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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on November 8, 2011: |
Calli
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I got to the consulate around 6:15am, wanting to be the first person there. The next person didn't arrive until almost 7am. Around 7:30 they unlocked the door and let us inside. The greeter asked me if I had registered with DHL, which I replied yes. She looked at my appointment letter and highlighted my name on one list. She then went to the next list for DHL and said your name is not on the list and proceeded to give me a piece of paper to go outside of the consulate to call and get a Registration number. I knew I had printed off the confirmation page for DHL and was trying to look for it but she told me I needed to step outside and let the guard know once I found it. I found it quickly and the guard let me back inside. While I was looking they turned everyone away if they had a bag of any size with them. No bags whatsoever allowed. When I got downstairs there were about 10 people down there already but the seat closest to the elevator on the right was still available. I sat there and spoke with another couple who was sitting right across from me and learned they also are on VJ for a K1 Visa.  I assume around 8am they let us upstairs (I didn't wear a watch). The couple in front of me also from VJ got C1, I got C2. Not a big deal. I wasn't in a big rush anyways. I got called up to window 10 around 8:30 and asked to give fingerprints and my passport and pictures then told to go sit back down. About 5 minutes later I got called up to Window 12 and she asked for my original documents and copies for all of my NVC documents. She then asked for all of the original financial documents. She then basically went through and asked me almost every question on the online DS-260 form. Then told me to go sit down in the waiting room again. About 5 minutes later I got called up to Window 7. Very friendly gentleman got me to read the oath and scanned my fingerprint. He then went through all of my documents and verified it was all there. He then asked me to tell him my story. I started from the beginning. He asked when we first met. When we got married. What my husband did. I explained to him that we had a civil ceremony in the USA in April and a reception in Canada in August and handed him over some pictures from our Canada reception. He then asked if I ever had any issues crossing the border. I did once, my own stupidity with an expired drivers license. He laughed and said, "I just went into the border patrols system and that is exactly what the notes said". He then typed a bunch of things. Asked me when I was planning on moving to the United States and what I was going to do when I got there. He then said "I have approved your Visa, Welcome to the USA!" and handed me the welcome letter! I then asked if he was keeping the original financial documents and he said yes, they stay with the file. Then he said, if you have copies I will trade you. So I traded him so we could have all of the pay stubs etc back. I said thank you very much and left! I was out of there by about 9am. What saved the entire thing, is the fact that I had printed off the DHL confirmation sheet once I enrolled. Without that, I could have been there all day as I would have had to wait until 8AM when the office opened for me to call and get a confirmation number.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8666