 Well your going to get more than just my interview experience
here, I am going to give you my entire Montreal trip experience. I
promise it will be an interesting one.My trip started out from Toronto airport; my 8:00 p.m. flight
had been rescheduled till 10:00 p.m. I however was lucky cause I got to
the airport in time for the 8:00 p.m. flight but I was able to get on
the 7:30 flight, though I had to sprint to the gate. The flight was
delayed due to weather in Montreal so the plane didn’t took off around
8:00 p.m. During taxiing to the gate after landing in Montreal, the
pilot came on and gave us the current weather conditions in Montreal.
It was about 25 degrees Celsius when we left Toronto, but when we
landed in Montreal he said it was 8 degrees. I was sure wishing that at
that point I hadn’t left my coat in my car back in Toronto. After I got
off the plane I caught a taxi downtown, the taxi ride was scarier than
the flight, I then check in to the hotel. The hotel I stayed at was
right across the street from the US consulate; I stayed at La Tour
Centre Ville. The room wasn’t too bad; the washroom was a little small,
though the room had a small kitchenette. I was able to get good nights
sleep for my interview at 8:30 a.m. the morning.I was up bright and early in the morning so I would be wide-
awake and all prepared for my interview. I got to the consulate around
8:00 a.m., I was given an orange number 10 and was passed through
security, and told to go down stairs. I was told that at 8:15 a.m. a
guy would come and take us up to the 19th floor. However it was the
same girl who passed me through security who sent us up to the 19th
floor. Once on the 19th floor the waiting really begins. There were
lots of people there, all sitting waiting for their numbers to be
called. No one talked. Finally they started to call numbers. When my
number was called I went to the window; I was given a slip of paper and
told to take it to the cashier to pay my visa fee. When I got the
cashier’s booth, there was a little sign that said, "Be Back in 5
Minutes". So I waited for the cashier to return, and paid my fee.
I returned to the first window I went to (don’t’ remember the
window number) the lady took my receipt for the visa fee and asked me
for my original documents and their copies. I gave her my passport,
birth certificate and its copy, the RCMP police certificate, photos,
and the affidavit of support. I asked her if she needed a copy of the
RCMP certificate and she said no. She then asked for the medical
report, I showed her the HUGE envelope that was sent by courier to me
from Dr Seidens office in Toronto. She didn’t want that, only wanted
the medical report, I asked her if I should open the envelop I had to
get the report out. She instead had me hand her the big envelope
through the little tiny hole under the glass. She opened it and snagged
what she needed and handed everything else back to me.After she put all those papers in order she asked for the OF-
156 and its supplement. I gave it to her and told her I had questions
in regards to item 31, she said that she would go over the entire form
with me. I had an attachment to item 30, item 30 asks about previous
visits to the US. She asked me when I was in the US last and how long I
was there for. She then crossed out "See Attachment" that I had in the
space provided, and wrote in the date that I was in the US last and how
long I was there for, she then handed back the attachment I had given
her.She then went over the rest of the form with me, and clearly
asked me about item 31. I got that all cleared up and then she stapled
my photos to the OF-156, stamped them with a stamp that asked something
like "Are you affiliated with a terrorist organization" it had a space
to check yes or no. I checked no and signed the forms as requested. I
noticed she did not have me sign the supplement to the OF-156. She said
for me to take a seat and that my name would be called shortly to go to
either interview booth B or C.I then began waiting some more, at this time I began talking
with a lady sitting next to me who was also there for a fiancé visa
interview. She was asking about Adjustment of Status procedures, I gave
her some information and also directed her to this wonderful newsgroup.
We also talked about where we were going and about our fiancé(e)s. At
this time a lot of other people in the room were talking amongst each
other as well.After waiting about another half-hour my name was called to go
to booth B, I entered and there was a blonde hared girl on the other
side of the glass. She asked how my fiancée and I met, when we first
met in person, what my fiancée did for a living, and what I do for a
living. She then held up an envelope, and asked what was in it. I said,
"I am not sure" she then removed the contents, it was the original
photographs we had submitted with the I-129F as proof of relationship.
