Montreal Interview

[OBX 51]

I know this review is a little lengthy. My hope is that by reading my experience it helps ease a bit of the apprehension of those heading to Montreal for their big day. Good luck everyone

Montreal Consulate: May 12, 2009 CR1 Interview Review

7:10 a.m. Arrived at consulate, there were 2 couples and one single person already there when we arrived.

7:35 a.m. By this time there were approximately 10 people now in line. Doors opened. The guard motioned for the line to form to the left. He asked for my passport, interview letter, my husband’s passport and what our relationship was. My interview time was listed as 9:30 a.m. but being there early was not a problem. He asked if we had our cell phones. There were a number of people that were turned away because they were carrying large messenger- type shoulder bags. They did return later so I am assuming they went to their cars to store them. I had two large plastic accordion style files, my x-ray, Expresspost envelope and another file of papers and my wallet; all in a recyclable shopping bag. That was fine. Others had plastic bags.

We were then cleared to enter the first set of doors. We walked up a few steps and waited at the next set of doors to go through security. Once the people in front of us were cleared we were instructed to enter, remove everything from our pockets, jackets, and remove our watches and belts. The security guard took our passports and clipped them to a letter (we were “D”) and a form, the form outlined what documents we would need and in what order. (More about this form later but I didn’t need it.) Everything was placed into wooden bins and run through the scanner. They manually checked my bag, wallet and my husband’s wallet after it was scanned. We walked though the security scanner, I was fine, and they scanned my husband with the wand. He had forgotten his US passport card in one of his pockets and the bar on the card was setting off the wand! It was all good though, the guards were very nice.

7:42 a.m. By the time we gathered up all of our papers the guard told us to go down the stairs and wait by the elevators and we would be going up in 3 minutes. Yes, he was that specific!

7:45 a.m. Right on cue the elevator doors opened. (FYI there is a photo booth near the elevators for anyone who might need to have any retaken.)

Our group of A – E entered the elevator and yes those from VJ (I am assuming) all faced the back.  For those not in the know, the guard did specify the doors opened from the rear. We exit onto the 19th floor and were directed to sit in the chairs directly ahead of us. It is a large room with a beautiful view of Montreal. There are vending machines and washrooms handy.

8:05 a.m. The first person is called. Processing begins!! While waiting, I scan the organizational list we were given. It did mention photos and the medical x-ray report but didn’t seem applicable to the CR1 so I ignored it!

8:30 a.m. My name was called to booth #11, down a short hall (past the washrooms) and to the left. My husband came with me. A very pleasant woman was behind a glass window. The booth was open and there was a short wall separating it from the adjacent booth but we could hear the person beside us. The agent had our original file in front of her. She had the two photos I had submitted with my DS-230 in front of her. She asked me which photo I would like to use and did NOT need the 2 new ones I had brought. She asked me to scan the first page of the original I-130 form and verify that our name, addresses and other identifying info was still the same while she processed my pictures. She returned shortly, took back the I-130 and asked for my husband’s 2008 tax return. We also brought 2009 pay stubs to date and she took those as well. She then returned my original birth certificate, marriage certificate and divorce certificate. She took my Expresspost envelope. She did not measure it.  She took only the sealed brown medical envelope, NOT the copy of the vaccination checklist or the x-ray report and not the x-ray itself either. (She said those were for my records.) She then took my fingerprints. Four fingers from the right hand, four from the left and then the two thumbs together. You just press firmly on a small scanning machine while she checks on her computer that it registers correctly. Then we were instructed to wait back in the waiting room and we would be called to room 7 or 8. All of this took only 10 minutes.

8:40 a.m. – Waited and chatted with other filers. By now the room was filling up

8:55 a.m. with people. The elevator was bringing up small groups every 5 minutes or so but the majority of those people were seated to the right of our group. Perhaps these were for other visa classifications.

