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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on August 23, 2008: |
Moos
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Overall the experience was a smooth one and my husband was approved - yay!
Here's the break down - nothing too differnt from the others. I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I am so happy and typing so quickly.
We arrived at 6:40am on Friday August 22 - way early but we were anxious. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott on Sherbrooke (great hotel by the way). We got coffee at the cafe on the corner and waited. People started to arrive at 7am and by 7:30 there were quite a few people on line. At 7:30am the guard opened the door and even though we were first in line the guard checking us in gave us the letter B.
There was a woman behind us with a HUGE purse who was somehow able to get a letter A and allowed in with her purse as long as she left her bottle of water.
We were checked through with no problems and told to go downstairs and wait until 7:45am. We did and at exactly 7:45am a guard came down in the elevator and asked for everyone with a letter to get in the elevator. This caused a bit of confusion, for people thought he meant a printed letter (like an appointment letter). We went up to the 19th floor and we had to go to window # 9. By the way, when you come off the elevator, windows 6-12 are to the right and then down a little hall on the right of that. It was a bit confusing.
We handed the woman at window 9 our letter (B) attached to our appointment letter. By 8am, they had called the woman who had letter A to window #12. Soon after they called us to window #11. There was a nice lady there who was sitting with our huge file. Here's where things get a bit weird and if it was not for VJ, we may not have been prepared for this part.
She was confused as to our prior marriages. She didn't seem to have some info we sent after an Addendum was filed. That threw me for a slight loop. But...I had certified copies of EVERYTHING. So I gave her a certified copy of the Addendum as well as certified copies of the divorce certificate and a certified copy of the translation. She was very happy that we were so organized. She eventually found the information in our file but she kept the copies we gave her. She then asked us how we met. She looked at my husband's passport and gave it back to him. She asked us if we were able to visit each other and I told her I could visit but he could not leave Canada. She then told us she would call us back for fingerprints.
It may have been around 8:45am when we were called back for finger printing. After finger printing, she collected our Expresspost Envelope and was happy we had preaddressed it, etc. By the way - there were a lot of folks there that didn't bring an Expresspost envelope at all and many who had the wrong size. We saw quite a few people leaving to buy them. We also saw people who didn't have their paperwork organized and ended up standing at the windows for 30 minutes or so. We had the clear accordian file with labels (and color coding
 ) so we had an easier time of things. I highly recommend going that route.
We then waited in the main waiting room and letter A was called around 8:50am for her interview. She was out by 9am (or a few minutes after) and she was approved. She said that the interviewer was very nice but asked a lot of unexpected questions. Hmmmmm...
We were called soon after and had a very nice woman. She was actually kind of fun. She welcomed us and said we looked happy to be there. We told her that we were happy this day finally came and I admitted to be close to crying - in a happy way. Then we joked about me crying if the news was happy at the end.
She had us sworn us in and had my husband sign his application and then began the questions. I don't think we can remember all of the questions - but it was much more involved than we expected. Thank goodness (and VJ) that we brought absolutely everything. For she wanted to verify our incomes. Which is strange because we make well, well over the cutoff. So we showed her a letter from my husband's employer showing his salary, position and promise of employment in the US. When she looked at it she said, "oh wow...well ok then...that is nothing to sneeze at." She then wanted additional proof of my income as the petitioner. I gave her our 2007 taxes, my latest consultinng agreement, copies of my client invoices and client payments from the last 6 months. I guess she wanted to see this since I am self employed. She asked how much this comes out to be anually and when I told her she said - "OH! Well...I guess you two will be fine then." She asked if she could keep our certified copies and I said yes - they are yours to keep.
Her questions were (as best as I can remember), for it was very conversational and easy to talk to her, so the questions get kind of mushed up :-):
How did you meet, when did you propose, was he ever arrested, she asked about his military experience and how he felt being in the military during a hot political time period, she talked about the day we were denied TN visa renewal. She wanted to know if we were able to visit. She asked about the house we bought in the US together. She asked about my husband's son. We had a ton more proof and she was happy that we had it and offered up to show her, but she didn't ask to see anything.
We were in there for at least 20 minutes. But it was easy and comfortable. At the end, she approved us and I said thank you about 20 times and my husband and I hugged and kissed. Then I told her I wish I could hug her. She said, "oh, I appreciate that." Finally she went over all of the questions I had. The scary thing is that she said it may take 2 WEEKS to get his visa. Hope this review helps. Good luck to anyone going through this!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3267