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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on May 30, 2011: |
Ashley&John
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband and I arrived at the Consulate at 7am on May 24, we were the first people there. Two others arrived a while after and ust a bit after 7:30 a guard came and unlocked the door. They asked for my interview letter and let us inside.
All my papers were in a file folder and envelope, we brought no bags or electronics, plus we both wore fairly light clothes so security was a breeze. We were told to go downstairs and wait and a security officer would be down in about 20mins to escort us further. We went and sat near the elevator and at 8am a security officer came down and asked those there for immigration and NOT visa's to enter the elevator. This caused much confusion for most people who had gathered in the waiting area, but not me I was first on and went to the back left. This didn't help me much as only one other family got on behind us.
The security officer was very nice and the other family asked him a few questions on the way up.
A receptionist met us when the doors opened, asked to see the interview letter again and led us to a booth where they took my information and game me my number C1! We were then told to wait in the middle of the room. Shortly after another elevator came up with a large group of people who got their numbers and sat in different areas.
We waited for what felt like forever, but I think was about 45mins, then an announcement was made that there were technical difficulties with the computer systems and they were working on getting everything working and would be calling people up soon. At about 9:00 we were called to booth 10, they took my passport and asked if I had a DS-230, which I did thanks to VJer's advice. They said they were still working on the tech problem and sent me back to the waiting room. We waited watching Dora the Explorer and Diego on the tv for another half hour or so and were called to booth 12 where they took my medical envelope and asked a few questions, the woman was very hard to hear and not very friendly, she sent us back to the waiting room again and not 2 minutes after we sat down were called back again as she forgot to take my finger prints, she told us we would next be called to booth 7. Booth 7 is a little room, I was getting excited thinking our interview would be soon and went back to the waiting room. The room was very full by now, not many people being called up.
There were a few kids with waiting parents, one was very cute but very bad, playing with hand sanitizer, running all over and going behind the secretary's desk. Advice for parents going for interview's: PLEASE pay attention to your kids there, having to listen to kids going "mom, mom, mommy mom mom mom mom, look mom mom mom look mom mom mom..." is very annoying and watching them run around and try to get into elevators alone and knock over the hand sanitizer stands onto their heads is stressful for everyone in the room. That said there is a nice little play area for kids and most of the kids waiting were kept busy there. I guess this did give us some excitement to pass the time until we were waiting to be called up again.
At around 10:30 someone came out and said that they were still having technical problems and asked that anyone there for visa's and not immigration had the option of leaving and coming back another day, If they chose to wait they could be waiting all day and still not be able to be helped. They had them line up so they could give them a paper saying they could come back any day that week and also gave them their passports back.
At about 10:50 I was called back to booth 12 but this time there was different woman there, a very nice blond woman. She took my fingerprints again as the first were not very clear. She gave me back a couple original documents I had sent NVC. While she was typing a few things in she made a little small talk then asked us to raise our right hands and swear that all information I gave was correct. She double checked my husbands address in Ohio and asked if that was where I would be moving. She also asked how/where we met. She asked if I had signed up for dhl which I had. She then said "well that's easy. Open and shut case. The visa will be printed in your passport and should be available for pick up in 1-2 weeks. Good luck in Ohio" And that was it, we started walking back towards the waiting room, my husband said "that's it? we're done?" I said yes and we stopped and high fived and kissed. I stopped at the receptionist to ask about getting my passport sent directly to my house and she asked for my welcome letter, I said I didn't get one so she handed me a paper with dhl info on it and told me what to do. After that we went back down the elevator with other people leaving and went out to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day in Montreal!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7681