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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on February 9, 2024: |
craigbeauch
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
I had my interview at the Montreal Consulate on February 8, 2024 at 7:45 AM.
I stayed at the Best Western Downtown Europa, which is quite literally around the corner from the consulate. I walked over around 7:35 after seeing notes from others saying you don't really need to be there early, since a security officer pops outside and asks everyone in line what time their interviews are. If you're scheduled for 7:45 but the person in front of you is scheduled for 8:00, they will take you out of line and bring you inside. There was probably 10-15 people in line already when I got there.
Once inside you give your passport to someone who checks your name off a list, gives you two pieces of paper with your number on it and puts a sticker on the back of your passport. You go through an airport-style security before being told to put your phone and smart watch (if wearing one) into a locker. You take the key with you when you go upstairs. You'll take the elevator up one floor to the waiting room and take a seat anywhere.
There's one big TV showing which cases are being talked to at which counter. I think there were 12 counters total, but only 4 or 5 were actively being worked on. There's a loud DING every time a new number pops up, you can't miss it. I sat there for about 45 minutes before my number popped up on the screen and I went up to my counter. The woman I was with was pretty direct and to the point. Not a whole lot of chit-chatting at all.
First she asked for my passport to pull up my case. Then she started asking for documents one by one. My birth certificate, marriage certificate, police certificate, passport photo and my wife's 2022 1040 Tax Return form. She checked over everything, fingerprinted me and then told me I could go back and sit down to wait for my number to be called again for the actual interview portion.
I sat down for probably another half an hour before it was called and I went to a different counter for that. I thought the interviews would be done in a closed room, but you're just standing at a counter, so if there's someone at the counter next to you, you can hear them clear as day.
The woman there asked me to raise my right hand and swear that everything I was saying is the truth. You then take your right hand fingerprints as a signature. She asked fairly standard questions: where did you meet your wife, what did you do on your first date, what does your wife do for work, how long was your longest stay in the United States, have you lived anywhere other than Canada in the past 5 years, have you visited any other countries than the US in the past 5 years.
She still had the documents I gave to the first woman (birth certificate, marriage certificate), and the only thing she seemed a little "weary" about was our marriage certificate. I admit it doesn't necessarily LOOK overly official, but it WAS the one that was given to us and that we signed when we were married at the courthouse. She asked me if I had any other marriage certificates, to which I said "No, that's the one that was given to us." She took it with her around the corner, I imagine talking to someone else to see if they could verify it's legitimacy.
After two minutes or so she came back around the corner, continued punching things into her computer before turning to me and saying "Congratulations, I just approved your visa."
She handed me a sheet of paper showing how you can track your passport through the mail, and that was basically it. Now I'm just waiting for it to arrive so I can finally head South!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32940