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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on July 1, 2016: |
greyidgdess
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Interview was June 23, 2016 at 8:00am.
Arrived in Montreal on the 15th, medical on the 16th. Stayed in Montreal until the 24th since hubby lives too far away to make going back and forth ludicrous. Picked up medical on the 21st.
Arrived at the consulate at 7:30am and parked in the Safeway lot directly across the street from the entrance to the consulate (looks like a small alleyway). Had all our documents in a couple of medium sized shopping bags. 23 month old son was with us so packed a couple diapers and wipes and an empty sippy cup to put in the bags.
Waited about 20 minutes to be let in. Checked interview appointment letter and hubby's passport. For myself and the toddler, he just asked if we were both US citizens. Didn't bother to check our passports. Went through security screening and then downstairs to wait for the elevator. Once we got herded into the elevator arrived upstairs to the waiting area. DA160s were told to get in line and immigrant visas to wait for their number to be called.
Fun surprise: they had a decent play area next to the chairs that kept my son decently entertained. 
After about 10 minutes we got called up to bring the originals of the documents and hubby got fingerprinted. I noticed at the bottom of her checklist that it was stamped for June 7 which was the first and last date the consulate looked at our case - at this point I knew we'd be in AP.
After giving her the originals, sat back down to wait for the interview. After 15 minutes, hubby got called in. I went with to give him the documents and to detach the toddler from him who wasn't happy about da-da leaving without him. After about 5 minutes, hubby comes out and asks me to come in to see the CO.
Turns out we've been "MENA'd" courtesy of hubby being from Iran and studying engineering. Almost all the questions the CO asked were related to hubby's engineering degree and barely asked anything about our relationship.
CO says he needs additional documentation. A CV detailing all of hubby's work and education history since he graduated high school and explaining all gaps, copies of all his engineering research papers, and additional proof of our relationship, specifically financial proof and even more specifically proof of debt (which we don't have - apparently financial solvency isn't a good thing when it comes to immigration). I asked what other documents would suffice and he said a will; this is the moment I know they never even looked at our file and based the AP on his DS-260 because a copy of both of our wills and health care power of attorneys were in the original I-130 petition.
He also took our chat and phone logs even though he said they don't usually take them because chat transcripts can be automatically generated. Said once we have everything together to mail it to the consulate. Gave us a white paper entitled "Completing your Immigration Application by mail". I asked how long to expect it to take and he said that AP was automatically 4 weeks, but could be as long as 8 weeks from the time they receive the additional documents. We mailed it all out on the 29th.
Despite the disappointment it was fairly painless and we didn't spend a lot of time there. Just hoping AP doesn't take forever.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #19867