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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on March 20, 2010: |
Pauley
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Very quick, very smooth interview process.
Having read previous review, my wife Yvonne and I figured we could safely arrive around 7 AM and not be too far back in line. We were about 5th in line, and met Blitz, the first one in line for the day while we waited. I didn't check my watch, but it was sometime a little after 7:30 that the security guard opened the front doors and started allowing people to line up for security.
After a quick security check (Guys, be prepared to take your belt off and have it sent through the x-ray -- hope your pants aren't -too- loose!), we got letter E and headed down the stairs to the elevator waiting area. We weren't there more than 5 minutes or so before the elevator opened up and accepted letters A-E for the first run up to the consulate on the 19th floor.
Something I hadn't picked up from previous reviews, and may help some folks distract themselves and relax a little: the waiting area on 19 has a lot of windows, and you get a really nice view of the skyline from the northwest clockwise to the southwest, including being able to see Olympic Stadium between some of the buildings to the northeast. Good place for photos, if only you were allowed to take your camera inside. :P
Mostly in order by letter, we were all called up to the windows in the back area, 9-12. Yvonne and I were asked for her medical results, and a few clarifying questions confirming where I worked, and a quick look through what we had filled out on the DS-230. Yvonne was then fingerprinted on the green scanner box, which took a couple tries to register correctly. More on that shortly.
We went back to the waiting area again, and after about 10-15 minutes we were called to interview room 7. Yvonne had to have her thumbprint scanned again to verify her identity, which didn't initially work; the consular officer said she'd need to redo Yvo's fingerprints at one of the other windows after the interview.
The CO then asked us when we met (May 2005), how we met (introduced by mutual friends), what I do for work (PC support tech), if I had updated financial information (I gave her my 2009 tax return), how often we'd visited each other (roughly every other weekend - her to the US before we got married, and I to Canada after). Then we got the magic words - she had enough information to approve the visa, and handed us the "Welcome to the United States of America!" letter. She then had us go back out to window 6 to redo Yvo's fingerprints again, which came seemed to come up the same way again and let her pass. We were back down on the street and on our way again shortly after 9 AM.
All-in-all, a really quick, smooth experience. It's nice to now have a mental picture to go with all the stories I'm reading in other reviews about the interview process. I hope everyone's interviews go as easily as ours did! 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5817