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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on March 8, 2012: |
awkwardsoul
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My appointment was at 10am - I arrived somewhere around 9:40-9:45am. Lucky for me, I left my electronics with a friend working nearby.
There was a huge crowd and 2 line ups. An initial line up leading to a podium, then it blocked off with those bank line divider things. Then another line - a huge one that loops around the back to the doors. I counted 20 people on just one wall out of 3.
I stand in the first line up and someone with a stack of papers checks on the new comers. I was asked to show a DS-160 - which I didn't have (and most of the people in the line up all had). I showed my receipt of when I booked the interview - and they were "ahh, your a K-1 visa". They check my passport - then I was instructed to stay in line, but go behind a person about 5 people ahead. The "10am" section of the line. A woman behind me is a 10:30am appointment.
I was asked if I had prohibited items - annoyingly not matching up to what was on the Vancouver consulate website. I lost a tiny bottle of hand lotion and my favorite tube of lipstick. No cosmetics plus the usual no knives, cell phones, guns, etc.
I wait in that initial line up for a long time. Of course, no one around me had the time as we were all cellphone-less. They seem to let 2 or 3 people at a time inside the building, thus progress is slow. At one point I asked one of the security guys how long is this going to take - my appointment is at 10am and I heard it's not supposed to take a long time since I was K-1. I was told to "wait my turn in line." I figured I must of chosen a bad day to book my interview and wished I brought something to do.
I finally get to the front of the initial line up and I see a worker come out of the building and wave down the people who were in charge of checking people in and lining us up. Then they started asking people in the huge line something and waving around the checkin list. As they get closer to me - they are in a huff looking for a Fiancee Visa applicant, late. I hear a muttering of "Cold feet" jokes and I wave the workers down. They were happy to find me and took me to the front of the massive 2nd line up. A worker apologizes for putting me into the wrong line. Annoyingly, at this point I've waited OVER AN HOUR in the cold in a line up that I wasn't supposed to be in.
I am let into the building and security checks my things. All my things, empty my purse, looked in my wallet. Another person has my stack of K-1 paperwork and pulls out my medical and calls out for another worker to take it and it gets passed down. The security guy finds a tampon in my purse and fiddles with it. I exclaim that it's a tampon. He messes with it to my dismay, but quickly a female security by the stairs tells him to stop and let me through.
She gathers my things and we go to the stairs and I put my things together. She apologizes for the wait and them messing with my tampon.
I went up the stairs and they escort me to a room where my stuff goes through a scanner and they give me back my medical stuff. Finally, I get my things and get put into an elevator.
I arrive in a waiting area lined with teller-type windows but the worker is behind glass. I approach the window I was instructed to go to and they gathered my paperwork - DS-156/DS-156K, medical, passport photos, birth cert + copy, evidence of support, police certificate, passport. I get asked who my fiance is and if we've been married before. I sign some stuff, and I get instructions to which window I go to next and given a number.
I get my fingerprints done then wait for my number to be called for the interview.
The interview is like a conversation. The interviewer is very friendly and personable and he asks me some questions as he goes through my paperwork. No tricky questions. I swear an oath somewhere in that process and he states I'm approved and tells me to go back to the first window.
At the first window they are waiting for me and they tell me stuff about saving certain docs for AOS, expiry on my visa and how I have to get married in 90 days, how to cross if I'm not activating my visa, and when my passport will be back.
I leave in a different elevator in which I came from - a spot just before I was waiting. Funny enough, the line hasn't really moved since I left it.
The interview was around 20 minutes, but I was out at 11:45am because of the mix up at the lineup.
For the actual interview - 5/5 they were great once I got past the entrance and security. Everyone was nice and patient, answered questions and weren't annoyed when I asked them to repeat something.
The security and the line up people... 2/5. I was very unhappy with that experience of being stuck in the wrong line up, being snubbed by a security guy, the tampon fiasco and the loss of my lipstick.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9288