CR-1 Visa - POE at Blue Water Bridge (Sarnia/Port Huron)

[Deric&Alicia 11]

here's my experience of POE at Blue Water Bridge (Sarnia/Port Huron). My husband and I drove from Kitchener, ON to Chicago,IL together.

we got to the bridge around 12:45PM. the border was quite busy and there were only 3 auto lanes open. 

 

we got to the border kiosk. My husband handed over our passports and informed the officer right away that he was with his wife who is immigrating today. the officer asked if i had my packet. i said that it is a cr-1 visa not k-1, and everything is electronic. the officer told us to put the car in park. (thought maybe he was gonna search the vehicle). but he just walked over to the neighbouring kiosk and spoke to that officer (im assuming he was asking for assistance). he came back to his kiosk and told us to pull up to the office and go inside (as we were expecting).

 

after we pulled up to the office. the officers standing outside told us we could take any papers and id/wallets, but to leave any bags/purses, and phones in the car. we started walking to enter the office and then noticed the officer open our left side back door to peek inside. my husband told them to be careful with the right side as we had the car super packed and things may fall out. the officer said "oh i was just taking a peek to make sure there weren't any other people in the vehicle". (all that to say they didn't inspect the car or anything, despite it being packed with my personal belongings). 

 

once inside, an officer called us up and took our passports. again, this officer asked me if i had my packet. i told him no as everything was electronic. he then told us to have a seat. a while later he called just me up and asked if i had any forms or anything. i told him all i got was the "welcome to usa" info paper. i grabbed it from the car and gave it to him. showed him the bolded line where it says that everything is electronic and all i need to bring to the border was my passport. he took a quick glance at it and dismissed it (im assuming he realized there wasn't any info on there that helped him). he told me to sit back down. after a while a second officer was with him and they seemed to be going through stuff on the computer together.

 

finally, they were able to pull up my file and the officer called just me up again. he asked me when we first met. i told him dec 2014/jan 2015 in Michigan at a church conference. He looked at me like are you sure. i looked back to my husband sitting and second guessing myself asked him "we met in 2014 right?" he said yeah. and then the officer asked me when we started dating. i told him march 2017. and again he had the same are you sure look. and then he said that it says on the file that we met "at church in 2016". at no point has 2016 ever been a milestone marking year for us, so we were very confused. husband assumed it was a human transcription error. i tried to convince the officer that we def met in 2014 and that i wasnt sure what the 2016 date would have referred to. he said he'd let it slide, but from this point on, the officer was quite suspicious of the validity of our relationship. 

 

he told me to sit down again. after some time, both my husband and i were called up. the second officer (seemed more senior), then explained to us the whole thing about the stamp (temp, authorized to work,etc). the original officer proceeded to stamp my passport and wrote the date and expiry. then told us to sit down again so he can just finish processing [on the computer]. 

 

after a while, he called jsut me up. and asked me again how long we've known each other and how long we've been dating. i was not ready to do any simple math, so i just said since [dates] again. i told him earlier that i was recently unemployed due to this visa process, and he asked me about my last job. then he asked me if i've ever met his family. and i told him yes we visit each other every 1-2 months since we've gotten married. he was then looking at me as if he was trying to think of some more questions to ask me, but then he finally handed me back our passports and let us go about our way. 

 

we were out of there around 2:30PM

not the smoothest experience (based on other people's POE accounts), but we made it through, so i'm thankful.

[Deric&Alicia 11]

fyi: this was on Tuesday, Feb 25th, 2020. 

[Tofu 343]

47 minutes ago, Deric&Alicia said:

not the smoothest experience (based on other people's POE accounts), but we made it through, so i'm thankful

Sounds a lot more like an interview than POE !  At least that part is over and you are now together  Congratulations and thank you for sharing!

[marahm18 19]

2 hours ago, Tofu said:

Sounds a lot more like an interview than POE !  At least that part is over and you are now together  Congratulations and thank you for sharing!

Agreed. Not sure why they asked you so many questions - wasn’t that the point of the interview? 
 

I’m surprised because we cross through the Sarnia border almost every 2 weeks and no one has ever asked anything out of the ordinary. 

[Jenn&Matt 3]

Thank you for sharing @Deric&Alicia!

It does sound like it was more of an interview than a normal border crossing but kudos to you guys for getting through it all. Congratulations!!!

[Deric&Alicia 11]

@Tofu @marahm18 @Jenn&Matt

 

it did seem more like an interview but I figure they’re just doing their job. when we first gave our passports to the officer in secondary, he did ask me what car we drove, and I said toureg? (I’m not a car person at all) and my husband standing next to me corrected me and said Tiguan 😕 so that plus the 2016 first meet date I think all added to the suspicion. 
 

like I said im giving them the benefit of the doubt in saying they’re just doing their jobs. Keep in mind, the officers at POE have the right to deny your visa despite being approved at the interview at the embassy in mtl, within reason. nowadays within reason could mean anything. So I made sure to reserve my celebrations until after POE. Nonetheless, chances of getting denied at POE after interview approval I’m sure is slim.