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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on May 4, 2011: |
Canadiana013
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Overall, I'd say my experience at the consulate was very good. I arrived in Montreal the day before the interview and took the 747 bus from the airport to downtown. The fare is $8 and your ticket is valid for 24 hours (you can use it in the metro too, or on other buses if you need to go somewhere else).
My fiancé and I walked to the consulate from our hotel. When we arrived around 7am, there was a family of 5 in front of us. By 7:30am, there were about 10 more people behind us. The family of 5 was standing right in front of the door, instead of to the left of the door. The guard didn't seem to like that very much and told them to move back before he opened the door. They also had a stroller and a large backpack, so the guard told them to bring their things back to their hotel and then come back. They seemed a little confused, so he made them move aside. So my fiance and I became the first people in line. I showed my passport and packet 4 letter, but he wanted to see my appointment confirmation page with the date and time on it. He let us in, and told us to wait at the inner doors. The next guard opened the next set of doors, tapped on a sign that said something like "verbal abuse will not be tolerated" and asked us to empty our pockets and take off our jackets. I took my key out of my pocket, because I read on VJ that they check out any keys you bring with you....and they did! I walked through the metal detector (like the ones in the airport), collected my things, and the guard told us to go down the stairs and wait for the elevator. We went down and sat right by the elevator. The room started to fill up quickly by the time the elevator came down at 8am. The guard in the elevator asked only people with x-rays to go into the elevator. We all showed him our x-rays and he let us in. The rest of the people had to wait until he came back. So he took us up. There was a lady who greeted us when we got to the 19th floor. She showed us where to line up for our tickets. So we lined up and the window opened in about 2 minutes. The lady at the window asked to see my appointment confirmation and my passport. I was first in line and got ticket C-1. We sat down in the immigration section of the room (in the middle) and waited for what seemed to me like an eternity, but I think it was only about 5 minutes. My ticket number came up and I went to window 12. A very friendly lady asked to see my appointment confirmation and passport, she looked up my file in the computer and went to retrieve the physical documents from our I-129, packet 3, etc. I thought it was funny to see things that I had signed such a long time ago. She asked me for my birth certificate and copy, my police certificate and the affidavit of support. I had already sent the copy of my passport and my passport pictures with packet 3, so she didn't ask for those. She put everything in order, and then took my fingerprints. She said we could go sit back down in the waiting room and wait to be called.
So we sat down again, and waited some more. They were playing Spongebob Sqaurepants on the the TV in the children's play area, which my fiancé thought was hilarious, but it only made me more nervous. About ten minutes later, my name was called to booth 7. We walked in together and it was "the blond lady" everyone on VJ has reviewed. She asked me how the volume on the intercom was, and I said it was great. She looked at our file and said "oh I love starting my day with fiancé visas!" Then she said, "oh and I think it's really cute that you fiancé is carrying your x-ray for you!". That made me laugh, even though I was still super nervous. She asked us to raise our right hand and swear that we could tell the truth and that everything in our documents was true. She asked us how we met, and where we were planning on moving and what my fiancé does for a living. She asked if either of us had a criminal record, if either us had been married before, and if we had children. We said no, and then she said we were approved. She asked me to sign a form saying that I would be marrying my fiancé and asked me to give another fingerprint. She gave me my original birth certificate back, my welcome letter and some information on k-1 visas, and that was it. I think we were literally in the interview for about 3 minutes. We took the elevator back down and went out the same way we came in. We walked over to Tim Hortons (one block away) and it was 8:45am.
Overall, it went very well. I suggest making sure you don't being any large purses or backpacks, strollers, etc, because they definitely won't let you in, no matter how early you are. I liked getting there early because we got out quickly and didn't have to wait a long time. The worst part for me was waiting for the elevator and then waiting again to be called for the interview, but that was only because I was very nervous. The interview was surprisingly easy. They didn't ask to see any of the proof of engagement or relationship at all (maybe because my fiancé was with me??). The people who work in the actual consulate upstairs were very friendly and helpful. The guards were somewhat less friendly, but I guess it's not their job to be nice to people. It was a good idea to be organized with all the documents they requested from the appointment letter (packet 4) checklist. I really thought the interview would be more of a big deal, but it was really simple. Just have everything ready to go and you should be ok!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7550