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| Vancouver, Canada |  Review on June 5, 2007: |
Laura0588
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Vancouver K-1 Interview: June 4, 2007 @ 10am
Just a little background information: I was originally going through the Montreal consulate and then transferred to Vancouver. I have my wedding scheduled for August 18, 2007 and yes, while I know I wasn't supposed to schedule anything before having the visa, things got held up in Montreal (4-7 months of waiting at least) and I needed to get my visa asap. I made plans to visit an aunt in Calgary and had things transferred to Vancouver with very little difficulty, definitely the best thing I've done yet.
Hotel: I wanted to get a hotel that has been mentioned by some of the others who went to Vancouver, but none were available because of a big World Physical Therapy convention going on. I ended up going on to Hotwire, picking the general area around the consulate and choosing the 5-star option. I ended up with the Pan Pacific Vancouver. A verry nice hotel, $159 per night, pricey, but worth it. It was about a 7 minute walk to the consulate, very worthwhile. The people at the hotel were extremely helpful. I had forgotten to photocopy my new passport (thinking they might want it) and panicked the morning of the interview, the bellman calmed me down and went with my to their office and photocopied it himself at no charge... awesome! He also kept my luggage so I could check out of my room. Very good staff!
The interview was at 10am but I was up around 6 and desperately trying to kill time. Went to the Tim Hortons across the street from the hotel and ate as slowly as possible  Ended up getting to consulate around 9:10am only to realize "oh my god, I brought my cell phone with me!!". I asked the RCMP officers outside the consulate and they recommended leaving it with the owner of a smokeshop just across the street (guy charged me a $1, definitely worth it).
Met 2 other people coming for K-1 visas as well, one with her fiance, one like me, all alone (neither had ever heard of VJ). The couple ended up not coming up with us because they had all sorts of items they weren't allowed to bring in (phones, blackberry, purse, etc).
I was let in, went through security on the ground level, they okayed my accordian folder but frowned on my waterproof windbreaker... c'mon guys, its Vancouver, its pouring rain, I'm NOT leaving my jacket at the hotel. They let me through anyway. I went up some stairs, made friend with the security guard who wished me luck and put me on an elevator up to the 20th floor.
20th floor- another set of security, weirdly even more thorough than the bottom level (ok, I didn't acquire more stuff on the way up people!). They send me through and I'm told sit on the infamous 4 blue chairs. Yes, exactly as everyone described. There were a zillion people in the other part of the waiting room for other types of visas and they were not treated nearly as nicely as I was... glad to be a K visa!
I eventually saw the couple from street level upstairs later but they disappeared after that, didn't see anyone at the windows so it was almost as though they got sent home. Weird. The girl who was alone I chatted with for a while until she realized she had left her medical at her hotel, she cabbed it back to the hotel and then back to the consulate, but still got to proceed. As a result I was at the front of the line.. yes! *Note to others* Do a double/triple/quadruple check before you go. (I'm sure all of you will though).
So I'm called up to the first window, friendly guy, takes everything in order (though I was never actually asked to put things in order like some had said, I still had it according to recommendations on here). I had wayyyy too much financial info for my fiance (better too much, right?) so he didn't take all of it. I actually gave him DS-156 forms with my permanent address in Ontario and he was cool with that. No hassles about the transfer at all, wuh hoo. Very good decision, helped my some other who did the same thing on here (Thank you Misa).
He told me I should be interviewed around 11 and I was sent to the cashier to pay my $100 US).
Sat for a while, chatted with the girl who forgot her medical, felt sorry for her because she was pretty lost and had no idea what was going on. Rough. Thank god for my research or I would have been freaking out.
Got called up for the interview around 11am, asked the basics (my job, his job, our relationship, our families, why are we moving, about where i am moving to). Pretty easygoing, I liked it. He said I was good to go and to come back at 2:30 to pick it up.
Went back at 1:50pm (yep, eager beaver) and was sent up. Got the visa at about 2:10 and then cabbed it asap to the airport to catch an earlier flight back to Toronto. Crazy!! I'm so happy this phase is over.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1670