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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on August 18, 2010: |
Wishing
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We got in front of the consulate by 6:50AM. There were 5 people in front of us 1 couple and a family. Around 7:05 AM it started raining…light at first then POURING. We all gathered around the small alcove and luckily we had an umbrella. Regardless our pants and shoes were soaked. Security guards started letting people in right at 7:30AM…a few in line with backpacks were told to come back when they did not have them and that they had until 11 AM to come back. The security guard also said there were lockers at the Eaton Centre for people to leave stuff. We were given letter D and went through security. Then it was down the stairs through a door to the left of security down a short hallway to sit in front of the elevators. Waited around 10 minutes then they sent our group up. Seated on the 19th floor enjoying the view by 7:50AM. Waited until our letter was called to Window 10 around 8:20 AM. A nice man with brown-blond hair and glasses greeted us and asked us for documents…nothing out of ordinary there…although for the DS-160 he asked me a few times if I had filled it out more then once online, it seemed to take longer to pull up in his system or something. Then gave us a slip to go pay our fee and was instructed to go to window 14A (yup the basically just go to the short Cashier line). Paid the fee lady was nice, paid in cash. Went back to window 10 where we gave the slip back got a receipt of payment then stood in front of his window while he did some paperwork stuff, asked us a few questions. To note he only took the most recent years (2009) tax receipts, did not want the 2007/2008 ones. We were not asked for any evidence of domicile nor any evidence of continuing relationship. Once the DS-160 pulled up he verified the information on there…to note for the question where it asks you how long you intend to stay in the US I had put 90 days, as others had because that is the length of the K1. He verified this with me to which I said “I plan to stay indefinitely but for the form I thought it was the length of the visa” so he placed in the notes to the document that I corrected my response to indefinitely.
Then we were instructed to go sit back down and wait for our name to be called for the interview…he said we would be called to either Window 7 or 8. Waited approx 20 maybe 30 minutes and we were called to Window 7, or as I like to now call it Box 7. You open a door and there is a tiny room with a chair and the CO behind the plated glass. She greeted us, had short graying hair and glasses, very pleasant. She started up her computer asked us to be patient as she was trying to do this in the new system. She asked a colleague to come in and help her navigate the old/new system for our verification. The colleague also greeted us and soon I was asked for my thumbprint. Then the lady started to flip through our I-129F petition and asked us each a couple questions about our history. She asked my fiancé how he managed to attend high school in Canada…what type of work he did now. She asked us if we were ever married before, was pleasantly surprised we had known each other for 13 years and were now getting married. She flipped through a few of the photos in the I-129F petition and commented on how nice they were. As she questioned us she was typing a few things into the computer. At one point when she was typing the man came back in to give the CO some papers for another petition sitting on her desk and she did not hear him coming behind her so she jumped up in surprise and we all laughed. Before we knew it she was saying “well that’s it, let me get you a sheet of paperwork with a little information…you should receive the visa by the end of the week!”. We smiled ear to ear thanked her and left! We were out of the consulate by 10AM. Went to Eggspectations just down the street (at Hyatt Hotel) for some real breakfast food. Was a great experience and as others have said by sure to enjoy the view…you can see lots of downtown Montreal from up there, plus the thunderclouds that were present for us!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6496