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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on March 10, 2010: |
phoenix1479
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Thanks to all the other VJ reviewers, my interview went quite smoothly, so now I'm here to do my bit.
I got to the consulate this morning around 6:45 AM. As soon as I spotted a couple standing outside a building with a big folder and an express post envelope, I realized that this must be the American Consulate! And when I noticed that they were standing on the left side of the door, I knew they had to be VJ'ers! They were very nice, and the time passed quickly as we chatted and exchanged information, and people started arriving around 7:15 or so.
The doors opened around 7:30 am, we went through Security. They had us empty our pockets. I wasn't carrying any electronic devices, however my apartment keys were on an electronic keyring that had a small torch at the end of it. Security held on to my keys and gave me a ticket so I could collect them at the end of my appointment.
Then the VJ couple and I went down the stairs, we waited for about 10 minutes before the guard came in the elevator and took us upstairs. We waited there for about 20 minutes until the couple was called at 8:10 for document collection. 10 mins later it was my turn; thanks to VJ reviews, I had all my original documents and copies (having copies really helps) ready to hand over. During this time, the officer asked me questions to verify my information. I'm originally from India, moved to the US when I was 14, and I lived there for about 16 years before I moved to Canada. All that time I was on various visas like L2, F1, H1B, etc. so most of the questions were about my previous stay in the US. He asked me for my India police certificate and I explained I had not lived in India in the last 16 years, so I was never a resident there, and didn't have a police certificate for India. He wanted to photocopy my passport pages that had various US visas. I didn't have an F1 visa stamp as I never traveled outside the country when I was a student, so he asked to see my I-20s or petition. Then he asked about my current status in Canada. I replied that I was a permanent resident. He wanted to see my PR card and asked if I had a photocopy of it. I didn't, and he made a copy of that as well as my Canadian COPR (landing document).
Then it was back to the waiting room, and after about 10-15 mins, I was called for finger-printing. Again, back to the waiting room, and then I was called again, surprisingly before the VJ couple. The interviewer asked me to set down my documents, hang up my coat and swear to tell the truth. His first questions were about my husband, where and how we met. Then he asked me a bunch of questions about my previous stays in the US, specifically about my non-immigrant visas. He asked why I wanted to move to the US - I replied that my husband lives in NYC, and I want to be with him. He asked where we would live, what my husband does for a living, and what I do for a living. Then he got to the Affidavit of Support documents, and he said that we had insufficient funds. It didn't make sense as my husband is very thorough and I knew he put together the AoS package properly, so I asked the officer if he had seen our bank statement. He apparently had missed that document; and then he found it.
After that he told me that I was getting the visa and explained the procedure. And I was out of there by 9:20 am.
Good luck to everyone!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5782