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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on March 22, 2019: |
Ashhh
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
This is all secondhand as I did not attend with my husband, so there are definitely some gaps but I wanted to share what he said.
His appointment was at 7:30 today, March 22, so he arrived around 7 and was second in line. He said that closer to 7:30 the line grew dramatically so he was glad that he decided to get there early. He stayed at an AirBnB a quarter mile away and walked so I can't speak to parking. He knew that he wouldn't be allowed to bring his phone inside (also no backpacks or large bags) so he left those at the AirBnB. He had his keys on him but as he went through security he stored them in a locker and picked them up on his way out.
The security guard opened the doors at 7:30 and started allowing people in. He was given a laminated sheet that told him how to order his documents and sent to the basement. Then once a few others had been processed in, they all took the elevator up to the waiting room. Once inside he got his paperwork together and was called to the first window pretty quickly. We were very thorough so he had things pretty well in order. Make sure you pay attention to the checklist here (https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/iv-dv-supplemental/MTL-Montreal.pdf) and you'll be fine.
I'm self-employed, so when they asked for W-2s my husband explained that I didn't have them. I had provided a profit-loss spreadsheet for 2018 and that and my prior year tax transcripts were sufficient. We had been prepared with a joint sponsor (with the accompanying i-864 and documentation) just in case as it's hard to prove current income for self-employed people, but the consular officer said that my income was sufficient and we didn't need them.
For police certificates, since we were preparing for NVC during all of the confusion over Canada police certificates in September, we had acquired three. The regular local police certificate, the RCMP privacy act one without fingerprints, and the RCMP certified one with fingerprints. The officer took all three.
The officer seemed pleased that our documents were thorough and well organized, so I would say try to be as thorough as possible. We over-prepared probably but it gave us peace of mind. After the first officer was finished, they told him to sit back down and wait to be called for interview.
When his number was called again, he was pointed to a small room without a door where he stood facing a second consular officer who was behind glass. She referenced our file and her screen as she asked him the following questions:
How did you meet your spouse?
What does your spouse do? She asked him to elaborate a little bit here as well but was satisfied with a pretty brief answer.
Have you traveled outside of the US and Canada anytime in the last five years?
Then it was over. He was asked to raise his hand and swear an oath and then she said "Welcome to the United States!" He found her very quick and friendly.
He was back at his AirBnB (after stopping at Tim Hortons for breakfast) by 8:45, so he barely had to wait at all. He estimated that he probably finished at the consulate by 8:20 or so.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #25840