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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on September 15, 2017: |
jle2234
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My appointment was at 9 AM.
I arrived the day before and stayed at L'Appartement on Sherbrooke. The hotel was a bit dated but I am glad I chose it. It is a 15-minute walk from Central Station, an 8-minute walk from the consulate, and across the street from Medisys. The staff at L'Appartement are extremely kind and speak fluent English. They granted me a late checkout of 1:00 PM, which allowed me to leave my bags in my room for free while I went to my interview. All of the rooms also have a full kitchen, which is great for people traveling with dietary restrictions.
I arrived at the consulate at 8:30 AM. As others have noted, it seems that the appointment time doesn't really matter -- they give you a number and you are called in that order. So arriving a bit early does seem to have some advantages.
You go through security where they take your phone. No food or drinks are allowed in the consulate. There are some vending machines after security and I found myself wishing I had brought some change to get a drink. It seems that most of the drinks and snacks cost $2.
I waited a full hour before being called up to have my documents checked. This was a very easy and straightforward process. There were no surprises and I did not need any documents other than the ones listed in the email that they sent me two weeks prior to my appointment.
Then I waited almost two more hours before I was called for the interview. This was surprisingly laid back and simple. Questions asked:
- Husband's name
- Wedding date
- Why does your husband have addresses in two states? (the answer to this was simple and there were no issues with my explanation)
- Did you attend school abroad? (there were also no issues with this explanation -- in fact, the interviewer seemed interested in my studies)
That was it!
I was approved right then and the interviewer explained the new electronic pilot program. He said to wait until I received my visa via courier to book travel, and then I need to email my travel itinerary to them.
Everyone was very nice and it was a truly stress-free process. I was done around 11:30 AM and back to my hotel room by 11:40.
A few tips from my experience:
- Be prepared. Prepare what they ask you to and don't stress about potential surprises -- there are none.
- Don't stress. Easier said than done, I know. But the interviewer was courteous and wanted to hear my answers to his questions. He didn't seem to be trying to trip me up or looking for a reason to deny my visa. I answered truthfully, he accepted my answers as the truth, and there were no issues.
- Several people there had children. You are not allowed to bring electronics in to the consulate and they have a very small 'play area' for kids. If you will be bringing your child(ren) to your appointment, you may want to consider bringing some books or another quiet activity.
- There are a lot of people in the waiting room. You will likely be sitting immediately next to others. This really should be a dedicated scent-free environment, but as it is not, please remember that you will be in close proximity with others and consider going scent-free. For those of you with scent-related allergies, like myself, I might suggest a pre-emptive antihistamine, as after three hours in the waiting room, I felt (and probably looked) like I had the plague -- not the way you want to go in to your interview!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #22503