Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
November 7, 2014 |
| Embassy Review : |
So here is my review... I thought I should pay it forward in gratitude for all the help I've gotten here. Special thanks to Saylin, DWheels, and Soloenta for their awesome forum pages.
Medisys review:
We arrived at 7:45 for an 8am appointment. The signs about where to go from the elevator were all in French but the receptionist spoke English and was very nice. She asked for the interview letter, passport, 5 passport photos and his immunization records. On the phone he had only said 4 passport photos, luckily I had a few extras stashed in my folder just in case. She asked us to fill out some forms, the first about immunizations, the second an ID page with his photo attached, addresses, etc… And the third form was 3 pages long with questions about his medical history. A female doctor called him at 8:12 am and now I am waiting to hear about the rest.
He came out about 5 minutes later, turns out the first part was bloodwork, height, weight, blood pressure, vision. His blood pressure was very high, she had to take a second reading because he said he was stressed out trying to find the place this morning. He said there was another patient in the room at the time who was also being checked, kinda weird.
He just got called by a different female doctor, Asian, very pretty. Waiting again to hear about phase 2.
8:34am husband just emerged from the back room with a paper with his chest X-ray ID to give to the receptionist. He said he had to sign a form authorizing the release of his results, and also that if something showed up in his bloodwork there would be an extra $275 to run extra tests. Waiting to see what happens next.
9:51 am (more than an hour later!!!) husband is finally called by another doctor, a man with a French accent, white hair and mustache, a lavender shirt with rolled up sleeves and a tie. By this point I am very hungry and surprisingly tired. I skipped my morning coffee since husband couldn't have any before the medical, I promised him we would get breakfast together afterwards. I'm hoping this is the last part of this process, we shall see.
9:55 am husband came out, now we are only waiting for the receptionist to call us so we can pay.
10:07 done
When we got back to the room, we realized they spelled husband’s name wrong so we had to go all the way back over there so they can fix it. Thankfully the receptionist was able to fix the misspelling right away in the computer.
Hotel tip:
We stayed at l'appartment hotel right across the street from Medisys. This was a very convenient location since we had to go there 3 times this week. The walk to the embassy is about 10 minutes. The rooms are spacious and each room has a small, fully equipped kitchen. This came in super handy because we went grocery shopping and ate in the room most nights, much cheaper than eating out 3 times a day. There is a free continental breakfast downstairs, and I was able to print out my last remaining documents in the business center on the main floor (this is really just an internet connected PC and printer but it got the job done for free). The wifi is good, you get a code on checkin that works for up to 3 devices. The pool on the penthouse roof was empty every time we went and the sauna was a nice way to warm up. We have lovely view of Mount Royal. The only con was that there is still some lingering construction going on so there was only one elevator working.
Consulate Review:
Approved Approved Approved!!!!!!!!!!
Today was Husband's interview in Montreal for immigration. He was awake by 5am, unable to sleep, a bundle of nerves and excitement. We went downstairs for the continental breakfast and coffee, and I ran outside quickly to see how cold it was. It was drizzling rain, but I really didn’t want to wear my big bulky parka. Compared to Winnipeg, it felt mild so I decided to just layer a bit and not wear a coat. Upstairs we got ready, put the binder and all documents in a grocery bag. I left my phone, wallet and keys in the room, only took the hotel key card and my ID.
At 8:02 we left the hotel and made it to the consulate in about 10 minutes. There were 2 people in line ahead of us at security but the guard let us wait inside. We had to show our passports to a woman standing by the entrance and she scratched my husband’s name off her list. She also asked to see the loomis registration. Went through the airport security scanners, had to take off sweater, scarf, and empty pockets. After the scan we turned left through a door and walked down a flight of stairs, through a small lobby to the elevator. As we were waiting for the elevator, a man was asking if anybody had 2 $10 bills, I guess he must have needed them for the passport photo machine. The elevator came and I knew to stand at the back of the elevator, one other woman out of the 5 people in the elevator knew that too and got out ahead of us. As it turned out, she was there for a nonimmigrant visa. The doors opened and we were greeted by a woman at the Visa Reception desk. She gave us a card that said #6 that said to gather documents together… Letter, 2 photos, passport, medical documents. We got to sit and wait but all the nonimmigrant visas were standing in a line that looked to be moving pretty slowly. We sat for only a minute, while I was folding my husband’s jacket we got called to window #2. A woman with black, curly hair greeted us through the bank window style glass. It was a little hard to hear her through the glass, but she took the requested documents and asked us for the beneficiary’s Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate & Police Certificate. She did not need my birth certificate or anything else. She saw my dad’s name on one of the forms, asked who that was, and his address, I explained that is where we would be staying right after the move. She opened the medical packet, stapled it to the photos inside a ziplock bag, and gave us the X-Ray cd back. Then she did the digital fingerprinting. She had to do his left hand twice because the first time it didn’t read properly. She gave us some domestic violence documents with #6 written at the top and asked us to read them while waiting to be called again.
I finished folding my husband’s jacket and browsed through some magazines they had there in the lobby. Husband had just enough time to go to the bathroom and come back before we were called again. In total we waited maybe 15 minutes for this part. We got called again to window 7, a woman greeted us cheerfully and asked a few questions… Husband had to read the oath and scan his fingerprints again as a digital signature. She asked him how long we had been married, I was so relieved he remembered the answer! Asked if it was our first marriage and if we have any kids. She wanted to know where in the US I lived, I told her I live with him in Canada. She asked about our plans to move, I told her we have signed a lease to stay in my parents’ basement while we house hunt in North Carolina. I told her our house was being listed tomorrow (pending approval) and that we already had somebody lined up to see it on Sunday. She asked to see the lease agreement and kept it. She asked about where I work, when I said, “Home Depot” she asked if I was getting a transfer. I told her not a transfer exactly but a referral with references. She asked if husband had started looking for work there and he said he hadn’t yet because he wanted to get the authorization first.
That was everything. She slid the “Welcome to the United States” paper across the window and said she was keeping the passport and lease agreement and we would get them back in about a week and a half via loomis. Another reviewer was correct in saying they have already made their decision before you get there, it is pretty much up to you to know the contents of your application and just not screw it up.
She returned the Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate. I’m pretty sure they keep the police certificate and medical info. I could barely contain myself, I forgot to look at the clock as we left. Took the elevator back down and took a few minutes to put our jackets back on, file everything away. When we left I asked the security guard what time it was, he pulled out his iPhone… it was 9:18. We were in the consulate approximately 1 hour.
Now to get our house sold and get ready to pack up and move!!! |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0