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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on February 1, 2012: |
SunnySanDiego
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Quick or not Vancouver consulate review
So my appointment was at 10:00am on July 28/11 in Vancouver. I got to the consulate around 9:00 and was told to come back in about half an hour. The consulate has line up queues outside with a time on each line and there was absolutely no one there when I got sent away. I went to the Moonpennies cafe, kiddy corner to the consulate and had breakfast (it was not very good and expensive).
I came back to the consulate at 9:45 and was told to get in the 10:00am line. There was a family of 3 and one guy in front of me. A security guard came out and told the family to come in. Then another family showed up and lined up behind me. Then the guy in front of me got taken in by the security guard and another guy showed up and lined up behind me also. It was then my turn and was called in by security. Right inside the doors they had a table where they took my papers and asked if I had any of the "forbidden” items which I said I did not. The one guard riffled through my documents and made a mess of them =( grr and took my medical results. I said I needed them and he told me that he would give them to another guard and told me to walk through the metal detector. I went through the detector and was handed my papers on the other side.
Another security guard then came down the stairs and took the medical results from the security and led me up the stairs. At the top she took me to the right and scanned my sealed medical results envelope and handed them back to me and told me to go and see the other guard and pointed behind me. I looked behind me and another guard beckoned me over to where he was standing by an elevator. I waited along with a couple of other people and he took us up to the 20th floor. We were then escorted and sent through another metal detector and I was told to go through a set of doors, turn left and go to counter B.
I went in to the left and went to counter B. I had to wait a minute or so for someone to come to the window. The switch they have there to get someone did not seem to be working when I tried it. A guy came up and asked me for my paper work. I gave him my whole folder so he could take what he needed. I had everything very organized. He took my passport, my birth certificate original and photo copy I provided, my divorce certificate and photocopy I had provided, police certificate original and said a photocopy wouldn't be acceptable. The affidavit of support from my fiancé, a copy of my fiancé's income tax, pay stubs and bank statements, my two passport photos, the DS-230 part 1, both copies of the DS-156, and DS-156K. He then had me sign all the forms in front of him, told me to sit down and he would call me up to give me a number in a little while. I asked about my originals and he told me the agent who interviewed me would give them back.
I sat down and ended up seeing a girl that had her medical with me the day before. We talked for about 15 minutes and then they called her up and gave her a number and then me right after. The guy who took my paper work was the same guy who gave me the number and told me it would be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. By this time it was about 10:30am.
Other people that were there for other visas were all getting called way before us, even ones that came in much later.
At about noon the other girl was called up to the other row of counters and then I was called right up also. When I got there the guys said "oh you are the other K1, I can't help you, go sit back down and one of the other agents will help you in a bit". So I sat down along the wall of seats by the counters and waited. The other girl’s interview took about 10-15 minutes and then she was told to go sit down. I waited about 10 minutes and the same agent called me up.
He asked my name and took my finger prints on a digital finger scanner. He then had me raise my right hand and told me to just say yes at the end of what he said if I agreed. I raised my right hand and my hand was shaking so badly that he faltered in reading me the declaration and forgot the words. I laughed and said I was sorry but that I was nervous. He said it was okay and composed himself and finished. I said yes and the interview began.
He first asked me where my fiancé lived and where I was going.
He then asked who I was marrying, and he asked me to repeat the last name.
He asked how we met.
He asked how long we had know each other.
He asked me about when we had first met in person and how many times we had seen each other.
He asked when we had gotten engaged and when we planned to marry.
He asked me again who I was marrying.
He asked what my fiancé did for work.
He asked where he lived again.
He asked if I planned to work.
He asked me where fiancé lived and gave me the city my fiancé was born in as the city I was going. Tricky tricky... I corrected him and said no that was the city my fiancé was born not where we were going to live.
He asked me again who I was marrying again.
He never asked to see any of the proof of relationship stuff that I had brought. He typed something into the computer and said "okay good". I asked if that meant I was approved and he said yes. He then gave me back my original birth and divorce certificate and told me to go sit down and that someone would call me back to counter B. The interview part only took about 5 minutes.
I waited a few minutes and was called back up to counter B by the original guy who took my papers. The guy made sure I had my original back said I was approved and told me I could pick up my passport and visa in 3-5 business days at my local DHL location and told me I was free to leave.
Total time was about 2 1/2 hours. All in all everyone was pretty nice. The interviewing agent was friendly but tried to trick me a few times. As a side note, the room where they interview you is very small and everyone in the room will be able to hear the questions and answers you give, so don’t expect any privacy.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9095