Consulate Review!

[Danu 19]

Where to begin!

I arrived in Montreal Sunday night, after a bit of getting lost I finally found my hotel. I stayed at Le Square Phillips which is an absolutely beautiful hotel. A bit pricey but a great room with a kitchenette. It felt like a little apartment, was very clean and the staff were super friendly. I ate at a little Mexican place on Peel St (about 5 blocks from the Consulate.. a 10 minute walk) called Carlos and Pepes. They had really good guacamole and chicken Fajitas.

I was planning on being up at 6ish so I could be awake, grab Timmies (about a 1 minute walk from the hotel) and get to the consulate, which was only a 5 minute walk away. I woke up before my alarm (5:40 ew) so I was awake and out the door before I expected. Got to the consulate at about 6:15 and lined up on the side with the yellow posts. At around 6:30 I was joined by Tdotgirl who is really nice, and another girl came at about 6:45. Shes not on VJ but she does read it. Dalene was shortly after that. We all stood in line and had a good laugh at the people who lined up on the other side thinking they would get in ahead of us. They looked angry when the security dude told them to go to the end of the line behind all of us.

They opened the doors just shortly after 7:30. You give them your Passport and appointment letter, so have those out. The security guards seemed a little stressed, make sure you just wait for them to give you instructions or you will get a stern talk to like I did (I put the box with my coat on the belt to go through the scanner, apparently you aren’t suppose to do that on your own). They then get you to walk through a metal detector, give you a letter (underneath said letter is the window you will be called to) and get you to walk down the stairs and sit on a chair while you wait for the elevator. They give you the list of things to get ready, but quite a few things they ask for are left off the list. At 7:45 the elevator guard comes down and collects all the people with letters A through E and takes you up to the 19th floor. You go sit at the far end of the room and wait to be called. As I had letter A I was called first, to window 11.

The lady behind the window was very very nice. She has long blonde hair, and a great bubbly personality. She asked for (in order..though most of the order seemed random): My passport, the DS-160, DS-156k and 2 copies of the DS-156, my Birth Cert and copy, copy of my bio page, medical (without the xray), the letter of intent, I-134 and supporting documents, my police check, photos, and my expresspost envelope. I think that was all. Then she gave me a piece of paper to take to the cashier at window 14. This is important so make sure you remember it. You DO NOT have to line up behind everyone else waiting on the right side of the red separator. Stand on the left side of it. You will be called to the window first. Then I went back, gave it to her and sat down to wait for a little bit while she got something ready to take my fingerprints. You do left hand first, all fingers together flat on the screen, then right hand, then your thumbs. After that she sent me back to the waiting room to be called.

I really don’t remember how long it was, not long though, maybe 10-15 minutes? And I got called to room 8, which is in the little hallway (I have encluded a rough sketch of where the rooms are so you have an idea where you are going!) I walked in, and there was Paul Mayer behind the glass. He really is super friendly, really smiley. After I did the oath, he said everything looked great, told me I had to sign something and then it would be pretty much a home run. As others have said he told me he had to ask me a few questions just because. He asked me how we met, when we figured out it was the real deal, when we decided to get married and if I’m planning to work when I move and what I’d like to do. For the proof of support he kind of said something along the lines of “I see you brought a huge attaché with you, is there anything good in there you want me to see?” He said what he really loves asking is for your 1 or 2 favorite photos. I gave him my favourite photo and the birthday card Wes sent me, he gave me both back. He congratulated me on being approved and asked how I felt now. I was so relieved I almost started crying in the booth lol. He told me he had to go through some of the stuff with me on how long the visa lasted for, the time limit to get married, filing AOS. We talked about VJ during the interview too and he assured me like he assured others that they are doing everything in their power to get the backlog of CR1 and K1’s out the door, that part of the problem with the backlog as well as staffing and summer rush is that of visa’s that have number limits on it and the need to crank them out as fast as possible so that other countries don’t steal any of them. He also told me Fridays are K1 only days, so thats why so many people have gotten Friday dates

It was easy and painless like everyone said and I wish I hadn’t freaked out so much. Mr. Mayer did a great job putting me at ease and I’d like to thank everyone at the consulate for making the day nice and smooth.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Danu

[Peachey 10]

Danu, the reason they asked for more than what was on the list is because we had the "old" packet 3. So we didn't send all of our forms it at the same time.

[Bern. 3]

Wow, that was pretty painless. Go Mr. Mayer! And congrats on your approval,

[Danu 19]

very true. I forgot to add in my review that I was out by 8:47, and Mr. Mayer asked me to pass on a plea not to line up forever before hand in the winter as hes afraid some of us will come in with frostbite!

Thanks you guys I'm happy its over!

Edited November 24, 2009 by Danu

[Rustbelt 0]

CONGRATS!! Love the sketch!

We actually told the couple that had got there before us who were lined up on the wrong side that they'd have to line up on our side. But they were really nice and had been there for 30 minutes already, so we let them go in first.

And yes, Le Square Phillip is a great hotel, but is pricey. The room we had is actually larger than our apartment . . .

[sdhiman 0]

Congratulations Danu!! Awesome review and sketch :-)

Its encouraging to read what Mr. Mayer said...I really hope the backlog gets cleared soon so we can all be with our loved ones asap

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Nice diagram of the interview waiting room!

And congratulations on passing!

[Sam and Ben 2]

Haha, he told us we were crazy early too.

I was disappointed, though. He didn't ask for any of our photographs.

And because we had the new P3, we weren't asked for all of those forms. She did go through and verify each and every single one, though, and I caught an error in the address on the DS-156, heh.

She also gave me heck for not having my middle name on my passport, and told me I had to have that changed asap, apparently.

Glad to hear it went so well for you. Seeing everyone receive their approvals is a great thing. Hopefully we'll all receive our passports back soon too.

[Starlight95 1]

Congrats! I am glad it was super easy .

[Arabella 4]

Nice post! I wanted to comment that you left out the men's washroom. I know they have one, because Sean was in it when they called us to the window!!!

[CDAgirlMI 51]

Nice post! I wanted to comment that you left out the men's washroom. I know they have one, because Sean was in it when they called us to the window!!!

You should've seen him run when he came out & saw you gone...hahaha

[slider100 8]

Thank you for the review Danu and congratulations once again !!!

[Sam and Ben 2]

Nice post! I wanted to comment that you left out the men's washroom. I know they have one, because Sean was in it when they called us to the window!!!

You should've seen him run when he came out & saw you gone...hahaha

Haha, that was rather funny. We all pointed down the hall to where you were standing and he just bolted straight out of the bathroom and down after you.

[Peachey 10]

My middle name isn't on my passport, and they said nothing about it.

[Sam and Ben 2]

My middle name isn't on my passport, and they said nothing about it.

I wasn't too sure why she made it such a big deal either. I certainly have no intention of renewing it simply to add my middle name.

But she said it in passing when verifying all of the information on my forms against the bio page, and then stated it again later on.