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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on April 4, 2007: |
mi_illusion_st
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
6:30 am woke up.
7:00 went and had breakfast
8:30 finished breakfast
9:00 ironed shirt and pants
9:30 depart hotel
9:38 arrive at consulate
Still a little early decide to have a smoke before I go in.
9:49 go thru security hop da elevator and go thru second line of equally lame security.
10:01 seated in k section awaiting person to take documents.
10:12 called up to hand in my papers.
10:20 given wal-mart pics back and told get new ones cause they look like a 4 year old took em with grandmas old Polaroid.,
10:29 finish waiting around for a cashier to appear to pay my fee and hop the elevator down to the lobby (caution where ya come in and where ya exit is in totally different parts of the building.)
10:35 back to security after getting new pics taken, and having a smoke since I had the chance.
10:37 back in k visa section
10:39 sent to be printed.
10:41 back to sitting,
10:43 called up for interview
10:54 told I needed to get court record, and given a roe. They handed me back my passport but kept everything else. Once I send info in I should be approved.
all in all a very pleasant experience just lil annoyed I didn't get my visa today but hey what part of this whole process has been easy.
11:59 done whole consulate visit, having a smoke outside and walked back to my hotel
CAUTION BLACK SECURITY GUARDS AN IDIOT.
Ordered me to go down to the city sidewalk to smoke yet I was outside.
For all the people having difficulty finding the consulate it is easy to find if ya go the right way about it.
First off don't go looking for a us flag or some kind of sign, it don't exist. They do have us consulate services written on the building but it is about 40 feet back from the sidewalk under the awning obstructed from view from the road.
the consulate is located on the side of the Manu life building, coppery colored building on the corner of w pander and thurlow street there is a starbucks in the building right on the corner of it facing the intersection. The consulate entrance is at the far end of the building if ya walk towards burrard only accessible from west Pender Street. Ya can't get to it from Hastings st.
once arriving ya go to the security guards dressed in fancy shmancy uniforms and they will put you in one of two lines, us citizens and all k class visas line up on one side, all other visas etc line up on other side
Then they call people in first come first serve on the k visa side, ask ya to do same crap ya did at the airport nothing unusual there, empty ya pockets etc.
O yea ya really want to piss off security bring a nice big purse or bag jammed full a crap and ya cell phones, and pagers pda’s laptops and perhaps a extra large pepperoni pizza as well for good measure.
Point of that is out of 18 people at the line up today for visas I was the only one that did not have to go take something to a car etc.
People unless ya drove to the consulate leave things like keys at home or something because key chains make em nervous
All ya do is go thru a metal detector, if ya beep they wand ya to isolate the beep. In my case my boots set it off every time since they are steel toed.
Pictures. be aware if ya had your passport pic's they require taken at wal-mart there is a good chance they are garbage no biggy there is a great place right across the street that does ya pics for ya in u.s format in like 2 minutes and charges a whole 10 bucks and change for them,
No need to get a million of em only get the 2 pics that is very good quality and the consulate reprints em with their equipment.
O yea almost forgot. I never received a piece a paper from the security detailing order of documents. They just asked me at the window for what they wanted. Luckily for me I happened to have them in exactly the order they wanted them.
I stress this from the consulate officers, all of them are aware of VJ and love it, and they request you always bring an original document and preferably a notarized copy, but basic copy works along as ya have the original with you. Again ALWAYS BRING ORIGINALS WITH YOU.
Second point I was asked to relate to the VJ clan on the question of your chest x-rays....
DO NOT BRING THEM FOR YOUR CONSULATE INTERVIEW UNLESS OTHERWISE INSTRUCTED.
Do not lose them as you will have to bring them to the POE when ya finally do go to the states.
Ok back to business, consulate asked me a few questions about my fiancé and me, how we met, where we met, when we met in person for the first time, and a few personal questions
Other then that easy peasy, paid 100 bucks and went and got new pics taken... much better quality.
came back throe security the same way searched again as per. went back up to 20th floor handed in my pictures and showed the receipt that I had played the fee.
unfortunately for me I need to get another piece a paper for them but good news is I can send it to them once they receive it and go over it I will get a e-mail stating their decision and if it is a yes then they will ask me to mail my passport to them via certain mail system in a specific sized envelope, reason being is they send ya the packet and passport directly to you. Negating ya having to come back to the consulate for a second time. however if ya live in Vancouver and don’t have to fly and stay in a hotel then ya can just go pick it up once they have the paper, in my case I need a court record I was missing no biggy.
Whole time including getting new pictures was less then 1 hour.
Oki people this is MY experience with the Vancouver consulate no guarantee ya will have similar experience. And as for post I have seen they do not read VJ in anyway, they just appreciate the fact that with the support network VJ has. People who use it are always well organized and make the process super fast at the consulate.
 mi_illusion_st's other half
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1460