Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
January 14, 2014 |
| Embassy Review : |
I just (successfully!) completed my interview at the Montreal embassy and thought I would share about my experience... it was SO helpful to have Saylin and everyone else's notes and maps and details beforehand!!
First thing -- my interview appointment said 10:00 am, and I was a little worried that they wouldn't let me in at 8:00 (when the doors open) but we decided it was worth the risk of being turned away to try. We showed up at 7:40 and were about 5th in line; by 7:45 there were literally 20 people behind us, so our timing was good!
The next 20 minutes were maybe the hardest of the whole day: it was SO cold outside (-17C)!!! At 8:00 they started very slowly letting people in, two at a time in to the lobby.
The security guard outside checked my interview letter and passport; then there was a lady in the lobby who wanted to see my Loomis confirmation. Somebody behind me didn't have their Loomis confirmation and it was causing a big fuss, so I was happy I'd read to have it ready!! Then I went through the security (metal detector) where they yelled at a lady for having things in her pocket ("I said empty your pockets!!") but otherwise was straight-forward.
On to the elevator waiting room -- I didn't realize at this point that I was in the first batch of people (I thought maybe some people had already gone up), but I got super lucky and was in the very first elevator group of the day. All of bunched in (trying to get close to the back door :P), and up to floor 19 we went.
On this floor, the first woman we ran in to wanted to see passports again. Then she told us where to go. Non-immigrant visas are on the same floor (like students and temporary workers) so some people went to different line ups. Us immigrant-visas folks got in to line, and I was super lucky to get "A4" (ie fourth person of the day).
Then you get directed to sit and wait for your number to be called. In a way I was happy to be A4 and not A1, cuz it meant I could chat with A1 and A2 before being called up myself!
I was called within about 15 minutes, and this woman was very straight-forward: hand over the medical results (it was so weird to watch her rip open the "DO NOT OPEN" package haha!), hand over passport pictures, confirm my address, confirm my husband's address, etc, etc. The hardest part of this was doing the electronic fingerprints -- for some reason the machine didn't like my fingers, and the lady was getting impatient... I think it was my sweaty palms causing troubles!! Anyways, I finally got the fingerprint thing done, and was sent back to wait in those dang hard chairs again.
After about 45 minutes, they called "A1" for her second part of the process ("the interview" part). She was gone for about 20 minutes (came back smiling!), then they called "A2". 25 minutes later, "A3", then "A9". What?!?!
I was really confused at this point, but not too worried -- they continued calling kind of random numbers, and I entertained myself with children's books (there's a play area in the middle of the waiting room for all the babies that are coming and going -- I think this is where you can get your baby's first US passport). Finally after another hour of waiting (2.5 hours total at this point) they called "A4" and it was my turn.
This part felt easy in comparison to everything else; the guy was very nice, professional, and detailed. He asked a LOT of questions, but it was in a conversational style so I felt more comfortable. I read the oath thing (that says you're telling the truth), and then we started...
I can't remember everything he asked, but here's a general list: where did you meet, when was that, why was he going to school in Canada, what does he do for work in the USA, can he support you on that (no - we have a joint sponsor), what does the joint sponsor do for work (I couldn't remember his exact job title -- eek -- but it was fine), where did we get married, did we have a big wedding, how much did our wedding cost, did we do cake tasting (??? funny but kind of conversational maybe??), who planned our wedding, "so you're a legitimate marriage then, eh?" he said with a laugh, did my husband own a house, where would we live in the US, had I ever been arrested, had I ever been in the US illegally, had I really never stayed more than 6 months in a calendar year, then a weird one: "now that you've had a chance to think about it some more, have you ever been arrested?" ("Really! No! I haven't!"), flipping through my file he saw a few wedding photos and said "oh your wedding looks nice" (thank you!) then (finally) the blessed words: "I am approving your visa".
At this point another guy came up and gave him a sticky note with numbers on it, with some of them crossed off, and he said "oh thanks, I REALLY needed this"... I realized it was a list of who he had called and who he hadn't called yet, which explains the weirdness of A1-A2-A3-A9-etc...
Then he got back to approving my visa haha  He gave me a moment of hope when he said "let me see if I can just issue your visa right now.... ... oh, nope, I can't". Darn, darn, darn. But he wrote "approved" on the front, gave me a photocopied letter with some very general information on what happens next, and sent me away!
I was SO happy to have that behind us -- we had a crazy long process (married Nov. 10, 2012, NOA1 was Nov 30, 2012 -- so we were 400 days from NOA1 to interview, including 3 checklists for things we had already sent but they "could not find") and FINALLY it was almost over!
The last piece -- and a piece I was worried about, since there are a few scary stories on visajourney about people's passports being kept a long time -- was how long it would take for my passport to come back. Because my husband lives in Maine, we decided to wait in Montreal and then do the POE when we drove back. We knew it was a bit of a gamble to wait in Montreal for my passport, but hoped it wouldn't take too long!
The interview guy said I could expect my passport "within 2 weeks". My interview was on January 7th, and I received my passport back today, January 14th, so it took us 5 business days to get the passport back.
Last night (at 9:30 pm?!?) Loomis emailed to say they had the passport but it was "not ready for pickup". Strangely, the CSC email had no updates on it. Then this morning I checked and Loomis said "ready for pickup" and CSC had the Waybill number, "ready for pickup" etc. So we picked it up!
Just a note about Loomis in Lachine, QC (the location I picked) -- it doesn't really say "Loomis" outside anywhere visible, just on a few small signs. The main building is labelled "Canpar" in huge letters, so look for that. The Loomis guy was very nice, just wanted my driver's license and waybill number, and gave me the lecture about "DO NOT OPEN" the sealed package again. So many secret packages! haha
Anyways, this is a VERY long review now, but I hope maybe it will help someone out there. I am SO happy to be at this point in this journey, and so thankful that visajourney.com was there to help answer questions along the way!
We're driving back to Maine tomorrow, so will make my POE in the morning. I paid the $165 USCIS fee today (on their kind of complicated website), so I think everything is ready to go. If there's anything noteworthy about it I'll be sure to update here! Fingers crossed it will be all straight-forward and we can just go on with normal living now
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| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0