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Vancouver, Canada | Review on June 3, 2008: | Daly
Rating: | Review Topic: K1 Visa
When you arrive, there's a sign that reads "Visa pick up at 2:15pm, no loitering" outside. So right away, I was relieved that I didn't book my flight to leave that night. Whew.
The security guard will remind you that there's no electronics allowed inside; you'll get your stuff searched through as they will make certain you have NO sealed envelopes. Then you go up the stairs where you will have to wait by the elevator until a guard bypasses the elevator to allow you to go to the 20th floor.
On the 20th floor, there is yet another security check. Same thing again. Then, the guard will unlock the door of the waiting room for you. They'll give you a sheet of paper reading to tell you what documents to put in order. I cant remember it specifically though as the window clerk later took it from me. But, a lot of stuff I took with me turned out to be useless. (Still, bring everything.)
I got called to window A immediately. Spoke to a woman to verify everything I was to present and took it from me. I almost freaked because I didn't realize the brown envelope stapled to my xrays were the medical report (the doc didn't tell me that.) Luckily... I brought the xrays with me, so the medical report was there. Also, she asked me for Matt's tax return papers.... I didn't have that. O_O; She said it was ok and asked for several pay stubs and bank account statements. THAT I did have. About a year's worth, and half of his bank account statements were a joint account for him and I already. Also, she had to trim my passport pictures because they weren't exactly 2" x 2". v_v;;; But, she was fine with that. Also, she removed all the staples I had put in to neatly organize it. Oh well.
I was asked to sit down again and I would be called up to a number window soon.
By "soon" she meant 1hr 1/2 later. :S
In the meantime, I got to meet two VJers.
Ok, so, later on, my name finally gets called to a number window. It was a very faint call system, I barely heard it, so I hesitated at the window number I thought I heard.
At window 2, there was a middle aged southeast asian looking woman who spoke with perfect english there. She did the fingerprints for me... which was difficult because I have rather small hands. So it took several times due to my inability to get my fingers placed right or push down hard!
Then we started talking:
"Who are you marrying?"
"How long have you known him?" I've known Matt for ten years. (I'm 25.) Her eyebrows actually shot up at that, because she asked me how I met him. I explained the internet's gaming sites for fans, and what interactive RPG fan-fiction groups are.
"What do you plan on doing in terms of occupation when you get there?" She then explains that she needs to know whether or not I will become a public charge.
"Where does he work?
"What does he do?"
"How much does he make?"
She then asks to see some photographs of us, so I pass over the honkingly huge scrapbook I've been working on for the past year.
I let her know that the photographs do not start for 5 pages because we didnt meet until about 4 years after we started chatting online. She shrugs and starts at the beginning, flipping all the way through. She then stops at the end and asks, "So... where did AnimeExpo take place?" I answer,"Anaheim, California." (I had stapled my pass to AnimeExpo in the scrapbook and showed a lot of pictures of Matt and I posing with various cosplayers.)
She smiled then handed me back the scrapbook, saying she sees no reason why I shouldn't have a K-1 visa. I was debating jumping up and down screaming like a fangirl, but I opted for a smile instead.
She took the stack of papers I had prepared and ask me to sit down and wait again.
I got called back to the letter window where the same woman from before greeted me. She sorted though my papers, nodded and then said, "Come back tomorrow at 2:15pm. Don't bother lining up, just tell the guard you're here picking up a K-1 visa and he'll show you up."
Wooo!
So next day, I show up. I get panicked cause I see all these little white and red post it style notes from the government carried by everyone in line. I go up to the guard and say, "I don't have one of those little sheets, but I'm here to pick up my K-1 visa." She tells me to line up. -_- I learn later that she should've sent me up, and I didn't have to be in line.
Anyways, so I get up there, I'm given a curiously sealed envelope and a sheet outlining the requirements and such for my accepted K-1 visa. She also hands over my shining passport with a visa printed inside of it. Woo-hoo!
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