8:55 a.m. – Show time!! We were called to room #8. For some reason I think we were

9:05 a.m. the first to interview even though we were letter “D”. These rooms are right across from the washrooms. The CO was a middle aged woman, pleasant but not as cheery as the first agent. I asked if my husband could accompany me and that was fine. She was logging onto her computer and waiting for it to tell her which finger I was going to use to verify my identity. The computer picked a finger and she instructed me to place it firmly on a small scanner and then we proceeded. She had me swear / verify that all information I had on my form and would give her was true. My husband was not required to do this.

The majority of the interview time was taken up with her reviewing our file. All of the original forms were there as well as those we had given to the first agent. She only wanted the first few sheets of the 2008 tax return. She verified the number of people in the household and asked whether or not any of my children would be accompanying me. She gave my husband back all of his supporting forms, 2009 paystubs and the transcripts from the previous years we had submitted to NVC with the I-864. She did offer to shred them if he didn’t need them returned. She kept checking through our file; there was a sheet beside her with check marks on it. It appeared that she was just verifying that all of the necessary documents had been received. She was very thorough. She had me sign part II of the DS-230. Then she asked only a few questions and typed the answers into the computer as I spoke. There was not a lot of eye contact so I didn’t feel as though I was being interrogated at all.

QUESTIONS:

When did you meet?

(She didn’t want our entire romantic history and after 27 years it IS a long story…she only wanted the dates we met and we came back together again. All of this was entered in the computer and she asked for no evidence at all. )

Was my husband still employed by the same company? YES

Was I currently working? NO

Had I ever lived outside of Canada? NO

More typing into the computer, she then took a pink highlighter and wrote on the outside of our filer folder “OK to be……” I couldn’t read her writing but the OK was enough for me.

She then said the “facial recognition check” was slow coming through the computer, asked if either of us had ever had any issues crossing at the border, we said no. She double checked that she had my passport and mailing envelope. She then smiled and said “Well, I’m sure everything will be fine. You can go.”

Then we hugged, kissed and I started to cry.

Overall it was very straightforward. The CO was efficient yet pleasant and not intimidating. She had a job to do and was just focused on making sure everything was in order.

I was tired and nervous but that was more a reflection of the stress of the past 9 months than the interview process.

[trailmix 77]

My hope is that by reading my experience it helps ease a bit of the apprehension of those heading to Montreal for their big day.

From what I have seen it never has that effect

Congratulations OBX, great review

[domegirl1978 1]

CONGRATS! I'm glad it all went so smoothly for you!

[sdw 10]

Congrats.

Thanks for the review...sure I will be nervous just the same but having an idea of what to expect hopefully will help. Whenever I get to that point.

[carslo 0]

Great news! I am sure we can all learn from each others experiences.

Janet

[OBX 51]

My hope is that by reading my experience it helps ease a bit of the apprehension of those heading to Montreal for their big day.

From what I have seen it never has that effect

Congratulations OBX, great review

True enough!!

Two other minor details I forgot to mention:

We were asked when we were married. We answered in unison and thankfully both got it right!

RE: Quebec Copy of Act of Birth:

I recall a previous post from someone mentioning that their parents were not declared on their birth certificate. They were concerned it might be a problem. My parents were both undeclared and on all of my forms listed as "Unknown" (long story as well) but it was not an issue at any stage of this process.

[Misty1979 0]

Congrats on your approval

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Excellent review! Congrats again

[Travis & Kim 0]

congrats nice review!

I think we had the same lady for the actually "interview" part

[ashenflowers 5]

Congrats, and thanks for the review!!! I will be very nervous leading up to the interview no doubt, but these tidbits of information will be helpful

[SomberCat 0]

Congrats OBX! I'm so glad it's over for you. As others have said, I'm sure the rest of us will still be nervous, but it's somewhat comforting to read everyone's reviews and see that it's a relatively easy experience. Thanks so much for a great review and congrats again.

[childress_london 3]

Congratulations! Thanks for the review.

[So Anxious 0]

Congrats OBX!

[Krikit 1,164]

Excellent review, OBX. Congratulations!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Congrats!!