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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on October 9, 2010: |
shewolf
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My interview was very quick, smooth and easy  After a long time of waiting for the date... Montreal finally pulled through! I planned to arrive at the Consulate at 6am so I could be first in line. I stopped at Tim Hortons and grabbed a coffee and chocolate croissant on the way (I took the metro and got off on Station Square Victoria). I was the only one there. It seemed that there were people waiting in cars in an outdoor lot around the corner though. I was alone for about an hour and then at 7am a few people started to arrive.. behind me was a family of 4 of which the wife and her two small children were also there for a CR-1 interview. At 7:30am the guard came out and opened the door, asked everyone to take out their interview letter and passport. I showed him mine and he gave me a card with the letter "A." We went through the security screening and then I was sent downstairs. As soon as I got there another security guard came down and I asked if there was a washroom, he said there was one upstairs (on the 19th floor which is the interviewing floor), so he took me up right away. We got upstairs and I was the only one there.. went to the washroom, looked outside at the stunning view.. chatted with the security guard.. he was super friendly. I sat down in the huge waiting area and after about 10 minutes the family behind me arrived from the elevator.. we chatted and in about 15 minutes I was called to a window. The lady asked for all my original documents and photos, scanned my finger prints, took my xpresspost envelope, and asked me to sign the bottom section of my DS-230.
Then I sat down again in the waiting area and 10 minutes later was called to an interview booth. The man was very friendly. I had to raise my right hand and swear an oath that I will be telling the truth. Then he asked me the following qustions:
-What is the petitioner's name? (I gave my husband's name).
-How did you two meet? (Jdate).
-When was the first time you met in person? (First week of November 2009).
-Then we somehow talked about Jdate and that there are very few Jewish men in Vancouver and a lot of them are friends of mine.. so I had to search elsewhere.. talked about that my husband is Jewish and I have been practicing for the past 3 years and am converting and will be done at the end of this year..
-What made you want to convert to Judaism? (I told him how I learned about it and what drew me to it etc.)
-What does your husband do for work? (lawyer).
-What type of law does he practice? (Criminal Defence but now he is also incorporating civil into his practice).
-What firm does he work for? (His own, and I named it).
-Do you have any family in Vancouver? (I have a lot of friends there who are like family! But no my mom and stepfather live in Abu Dhabi although they own a house in Vancouver).
-Have you ever had any problems getting across the border? (I told him that one time just after we filed the i-130 I was denied entry and withdrew my application because I had not received my Notice of Action 1 yet and I had asked questions about immigration so they got suspicious of me. Then after that I went to the States many times and they just stamped my passport with the return date).
-When was the last time you were in the States? (Just got back from there Sept. 26th).
Then he asked to see some photos.. and I had brought a whole ****load of evidence! Greeting cards, events tickets, maps from hawaii that we used, synagogue high holy day tickets, air plane flight tickets... and so I have him my stack of 100 photographs all labeled with stickies (hehe), and he literally glanced at a few of them for like 3 seconds and then said the magic words: "welcome to the United States of America"!!!!! ))) I told him if there was no glass between us I would hug him hehe. Then he gave me a welcome/info letter and I asked if they could send my visa out that same day so I would get it on Tuesday (cause it's Friday today and Monday is thanksgiving).. because my brother in law is going to be in town that day and I would like to fly out Tuesday afternoon so I could make it for the dinner. He wrote a note on my file to send it out today and that was it! So I hope I get it on Tuesday morning
Overall, great experience.. very quick.. my appointment was for 9am and I left the building at 8:45am! When I came out of the interview and into the waiting room though, it was pretty packed, it REALLY pays to get there super early and be like the first of second person there. Also when I came out with my welcome letter I felt like I had received the "ticket to Hollywood" on American Idol hahaha. I was sooo happy
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6708