Olivia

I'm recycling what I just posted to the canamcouples group on Yahoo,
just to make life easier on myself... So here's our interview
experience in Montreal, hope it's useful to some people out there!

***

Hi! Would have updated yesterday but we were out CELEBRATING all day
and night with our friends!

The whole process was a piece of cake. Having read Spa Chick's post
about her interview was very very helpful, we totally knew what to
expect.

The interview was scheduled for 10 am, September 2nd. We got to the
consulate at about 9:05 (after seeing Ian Laperriere from the LA Kings
on the way, that can't help but be a good sign!) and joined the line
of about 10 people on the sidewalk and in the doorway. The guy ahead
of us was with his brother-in-law, who wasn't let in, and we were
worried for a second that the very uptight frizzy haired security
guard would not let Jim in either. She came over to me and I handed
her my appointment letter, she barked at me to give her a passport and
asked who my petitioner was. I said "My fiance, will he be let in?"
Luckily she said yes and then gave me back my papers. I knew immediate
relatives and usually fiance's were allowed in, but I was feeling
paranoid and her mood certainly didn't help.

As a side note, she was really the only unpleasant person we ran into
all day at the consulate. Perhaps she was just in a nasty mood
yesterday, and I'd say she definitely had good reason to be with the
incredible amount of stupid and disorganized people that show up at
the consulate door with no appointment letters or ID and then DEMAND
to be let in anyway...

So we waited about 10-15 minutes to go through security as they only
let you through the door one person (or two if two people are
together, like us) at a time, and everyone has to be totally cleared
before they let the next person in. We had both emptied our bags
before leaving, so all we had was documents, pens, and the minimal
contents of my purse (wallet, pocket watch, compact mirror,
sunglasses, lipstick, and a couple of band-aids). We breezed through
security and were directed down the stairs to the elevator. Go to the
19th floor, window 25 and give your letter to the cashier.

When we got upstairs the place was just packed with people, including
a couple of loud kids and a few very nervous looking people. We were
among the few well-dressed people there, and even felt slightly
overdressed for the occasion - though certainly glad we were so
presentable. Apparently everyone but us thought it was perfectly fine
to show up in sweatpants or dirty jeans for important interviews...
Anyway, we made our way right to window 25, I gave the cashier my
appointment letter and passport, she punched me into the computer and
gave back the passport with two tickets marked C23. She said to sit in
the immigrant visa section and wait for our number to be called. (A,
to the left, is non-imm., B is immigrant and in the middle, and C is
the US citizen section). We sat down in the only empty row of chairs,
and started staring at the screen with numbers and the clock,
conveniently placed just below it on the wall. It was 9:40, and they
were at C5.

As Spa Chick said, it's slightly disconcerting that the C numbers in
keep going up and down. They got all the way up to C 12 or 13 and then
started calling C 5 and up again. Also, when a new number is called
there's the most annoying ring I've ever heard - sounds like something
out of a terrifying horror movie when you hear it for long enough. We
quietly waited (Jim was nodding off at this point) until our number
was called at 10:40, and rushed right to window 2.

THIS is the point where I saw the benefits of having everything
perfectly organized and classified. The lady at the window asked for
my ticket, my passport, a copy of my birth certificate (I had two
originals, she took one and said they'd make a copy), the DS forms, my
police certificate, the envelope from my medical, and the affidavit of
support. She of course didn't wait for my to pull out a single form
before asking for two or three others, I was fast but not fast enough
and had to ask her to repeat what she said once or twice. She made me
sign the DS forms in front of her, and when she had everything she
asked for the statement of intent to marry letter from Jim, who was
standing right next to me. OOPS! I knew I had forgotten something, but
luckily I had a pen and paper and she was fine with him scribbling a
note right then and there. The whole thing took no more than 3
minutes. She gave me a slip of paper and said to take it to window 25
to pay the 100$ fee, come back to window two and slip the receipt
under the glass and go back to the waiting area. Then she made me
repeat what she'd just said to make sure I had understood (what am I,
five years old? Hahaha) that I was not to stay at window 2 and wait
for her to take the slip, just leave it and go.

We did that, slid the payment receipt under her window, and went back
to wait. It was about 10:55 by now, and we sat back down in section B
and started waiting. At one point a cashier must have leaned on her
button or something because number B4, window 8 just kept beeping for
three minutes straight, driving everyone nuts in the waiting area. The
people being called had been at window 8 for a good while before their
number finally stopped beeping. We were slowly getting hungry and
irritable (make sure you have a GOOD breakfast before going because
there's no food or drink allowed and nothing there but a broken pop
machine and a water fountain). Luckily by 11:45 we made friends with
two other K-1s as the waiting area slowly died down. The consulate is
only open until 12:30, and we all wondered what would happen if our
numbers hadn't been called by then. Various large families kept going
into interview rooms and being ushered into different ones, and they
wouldn't call a new C number for 10 minutes at a time. The people we
were speaking with had C 21 and C 22 tickets, and we were 23.

