The Interview

As most of you already know, the interview I had to get my immigration visa was successful. Let me tell you what a gong show that whole experience was though...

So I had an appointment letter saying my interview was scheduled for 8:00am. My initial plan was to take a cab to the Consulate because I didn't wanna have to worry about getting lost in downtown Montreal all by my lonesome. Mom and I tried to find the Consulate before the day came just so that I knew what building to look for, and it ended up being a really good thing we did. Posted on the door is a sign that says you can't bring in large bags, large strollers, liquids, electronics of any kind, and all sorts of ridiculous things like that. Had we not found the building beforehand, I woulda shown up with my giant stroller and diaperbag. Since I couldn't bring the stroller, that meant I couldn't bring the carseat, so I had to come up with an alternative.

Throughout the week mom and I had taken the bus a few times downtown because we learned the hard way that the Metro was just not gonna work for us with all the stairs and crap. Because we'd taken the bus a few times, I felt comfortable enough to take it on my own the morning of the interview. That meant I was gonna have to take Warren in the sling I brought. Good thing I brought that too. I would have been screwed if I didn't have it.

I woke up at 5:00am (eastern time, so technically it was 3:00am mountain time.. ugh) to give me enough time to get ready, feed Warren before we left, and catch the bus. Things went surprisingly flawless so I was quite pleased. I got on and off the bus without incident, and got to the Consulate at 7:25 that morning. As I got to the building, there were people lined up outside the door, because apparently the doors weren't open yet. There were about 15 people in front of me, and people consistently kept coming and I'm pretty sure the line doubled by the time people were starting to get let in.

I had to go through the equivalent of airport security to get in the building though. Empty pockets, take off my hoodie, take Warren out of the sling, put my purse through an x-ray machine, and walk through a metal detector. I was directed down some stairs to a waiting room, which just kept on getting more and more full. Eventually the security guard told people to pile in the elevator and go up to the 19th floor. When the elevator doors opened, all people's manners went out the window, and were just concerned with themselves getting on the elevator before everyone else. Nobody seemed to care that I was carrying a tiny baby in my arms, so I kept getting pushed back behind people and went up with the second batch of people.

When we got off the elevator, we had to go check in with this lady, and she started giving us numbers. It was at this point I realized that the 8:00 interview time was a complete lie. Everyone there had a letter saying they had an interview at 8:00. I knew it sounded too organized to be for real... So people kept pushing past one another to get the lowest numbers.. It was chaos. I was not pleased.

My plan, since I was there, was to report Warren's birth. Since he's a US citizen born outside of the US, I had to report his birth at the Consulate so that they'll issue a certificate that proves his US citizenship and allows me to take him across the border with me. The lady asked me where my husband was, and I told her that he was in Colorado, and she just stared at me then informed me that she can't do anything without him there. I told her that I was not aware of that, and as far as I understood, that as long as I had a notarized letter of authorization from my husband (which I did have), it was just as good. She again stared at me, then told me that it says on the website that my husband needed to be there. I read that website a thousand times and nowhere did I read that he needed to be there. It just said that parent(s) need to be present with the child when reporting a birth. So she went to talk to her supervisor. When she came back, she asked me for my marriage certificate, which I didn't have because the interview people had it. Then she told me that my husband needed to be there for my interview too (which I knew he didn't need to be) and then she asked me "Did you even LOOK at the website??" Oh man... My blood started boiling... I hate getting treated like an idiot... She went and got her supervisor though, and she was a lot more reasonable. The supervisor explained to me that in order for me to report Warren's birth without Ray present, I needed to bring proof that Ray has lived in the States for at least 5 years so I needed a school record or pay stub, or something along those lines. I had brought something that proved he was living there right now, because I had read that on the website, but apparently I misunderstood what it meant. The supervisor was a lot less condescending though, so when she explained to me that unfortunately they can't process the report of birth without those documents, I was mildy irritated and less infuriated. She said that as soon as I had those documents that I could make an appointment at the Consulate in Calgary and get it taken care of there. It's still inconvenient, but it's manageable to go to Calgary.

I went to go sit back down, and no sooner after I did that, my number for the interview came up. So I went to the place they told me to go, where they took my fingerprints and looked through all the paperwork they had from us. It was nothing like I pictured it would be. I wasn't sitting across from someone at a desk, I was standing on the other side of a glass panel with a dude on the other side in front of his computer. The guy doing the interview was really nice though. I'm pretty sure he was gay too. haha. That made it even more enjoyable. He was all smiley and said "Sooooo... Tell me about yourself! You married an American. You obviously just had an adorable little baby. How did all of this come about???" haha!!! So I told him "our story" and he just smiled and asked me a couple more questions about where I worked before and where I would be living in the States. Turns out he graduated High School in Colorado Springs too. Small world eh? But because of everything I had just gone through with Warren's paperwork, my mind was totally somewhere else and I didn't even think to ask him what school it was he graduated from. Then he just said, "Well. I've approved your visa! Welcome to the United States!" I was kind of taken off guard because there was no warning. He just said it out of the blue! And again, since I was still processing all the stuff to do with Warren, I didn't give him the reaction I think he was expecting. I just said "Oh. Thanks." hahahahaha... He looked at me a little confused, but he continued on and explained to me that he was gonna keep my passport so they could stick the visa sticker inside of it and courier it back to me.

That was it! All done. Just like that. All this waiting and having to make the special trip to Montreal just for that. Yeesh.. They really need to get more than one Consulate capable of doing immigrant visa interviews. At least it was over though, and I didn't have to go back to that Consulate for Warren's stuff. So I got my marriage certificate back, and I was free to go.

By that time, I had been at the Consulate for three hours. I was in the first batch of people to get there in the morning though which ended up being a better thing than I woulda thought. By the time my interview was done, there were prolly around 200 people left waiting for their numbers to come up. I had number 11. Whew.

I brought a bottle to feed Warren, so I did that before I left and I also changed his diaper. That diaper change was pretty eventful and hilarious though. The change table was in the handicap stall, so I got him all situated and when I was in between taking the old diaper off and putting the new one on, he began to pee. My first reaction was to grab his leg and point him away from me, which meant he was pointing to the wall. He had a pretty impressive range too! He cleared everything and just hit the wall. HAHA!!! I didn't have anything to clean up other than the few drips he got on his leg. He just peed on the wall. Oh man. I was laughing pretty hard, and I was actually kinda proud of him. Hahahaha...

So that was my interview adventure. I talked to Ray as soon as I could after I got back to the place we were staying at and told him what I needed from him in order to report Warren's birth. We flew back to Edmonton the next day, and I got the papers I needed from Ray the day after that. So I've got the appointment scheduled in Calgary for Halloween morning. Here's hoping that everything goes well this time! I already got my passport back, so I have all the documents I need to cross the border, I just need this certificate for Warren to cross the border now. They print the certificates in the US, so it'll have to be mailed to me. So I've prolly got about three weeks left in Canada. That's both exciting and terrifying. haha.

Here's hoping all goes well in Calgary!! It's the last step!!!