Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
December 11, 2013 |
| Embassy Review : |
Our Stay in Montreal: Dec. 3rd - Dec. 14th.
We arrived on Dec. 3rd to have my medical completed at Medisys in Montreal a week prior, and to enjoy the city since neither of us have been here before. We chose to rent a studio apartment through AirBnB.ca instead of a hotel because it was much cheaper and, to be honest, more convenient. We got our own private place, with a full kitchen and laundry machines, for only $65 a night, and it was about a 15 minute walk from consulate, 20 from medisys, and 10 from Old Montreal/Old Port. I would highly recommend people checking out options on there if you plan to stay longer than a couple nights.
The Interview: Dec. 11th. (Arrived 7:50am, finished about 9:15am.)
We arrived at the consulate at around 7:50am, which turned out to be perfect timing. It's really cold outside and previous reviews had suggested that an earlier arrival was not really that important, and we both fully agree. We were about 4th in line at the door and only had to wait around 15mins till we got inside.
First step is to give passport and confirmation letter to the person inside the door, who puts a sticker on your passport and tells you to proceed. Then you go up a few stairs and wait your turn to go through the doors and through security. They were very nice and patient, and asked us to put all of our stuff in the bins and go through the metal detector. Although no food is allowed, I had brought a protein bar because I have blood sugar problems, and the guard let me keep it when I explained. (Note: There are snack and drink machines in the final waiting room, so this turned out to be an unneeded precaution).
After that, you go through a door on the left and proceed down stairs, then enter a door on the right. Here you will find yourself in a room with a bunch of chairs and an elevator. We sat down and waited for the guard to open the elevator and let us continue on. Once in the elevator, you go to the 19th floor. The door on the opposite side will open and you take a left turn around the corner to find window 14A/14B. Here is where you give your passport and confirmation letter, and are given a number in return. We got A5. Then we took a seat in this waiting room.
There are 4 windows that call numbers. It was interesting to note that this was NOT done in order of numbers. A1, A2, A3, A4 were all called, then it skipped to A6 and A7. We were so confused. It turns out that Window 1 had our case and A1 took longer with them, so we had to wait for that specific window, instead of a random one in order. Keep this in mind.
Got up to the lady in Window 1. She was very nice and friendly, even joking with us. She asked for my passport, confirmation letter, birth certificate, medical exam, passport photos, police certificate, letter of intent to marry, Affidavit of Support and tax records of my fiance, and took my fingerprints. She then told me to go wait for my number to be called again for the actual interview, along with a paper talking about my rights in the US.
We probably only sat down for 10 minutes before being called to Window 11 (which is down a hallway), and the interview began. The man was nice, although acted a bit bored/detached during the process (I think on purpose.) He had me give an oath that I was saying true information and give fingerprints to verify, asked me some basic questions about my background and life (previous marriages, had I lived anywhere else, kids, police record, etc), had me sign a form, and then asked my fiance and I a few questions about ourselves and our relationship. It was pretty easy. He didn't ask for any financial proof (beyond the tax records given), any further photos or relationship proof, or anything else. I was incredibly over-prepared, but that is still way better than not having everything you end up needing.
After all of that was finished, he told us we were approved, asked if we had any questions, and wished us luck. He also said we should expect the visa within 1-2 weeks.
The whole process took just over an hour from entering the building to leaving with approval. We were both really happy and surprised by this, especially since we weren't even first in line. I honestly say you shouldn't worry so much if you're not first. The waiting room was more full by the time we left, but still, it seemed to move pretty quickly as long as you're prepared.
Overall, it was a nice experience and way less scary than I expected.
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| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0