Montreal Interview Review

buffalobound · March 26, 2008

Hi fellow VJer’s,

Well, this is the review for my recent interview at Montreal for the CR1 visa. Before I start, I just want to say thanks to all of you for your help and helpful insights into the process. They really helped in making the whole journey as smooth as possible.

Well, we got into Montreal on Monday at about 11:30pm. We checked into our room at the Holiday Inn – about a 2 minute drive from the embassy. After checking in, we drove by the embassy and went cruising about downtown Montreal just to get a feel for the place.

The location of the embassy really surprised me. Being the embassy of one of the worlds great superpowers, they really chose a poor place to be located. I mean, the entrance faces this narrow alley, continuously busy with delivery trucks!

Nonetheless, I woke up the next morning at 5:45am, went to Tim Horton’s and was at the embassy by 6:55. I waited there alone with my cup of coffee until 7:10 when a young man joined me in the line. A few minutes later an older gentleman showed up and by 7:30 there was a group of about 5 of us there – lucky for me I was first in line.

Before the doors open, you can seen the security guards watching the clock determining when to open the doors. At precisely 7:30 the guard opens the door, straightens out the line and asks me if I’m first. I nod my head with glee, as he asks me to come inside. He closes the doors behind me as another guard asks me to remove my coat and empty out pockets for security. I did as I was told, and cleared security with ease. The guards were pleased and bestowed me with the coveted “A - window 9” ticket, whose powers are so eagerly described in the sacred texts of the VJ forums!. He asked me to go downstairs in the waiting room and wait for him to escort me to the consulate/embassy level. I waited about 10 minutes as slowly people started to trickle in the room. The guard came down and asked everyone with a letter ticket to follow him upstairs.

Once upstairs, the guard took us to around the corner and asked us to wait here in front of the ticket windows until our names are called. He then looked at me as he asked, “You have ticket A right?” I nodded with a smirk as he said, “You’ll be first to be called”.

We waited a few minutes, I got called, and the lady asked me for my photos, passport and interview letter. She told me to proceed to the main waiting room until they call me for fingerprinting.

I waited the main room until everybody slowly made there way into the room. Meanwhile another batch of people came upstairs, but I think they were they for non-immigrant visas or something, because they had to be on the other side of the room going to different tellers than us in the initial bunch. Well there was a board that lighted up in the main room with the letters “A1” blinking. No one was getting up to answer the blink, so I thought that it might be for me? I gathered my things and went to the previous window I visited to ask the lady if the blinking “A1” light was for me. She said no it wasn’t but said that while I was there, she’ll take my fingerprints. She took my prints, asked me to verify if the information on the documents are correct and current and handed me the pictures I initially submitted with my application. She then told me to go back and wait for someone to call you into booth 8 or 9.

I waited as others went to get their fingerprints taken. 10-15 minutes into it, I get called into the booth. A cute tall man with blonde hair welcomed me. He returned my original certificates and asked me to raise my right and swear that what I am saying and have stated in my documents are true, He asked me how I met my husband. He asked how many times we’ve seen each other. I explained that we’ve seen each other often as my husband is also a Canadian PR. He then asks me to sign a paper and says that I’m APPROVED!

I know a lot of people try to hide there happiness, But I couldn’t, I mean I was just glowing, I said thank maybe like 10 times or something! He kept smiling and congratulated me. He said to wait up to 10 days for the passport.. I asked if there’s anyway I can pick it up the next day, but he said that they recently stopped allowing that as its just too much hassle for the security guards. The cute blonde man tells me that I’m all set and free to leave. I couldn’t believe it. I was all done by 8:30!

I went outside to wait for my ride, and discovered a huge lineup of people waiting to get in. I was thankful to the VJ board for recommending being the first in line and being prepared. It really helped out a lot.

For an hour or so, I felt that I missed something, that it couldn’t have possible been such a quick process, but it was.

Well that’s my review. Hope it helps. Its great that all the stress and worry of the process is almost over. Now I just need my passport and head out to a POE.

Thanks again everyone, and good luck to all of you in your journey!