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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on October 27, 2011: |
CanadianWife11
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
Hello fellow VJers!
I had my interview Monday October 24th. I arrived at the Consulate at around 6:30am and there were three other people in line ahead of me. By 7:30am there was quite a long line up of possibly 20 people or longer.
As others have mentioned the security guards promptly unlocked the front doors at 7:30am. One by one they allowed us to enter going through the security scan similar to what you would do at an airport. Make sure that you don’t bring any large bags, electronics or bottles of water. Many people were told to leave the line up and return without their large bags or briefcases. The security check was easy for me as I only had my files in a cloth bag and my winter jacket.
After getting through the security I was told to go downstairs into the basement waiting area. There were several chairs, a photo booth for passport sized photos and a roped off elevator. I sat as close as I could to the elevator. After 15 minutes or so one of the security guards came downstairs and announced that all immigrant visa applicants should get on the elevator. Since there were so many of us he said that he would have to take us up in different groups. I was in the first group to go up to the 19th floor. Before allowing us into the elevator he explained that we were to go to Gate 14B when we got to the 19th floor.
Once the doors open, walk left to booth 14B. I noticed that several people in the following elevator groups would get off the elevator and lose their place in line as they would turn right and sit down in front of the screen that displayed the numbers. At booth 14B we were given our numbers. I was given C4.
After getting my number I sat down in front of the big screen and patiently waited. The first gentleman was called to go to booth 10. The display showed his number which was C1 and the booth: “C1 – 10”. After about 40 minutes my number was called and I went to booth 10.
I was asked for my passport and my fingerprints. I had already sent in all of my original documents so there was nothing else that they required. After less than a minute at booth 10 I was told to sit back down. After another 15 minutes I was called up to booth 11 and a very friendly lady verified my Canadian and American mailing addresses as well as my email address. She asked me to sit back down and told me that I would soon be called up to booths 7 or 8 for my interview.
I waited for another 40 minutes to be called up to booth 8 for my interview. The lady with the dreadlocks that others have written about interviewed me. She was extremely kind and friendly. As soon as I saw her I was relieved. As soon as I got to the counter she handed me a piece of paper to read which was the declaration that I was telling the truth etc. Then she carefully went through my DS260 and asked for my Japanese police certificate since I worked in Japan for 2 years. I handed it to her and she opened it and added it to my file. She asked how I met my husband, what he does, what I do and then asked when I am due (I’m 8 months pregnant). She congratulated us and then handed me the “Welcome to the US” paper and said I was approved. I left the Consulate by 10am.
As many people have written already, I recommend getting to the Consulate as early as possible. It really made a difference in terms of the wait time on the 19th floor. By the time I left, there seemed to be at least 100 people in the waiting area. I can’t imagine how many hours they would have to wait for their interview.
Thanks again to all of you who took the time to write your reviews. You helped all of us on this long journey to being reunited with the ones we love.
I received an email notification October 25th letting me know my DHL Waybill number. This morning, October 26th I drove to DHL (Markham location) and picked up my passport with visa!! Processing time took 2 days in total to get to Toronto. Good luck to all of you!! javascript:emoticon(' ')
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8598