The poor C 21 couple had filed with CSC (like us) in September and the
CSC has misplaced their file, so they waited almost a year for their
interview. They had planned a wedding in May thinking that that would
leave them plenty of time, and they had to cancel it all at the last
minute. That made us feel not so bad about our 5 month wait...

C 21 was called to interview room 13 at 12:20, their interview took
about 5 minutes and they came out with big smiles. They said the
consular officer was wonderful and even though they didn't have a
police certificate, they would get their visa as long as they brought
one to the consulate by the next morning. C 22 was next, he got his
orange "come back at 3 to get your visa" card as well, and they they
called C 17 at 12:30. We told ourselves there was no way they would
close the place down without us getting our interview, so we paced and
admired the beautiful view outside, and C 17 came out after 5-10
minutes with orange card in hand.

We didn't get called until 12:45, the whole place was dead except for
two other people still waiting in different sections. We got room 12,
and a nice conoff by the name of Mary or Margaret, I forget which. She
made me raise my right hand and swear that I would tell the truth to
any answer she asked, and while she flipped through papers she asked
me:

-how and when we met (2 years ago while Jim was touring with his band)
-what kind of music did he play (she let him answer that one)
-when we got engaged (a tough one since it technically happened 3
times!)
-did either of us have previous marriages or children (no)
-what was my occupation (I was a student all of a last year and a
nanny this summer, but presently "none" as I was just preparing to
leave the country)
-what did I study at university (languages - english lit, french,
italian and spanish) -- she seemed happy to hear I was fluent in three
languages and said I would have no trouble getting a job in the US as
a nanny or whatever.
-did I intend to return to school (yes, in a year or two when all of
my papers are in order)

Then she looked at Jim's affidavit of support and asked for last
year's tax return (we had brought three years as he is technically
self-employed). She told him his income was a little low for two
people (note she looked at the adjusted gross income and not the net
one, which was double the adjusted as Jim suffered large losses from
the band he used to be in). He pointed that out to her and said that
he had quit the band in September so that he could tattoo full-time,
which now makes his income at least 30K a year. She didn't ask for any
further proof (we had bank statements and lists of assets totaling
over 11k) frowned a bit, and I jumped in to say that I had brought
evidence of self-support for this very reason.

She asked if I had a bank statement. No, but I just officially sold my
condo the day before the interview. I had the deed, the evaluation,
the purchase offer from the buyer for 125K, and copies of everything.
I told her there was no mortgage and that money would all be coming to
me in the nxt few days. She took the copies and said that that was
fine, stamped a couple of forms she had, and very nonchalantly said
"your visa is approved, come back here at 3 with the orange card in
hand and you can skip the line outside and come pick it up". At this
point my lungs started working again after holding my breath for 5
long minutes of stress. I squeezed Jim's arm as she handed me the
slip, thanked her very much, and she wished us the best of luck in
California and with the wedding.

We breezed out of there with the biggest smiles on our faces, did a
happy dance in the elevator and walked over to a great restaurant a
few blocks away to have a celebratory lunch. Everything on our walk
over seemed a million times more beautiful than it had a few hours
previously. We stuffed ourselves and went back to the empty consulate
at 3, through security again with a novice security guard that was
being coached by his superiors. It took 10 minutes but oh well, went
back to the 19th floor, window 2, a man came by after a minute and
handed me the mysterious sealed brown envelope, my passport with visa
in it, and he explained that I have until March to cross the border
and 90 days after I do so to get married and file for AOS. "Don't
worry I said, we're stopping in Vegas on the way home!" He laughed,
and when I asked what was in the envelope I couldn't open said it was
just biographical information for the immigration officers at the
border. He was very nice and happy, a good end to a long day.

We have our visa, we are leaving Montreal on the 10th (Jim had a
return flight for today and we're elated at not having to use the
ticket!). Driving home in a small moving truck with my things and my
dog, and yes, probably getting married in Vegas on the way because we
just can't wait anymore! There will be a big wedding in March of next
year.

Thanks to everyone in these newsgroups for contributing in a million
ways to our experience, without this large support network I don't
know if we ever could have gotten through this so easily.

Birds are singing sweet lovesongs and the world is indeed a beautiful
place every day from this day forward!

Olivia (Montreal)

And Jim (Los Angeles)

-Sent I-129F March 12th
-NOA 1 March 14th
-NOA 2 July 7th, received August 8th or so because Jim moved, they
screwed up the change of address and it had to be remailed
-Packet 3 received July 31st (only because I was out of town for 2
weeks and we never got an online notice), dated July 17th
-Checklist mailed out August 4th
-Medical Aug. 6th
-Interview scheduled Aug. 18th
-Interview September 2nd
-Border crossing September 10-11th

soulsender

gives me hope...round about the time you'll be crossing for good I'll be going to canada just for a visit to my fiance.