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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on May 13, 2007: |
Knobby_Wheezer
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
1095 West Pender is the address of the Consulate, but the lines are at the east side of the building under the address 1075 West Pender. I have wondered if this is why the sample Letter of Intent has 1075 as the address to which to mail it. The return address on the envelope in which I received the notice of appointment date had 1095.
Stood in the 10am line-up until the official asked what kind of visa. He then shunted my boyfriend and I to the line closest to the door.
Unlike previous descriptions of the airport-like security check, we did not have to remove our shoes nor did we walk through an air-puffing machine; just empty pockets and remove coats/hats/sweaters to the little grey bins and collect them again on the other side.
A change that some might wish to be aware of: if you bring something that you shouldn't (like I forgot about the calculator that was in my pocket), you will no longer be allowed to leave it outside the door. You must take it to the garbage can beyond the little shrubs that surround the patio where the lines are. It involves going all the way back out to the sidewalk and going onto the property next east. There is a garbage can there. That is the only place allowed for deposits. No biggie for me, really: I had found that calculator years ago and now someone else will find it.
Next, we walked up a short stair to a small vestibule that contained one elevator. When the door opened, a few folks and we went in and the guard pushed 20 for us. Upon arrival at 20, we went through the other security check---exactly the same deal here.
From there we were told to sit in the row of blue chairs. This row is beyond the first living-room-like area. The living-room-like area seems to be an overflow room for the other visas being taken care of out in the hall. There were 2 other sets waiting there with us: a K-2, a K-3 and ourselves as a K-1.
None of the others were VJers. It soon became obvious that they would have been better off using VJ. The K-3 visa was advised by his lawyer not to bring his US wife with him to the interview. Is that the advise on VJ, I wonder? He had a problem with his Police Certificate at the interview stage. It was a cultural thing, really: in his generation, all boys in Québec were given the first name Josef. His Police Certificate only had the search done with Gilles. So guess what? They took his passport and ran a nationwide name check while he waited. Everything seemed to go all right from there, though. His lawyer had set up all his paperwork in a binder with plastic page savers. Too bad they weren't in order. Since the lawyer knows what the forms look like and Gilles doesn't, Gilles didn't know where to find anything.
The K-2 was attempting to bring her son across. She also used an immigration lawyer. They didn't have any DS-156s. Not that they weren't filled out properly, y'see . . . they merely didn't have them at all! Fabulous lawyer! They were sent to another part of the building and asked to fill out the DS-156s online and then come back.
I had wondered from reading other reviews how it is that everyone knew what was going on with other K visas. Well, the 4 blue chairs that are bolted to the wall are within about 4 inches of the separators that divide the wickets. If such a thing were not frowned upon, it wouldn't take much effort to slouch a little and put your feet up on the counter of the wicket. If anyone wants by you (like to get out again), everyone must get up and back into the wicket area to permit passage.
I had brought a 7 pocket folder-thing with a handle and a skinny outside pocket to make 8 altogether. In this we had the forms, the supporting dox and the "evidence" ('phone bills, letters, emails, photos, receipts, plane tickets, boarding passes, events tickets, tiny souvenirs). But, first, the forms. I had all my papers in order and in duplicate. That is to say, all the dox that required originals and copies were put together with their kind: birth certificate and copy; marriage certificates and copies; divorce certificates and copies et blah blah blah. The only hang up we experienced in that arena was that the notarised copy of his marriage certificate was unacceptable because it was too good. The CO made a copy of his copy and gave him back both his original and his notarised copy. 
After that, I go down to the cashier to pay the hundred bux. The CO gave me directions---twice---and as soon as I stepped out the door I forgot them. However, to the left side of the door is a little white sign taped to the wall that lists a buncha stuff. The very bottom one is Cashier-->-->-->.  So I walked down the hall in the direction of the arrows and when I got to the end there, just slightly to the right of the end of the straight part, is the cashier. Don't get too excited here: I had to wait for them to come back from break<---caveat for 10a appointments. However, there is another set of seats bolted to the wall that you can sit in to wait . . . like I did.
Paid the cashier and headed back to the wicket. Now the CO had both Gilles' and our receipts. The three of us chatted about all kinds of stuff for quite a while. I suggested that maybe we were not being called to be interviewed because they had decided to wait for the K-2 to get back with their DS-156s. Neither Gilles nor my boyfriend thought that that was the case.
At 11:10a, the CO poked her head out to the glass barrier and asked if the other people had returned yet. We all said, No. About 3 minutes after that, Gilles was called up for his interview. The interviews take place in another wicket in the same row as the ones where the CO looks at your paperwork. The initial wicket that you go to will have a letter designation. The interview wicket has a number. Everything takes place in an area about the size of a skinny bathroom. It was at this point that Gilles had the problem with his Police Certificate. While he sat down again to await the results (no record), we were interviewed.
Questions asked (that I remember):
How did you meet?
When did you meet in person?
And the next time?
And the time after that?
How did you decide to marry?
What is your general philosophy of life?
Where does this visa fit into your philosophy of life?
What would it be like to not get this visa?
Do you have any pbotographs of the two of you together?
He has me sign the sworn statement without asking me any of the questions on it: they have already been filled out and a date stamped on it by someone else. He then suggests that I come back after 2p to pick up my visa.
It was all over in 5 minutes or so despite the between questions chit-chat. Before we left, he also returned some more of our original dox that had been kept during the first round at the previous wicket.
As has been said before, they are very friendly there and do put you at ease. They seem noticeably annoyed if you don't have your correct paperwork, but have suggestions at the ready on how to remedy the impasse.
We stayed at the Days Inn which is about a 45 second walk from the Consulate if you get a green light. It's east of the Consulate across Burrard. There is also the Marriott that looks about the same distance from the Consulate, but on the west side. I don't know the rates for the Marriott and didn't even know it was there because VJers suggested Days Inn and that's what I went with. I booked online and got the room for $24 less than regular rate. If we'd stayed in Kitsalano Beach, it would only have been $5 less. Not worth it to me.
We were allowed to park the car until 12 noon or we would have to pay for another day. We got back to pick up the car at 11:53a. Got no more skin left on our teeth!
Went back after 2p. Since I had to go back up alone, I left all the coats and junk in the car. As I was not able to provide the usual ID of a passport (because they kept it to insert my visa), I brought along my driver's licence. It turns out that it is not required, but they thought that it was a really nice gesture (they: the guards, the security ppl and the CO again).
The visa looks like every Canadian bill ever made all smushed together and with my picture on it. It's pasted into my passport.
Incidentally, the single elevator available to take you up to 20 is not the same as the choice of 6 elevators to take you to G. The 6 elevators let you out in a different part of the building from where you went up to 20 in the one.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1589