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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on May 29, 2012: |
Trav&Shell
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My review pretty much mirrors everyone else who interviews in Montreal and passes the interview. No fuss, no muss, and make sure you get to the consulate early.
However, my experience is different in that I expedited through NVC. When we arrived, we were the second couple off the elevator (and got C2), but for us this made no difference. We waited almost half an hour for document intake, and they had already called up to C8 before we got to go up the first time. When we finally got called up to window 2, there was nothing in our file - the document intake officer didn't realize that with an expedite, she had to print off our file as everything was sent electronically. We were then sent to sit back down for another 20 minutes (at least), at which point C2 was called to one of the interview windows in error. The interviewing officer asked us why we hadn't even had our documents reviewed yet and we explained they were printing off some of our file as we'd been expedited. The officer told us to go have a seat and he'd look into this for us.
About 15 minutes later, we were called back up to window 2. The officer told us they were having difficulties printing off our documents so she'd see what we had and go from there. We started firing papers back and forth, and it turns out we were able to fully complete the file. She then sent us to window 14B (which is the cashier, because we hadn't paid our $230 yet). We paid as soon as we got to window 14B, waited for receipts (you will get 3 till tapes plus a printed receipt), and then were instructed to wait a little more and provide our receipts as needed to the interviewing officer.
5 minutes later, we were called to our window (I believe it was window 8 or 9, but in my excitement I completely forgot which one it was). We were interviewed by a younger blonde female officer with long hair, who was really easygoing. She started by asking Trav about his work (where he works, what position, how much he makes), and then got me to swear in. Then, the interview began. She asked how we met, when we met in person, and she was really interested in the game we were playing when we met (got us to write down the name of it because it intrigued her and she seemed to want to check it out). Then she said "You got married pretty quick!" to which we said "yeah, we just knew" (with dopey grins on our faces, staring at each other). She grinned a little, then asked me "so did you ever think you'd marry an american?" I said in near disbelief "no!". She and Trav both took this opportunity to stare at me and shake their heads, and the interviewer said "what, we're not good enough for you?" We all laughed and I explained that all of my family is here, I never thought I'd be moving so far away from them.
The interviewing officer then typed a few things and said "Well, everything looks good on my end. I'm approving your visa, congratulations!" She handed me the infamous "Welcome to the USA" letter and told me to expect my passport within a week or so. I had it back in my hands in 3 days, so she was bang on. All in all, this was a great experience and I wish I'd taken everyone's advice and just relaxed!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9737