my CR-1 experience in Montreal

[mandyyxz 0]

hello all, just got my cr-1 visa and now i want to share my experience with evreyone, hope this may help ppl who will be interviewed in montreal.

first, just a short description about my timeline and my situation. i am a chinese international student in canada and 2 year ago i met my love of my life online. he is working for the US amry and was stationed in korea. we have been crazy about eachother since the day we met online. then he flew to ottawa to visit me and proposed to me and i said yes. in short, after a couple of times visiting eachother, at oct12th 2005, we got married at city hall here in ottawa. the next day we submitted our i 130 form to US embassy in ottawa. the lady there helped a lot and she said since my husband is a soldier, we can make the process time much shorter. they copied our documents and send them directly to montreal. after 2 to 3 weeks, i got the ds 230 form and a checklist from montreal. hmm, since i cant leave before april, i didnt hurry to mail it back. i think i mailed my ds 230 at mid nov.....then it was a long wait..i kept calling montreal every 2 or 3 weeks to see if i get an interview date....finally, around late feb, they told me my interview date is march 31 9 30...i got my interview letter and medical etc almost 2 weeks later. then i finished the medical exam...it was pretty easy.but since i had been living in china before i was 19, and i didnt get any shots in canada. so i dont have an immunization record. the doc had to give me a few shots plus theblood test.......that was a painful memory for my armlol....

anyways here is the second part, the interview experence. well, i was pretty busy at the interview week( it was a friday) i got finals on wed night and thursday afternoon. after i took the exam on thursday afternoon, i took greyhound to go to montreal,just takes 2 hours and 20 mins. then i lived in a family's friend' house. the next morning, my friend dropped me off at the US consulate. well, the security is SO STRICT!!!!!! My reconmendation is just take any related documents with u, any other things, NO. But in case u have a lot of things to take with u and u have no place to put them., u can put ur stuff in a coffee shop across the street, they charge u 5 dollars for it.but anyways....no choice. i know there are a few malls there but most of them open after 9 30 and u want to be there early, so maybe a coffee shop is a better choice. then i went thru security and took the elavator to floor 19. there were alot of ppl there waiting at the cashier to pick up a number. here is another tip, they have actually two line for the cashier. one is for non immigrant the other is for american citizens and immigration visas. go for the immigration visa line, itis a priority line and itis much faster( but first i didnt know it:P) anyways i waited a long time to get my number cause i was in the wrong line. then i got the number and i had seat and waited...almost like an hour, they called my number.( there is a electronic board in the middle of the room, watch it then u will find out which wintow u should go to) anyways i went to the window, and here came the lady to ask me for my documents and she did a quick check to them.oh yeh, also she asked me how long u ve been married. when she was checking my financil support form., she said w-2 was not good enough..usually u should show them form1040 but she told me should would talk to others to see if they can accept it. then she asked me to pay 380 dollars so i run over to the cashier again and paid the fee. then i returned and she told me to have a seat and they would call me again. so i found a seat but i was stressout about the tax form thing cause thats the only thing seems not good enough. hmm about another 45 mins, they called me again and this time i got interviewed in a room. here came the main play actually...luckily, the guy who interviewed me is much nicer than the ladylol he is so so so nice!!!!!!i almost wantted to hug him,hehehe. hmm first he asked me, mm is ur husband name Ian, i said yeah but he likes to pronounce it as I in Ian cause he is part scottish. then he asked me how did u meet, i said online. he asked where was him that time? i said south korea. he asked when did u first meet. i said last january. he flew here? i said yeah and then we met another couple of times. and i offered him to see our wedding pics. i could tell he likes it a lot. even i said do u want to see more, he said itis enough and he didnt ask for anything else. then i asked him about how to get a SSN as fast as possible cause we cant buy the house we want if i dont have it. he said i am not too sure and then he checked with others and told me how should i get one as fast as possible. then yeah, i also asked him about the tax forms, he told me w2s are good enough, i dont need to worry. at the end, he asked me to take finger prints. idid it then i asked him, can i get the visa? he told me the only thing outstanding is the security clearance, my other things are fine. i was so happy and told him that i am going to fly to Oklahoma( oh yeah he told me he lived there before) at april13th, the next day after my last exam, then i can be with my husband i cant wait. he said congradulations, good luck and have a nice weekend etc. anyways he is a very nice guy... so that's my interview. on monday afternoon, i went back to pick it up. dont need to come early this time cause they wouldnt let u in anyway. the pick up is pretty easy, just some more waiting. finally they called my name and hand me a sealed envelope and my passport. i checked my passport and see an immigration visa is there, that moment i know me and my husband finally can live together, i was so so so happy. the envelope is just some document u need to hand in when go thru POE. now just 5 days left for us to be together and we cant wait!!!!

hope this helps and good luck to everyone

Edited April 8, 2006 by mandyyxz

[pri 0]

congrats thats was smooth

[Chicken_Little 0]

Congrats!

Glad everything went well!

[Mermaid 0]

Thanks for sharing. Congratulations!

[Cygnet 0]

Congratulations!

[girl 37 7]

Aww, what a nice account of your interview. Congrats!

[iceyspots 0]

Aww.. that's such a cute story... awesome job on your visa!!

[Peggy 1]

Congrats

[melliemel 0]

Congrats, we're all very happy it went well.