couriered to me and then gave me my original documents back.
From the time I was called to the first window to when I left, the whole process only took less than 30 mins. I have read this time and time again how easy the interview is, and i hate to say it-- but it reallllly is super easy! Just make sure you have all your paperwork required and it would be a breeze!
One bit of advice- wear comfy shoes in Montreal- no one told me that it was hilly and I had sore feet!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #12688