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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on November 14, 2009: |
cjblack
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We stayed at the downtown Novotel the night prior. Hopped in a cab in the morning and arrived at the consulate around 7:30am. We waited on line outside the building for about 20 minutes, then went through security. We thought we had left all of our electronics at the hotel but they found a USB flash drive and an electronic keyfob on us - they gave us a ticket to present when we were leaving to reclaim our items. (FYI - they had no problem with me carrying a laptop bag/briefcase, and my fiancee carrying a pretty big purse).
Were told to take the elevator up and go straight to window 14B, which we did (except the sign just says 14, not 14B - source of confusion for many). Got a number from the lady at the window - C14.
Waited for about 3-4 hours until C14 was finally called. Went to Window 9 where a gentleman asked my fiancee for her appointment letter, passport, birth certificate, intent to marry letter, I-134, proof of support (I provided 2008 tax return, had more to provide but that was good enough), and medical results & xray. He also asked for a couple of things that weren't on the list - a printed copy of the DS-160, and a photocopy of my fiancee's passport. We had the printout of the 160, but not the photocopy (didn't affect anything). He asked us a few questions (what does my fiancee do for work, has she visited me in the USA, any problems at the border.. nothing difficult) then gave us a receipt to take to the cashier to pay the $131.
After we paid, we sat and waited again. We were called back to Window 9 after about 20 minutes to provide fingerprints. Then sat back down.
About an hour later we were called up to Window 7 where another man said he just wanted to verify the fingerprints before we headed to Window 11 for an interview. He finished up, we went to 11, where a nice lady had our entire file in front of her, including the entire I-129F application (photos and all). She leafed through it as she asked my fiancee a few more questions about how we met, her line of work, then she asked about my line of work, and whether we were ever turned away at the border. Finally, she remarked "OK we're done! Fastest interview ever!" and approved us!
At that point, I told her that I needed to return to the States on the next business day (Monday) and would like to take my fiancee with me, and asked if we could pick the Visa up. She said we could pick it up Monday at 3pm and gave us a green ticket to present at that time.
Then, we left and had lunch at a cafe on St-Catherine!
All in all, a lot of waiting, but definitely a very organized operation. I was very impressed and we are thrilled to have our K1 approved!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5235