Good luck for all the people interviewing on the 20th !!!

[herestoUS 5]

Just wanted to add my approved here too! I would have to say getting there earlier is better ~ I got there right at 8am (bah parking) and I think I eneded up leaving at about 1. The fingerprint lady said I was the second last one of the day, at least for K visa I guess!

Like others, everything went very smoothly, thanks in part to VJ, my documents were all in order and the interviewer lady (think I had room 7) was very friendly and made me feel very comfortable!

[Brian and Vicky 0]

Congratulation to u all!!!

Hi Letitbe and welcome

Thank you. I do enjoy this site and this forum and decide to be a part of it.

[ashenflowers 5]

I'm back! Finished the 8-9 hr drive home from Montreal just now, and need to crash... LOL But I will post a more detailed review as well when I can.

We had the lady in room 7, and I found her very nice as well. So don't worry if you don't get the director, there are other capable and lovely interviewers available.

Thanks for the congrats everyone! Looking forward to bugging you all re: POE and AOS... haha

[lonie 0]

Congrats to you all!!

[nkkst2 0]

Helllo... sorry about the late reply but we were APPROVED tooo... yayyy. I was soo excited and relieved to here the lady say you are approved. Like everyone has said it was pretty painless... the lady that interviewed me, I think it was room 7, was very friendly.

Also, I asked about having to activate the visa right away because I said I normally I go down to visit my fiance for Thanksgiving. I told her I was not planning on moving there permanently until Dec 27th.... and she said well I can give you back your passport now and you can use it cross the border normally as you would do and when you return back to Canada, send your passport back to us and we will put the visa inside and send it back in your envelope. So that is what I did, so I now have my passport to go visit my fiance one last time before I move for good after Christmas. She said that it was risky to try and cross the border with the K1 visa and not have it activated, so she said this was the best way.

Congrats to all the other VJers as well...

[Arabella 4]

.

Also, I asked about having to activate the visa right away because I said I normally I go down to visit my fiance for Thanksgiving. I told her I was not planning on moving there permanently until Dec 27th.... and she said well I can give you back your passport now and you can use it cross the border normally as you would do and when you return back to Canada, send your passport back to us and we will put the visa inside and send it back in your envelope. So that is what I did, so I now have my passport to go visit my fiance one last time before I move for good after Christmas. She said that it was risky to try and cross the border with the K1 visa and not have it activated, so she said this was the best way.

Congrats to all the other VJers as well...

Well that's interesting advice because the Consular Deputy told me the opposite.

[Arabella 4]

his name is Paul Mayer, Deputy Consul General.

http://www.rwallenberg-int.org/Events/Mayer.htm

i dunno what this article is but it has his picture.

he's the nicest guy ever. you're lucky if you have him as your CO and i'm not just saying that cause Dale and i got him and because he reads these posts but he really is THAT nice.

Here's an article he wrote recently: http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/stories_fse/

The Wallenberg article also bears out my experience of him being concerned with the human beings before him, which is what made the interview such a positive experience. He looked deeper than the papers in front of him.

ETA and actually now he is Consular Section Chief (see state.gov blog description of him), the Wallenberg site is a bit older.

Yup, that's the man who interviewed us. He smiled like that the whole time. It was a fantastic experience.

As I turned to leave he said, "Goodbye Arabella."

[SapphireDreams 71]

Helllo... sorry about the late reply but we were APPROVED tooo... yayyy. I was soo excited and relieved to here the lady say you are approved. Like everyone has said it was pretty painless... the lady that interviewed me, I think it was room 7, was very friendly.

Also, I asked about having to activate the visa right away because I said I normally I go down to visit my fiance for Thanksgiving. I told her I was not planning on moving there permanently until Dec 27th.... and she said well I can give you back your passport now and you can use it cross the border normally as you would do and when you return back to Canada, send your passport back to us and we will put the visa inside and send it back in your envelope. So that is what I did, so I now have my passport to go visit my fiance one last time before I move for good after Christmas. She said that it was risky to try and cross the border with the K1 visa and not have it activated, so she said this was the best way.

Congrats to all the other VJers as well...

You must've had the lady that I had. She gave us the same information. I ended up just leaving my visa and not visiting until I POE'd.

[Flames9_RN 358]

.

Also, I asked about having to activate the visa right away because I said I normally I go down to visit my fiance for Thanksgiving. I told her I was not planning on moving there permanently until Dec 27th.... and she said well I can give you back your passport now and you can use it cross the border normally as you would do and when you return back to Canada, send your passport back to us and we will put the visa inside and send it back in your envelope. So that is what I did, so I now have my passport to go visit my fiance one last time before I move for good after Christmas. She said that it was risky to try and cross the border with the K1 visa and not have it activated, so she said this was the best way.

Congrats to all the other VJers as well...

Well that's interesting advice because the Consular Deputy told me the opposite.

Others have done it that way as well... just be advised that they dont always mail you back the passport/visa ASAP

[nkkst2 0]

ASAP as in they hold it for a few days then send it back or they hold it for a week and then send it back. You think it would take longer than 2 weeks for them to send it back?

[Arabella 4]

ASAP as in they hold it for a few days then send it back or they hold it for a week and then send it back. You think it would take longer than 2 weeks for them to send it back?

Well the man I interviewed with said that with 100s of applications coming in all the time he didn't want ours to get lost, so that's why he wanted to issue it then and told us we are allowed to cross without activating. You will probably want to bug them about it to make sure nothing happens . . .

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Not to scare you nkkst2 but Montreal is notoriously slow with everything they do. They have been taking 4 weeks+ to respond to RFE's issued at the interview. Its possible they would get your visa to you very quickly, but I certainly wouldn't count on it, and I definitely wouldn't be making any concrete moving plans until you have confirmation from them the visa is on its way.

[nkkst2 0]

hmmm now I am a little nervous... the lady just seemed like there was no chance that I could cross without activating it, so I took my passport back. I guess I will just be emailing them like everyday haha to make sure they are quick in getting the visa in it and shipping it back out to me.

[Flames9_RN 358]

On eis damned if ya do, and damned if ya dont!! One could get to the POE with ur passport with the visa in it, and say, I don't want to activate it, and the POE officer can say, too bad, even with the Mtl consulates top dudes approval in the computer. Most likely either way, one should have no problems. When you return you passport, write a very nice note, and state the date you plan on traveling to the USA. Being nice and polite can only work in ones favor. As we have learned the workers at the consulate and very capable of reading,lol

[Arabella 4]

Oh, there was a couple there who was in line behind us. They were not from VJ, although they had heard of it. They asked us how long this process had taken us. I told them our NOA 1 was March 13, so about 8 months. They said their NOA 1 was October 2008, so over 13 months for them. I asked them if they went through a lawyer.

Their answer . . . "Yes, we used an immigration attorney."

Another reason why VJ > "Immigration" Attorneys.