She asked me where and what was in each photo, I am sure while reading
on the back what my fiancée had written about each one. She then put
the photos back in the envelope and handed them back to me to keep. I
though that was cool. She then had me sign the supplement to the OF-156
that the first lady didn't have me sign. She also asked why we decided
for me to move down to the US, instead of go through the same sort of
procedure in Canada. I wasn’t expecting this question, so I was thrown
for a bit of a loop LOL. I simply stated that we decided for me to move
to the US cause we loved each other and wanted to be together and that
my fiancée has an active free lance photography business.After the questions she told me wait and that the visa would be
ready in about half an hour and that I would be called to by name to
pick it up. She asked me no other questions, and gave me no other
information. I then left the booth.So the waiting began again. I waited more like an hour and a
half; lots of others by this time had already gotten their visas and
were on their way. I was starting to wonder what was taking mine so
long as people who had interviews behind me had already picked up their
visas. But in the end my name was called along with three others to go
to window 1 to get our visas. We went to the window and were asked to
gather around so she could explain the visas to us. The lady told us
not to open the brown envelope and to give it along without passports
to the immigration officials at the POE when we entered the US. She
also told us about applying for adjustment of status to permanent
resident after we married in the US. She said not to the leave the US
until we had our green card. The sealed brown envelope had some basic
instructions taped to the front of it.I was then on my way back to the hotel. After calling my
sweetie to give her the good news, I checked out of the hotel. I
decided that since my flight home wasn’t going to be leaving till 8:00
p.m. that I would go to Planet Hollywood for lunch. However it was
pouring rain and just my luck all the cabbies decided they were going
to hold a protest strike for whatever reason (There were cabs lined up
for miles down the street I was on). There was a lady at the hotel
checking out at the same time that had also gotten her fiancé visa; she
was headed to the airport to go home, though it was a little tough with
no cab to take. However she got lucky and they arranged for a shuttle
to pick her up. So she was on her way. Though I was waiting in the
hotel lobby for the rain to slow so I could make the fifteen-minute
walk to Planet Hollywood for lunch. So I went and had lunch and then
walked back to the hotel.At this time I decided that I should head to the airport, there
was a 6:00 p.m. flight that I may be able to take. So I called a cab
and began the journey to the airport. This was of course at rush hour,
and apparently according the cab driver, the highway system in Montreal
isn’t all that great. He said that he should be able to get me to the
airport by 5:00 p.m., we were leaving the hotel at around 4:15 p.m., It
should take about 20 minutes. We get through all the traffic and to the
airport by 5:05 p.m. I get my bags and proceed to check-in. I had an
8:00 p.m. flight, but was able to get on the 6:00 p.m. flight. I then
had to rush to the gate again. I paid the $10 tax that Dorval airport
has and went through security and proceeded to the gate. My flight
however was delayed returning home because of "weather in Toronto".
Finally I board the plane shortly after 7:00 p.m. and we are in the air
by 7:20 p.m. Of course while on our way to Toronto we are told by the
captain that there is increased air traffic over Toronto, and that we
will have to circle for a bit, we finally land around 9:40 p.m. Total
flight time was about 100 minutes for a 51 minute flight. I then get my
luggage and proceed to my car to go home.The whole experience was interesting. The interview part was
rather seamless, probably the easiest part of the trip. Everyone there
that I talked to seemed to get the same blonde hared girl doing the
interview. It looked as thought there was a lot of people there for K1
interviews. I would say a dozen or more. I didn’t see anyone that was
denied his or her visa. While waiting for my visa to be ready, I was
talking with a guy going through the same process. He had his
interview, and came out with the biographical information form, the OF-
230. He said that they told him that they lost it and to fill it out
again. He said that he had faxed it to them and called them to see if
they received it and they told him they had. He filled it out again and
took it to the window. He said his interview was done and he just had
to wait after handing in the OF-230. I hope he made out okay, I don’t
know as I had my visa in hand before they called him up to the window.Everything seemed as expected through out the interview, though
the way I actually pictured everything to look really wasn’t how it
looked at all. The place was a lot bigger than I thought it would be.Well it has been a pleasure sharing my Montreal experience with
the group, I know it is a long one. Looks like I pretty much wrote a
novel here. I do hope I have held up to my promise of an interesting
experience to share and do hope you are actually able to read this last
paragraph and am not asleep LOL.
Take care and good luck to everyone going through their visa applications, Jer(CAN, Soon to be USA) & Missy(USA) |
Our K1 Visa Time Line | Montreal K1 Interview Experience