A Crazy POE

Wow. My POE was nothing like what I was expecting.

Here's how it went:


Flight was to leave at 6:45pm on November 24th. We arrived at the airport at about 4:30pm. They say to give about 90 minutes for Canada to US flights.


The check in was horribly slow. It took about 40 minutes. There was only like 3 people doing check in, it was stupid. Then because I had my dog, a wedding dress, a huge 70lb bag and my laptop bag my parents decided to get a porter for me. This took about 10 minutes. Waste of time.


Finally I went to customs. Waited about 15 minutes in Primary customs. The guy I got seemed kinda nasty looking, but I bet they all do in this job. He wished me an early happy birthday and sent me to secondary. This is when it all went wrong.

In customs, there was about 6 other people. I was amazed there was so many people. One person was crying while calling her parents, I wonder what happened. Then this woman that had like 5 bags kept questioning the officer, I mean come on. Another guy already missed his flight due to some immense background checking he was going through. I waited, and waited and waited and FINALLY at 6:40pm I was called up. I told him that my flight was leaving in 5 minutes so he made it fast. He was really nice about it too. Had me fill out an I-94, but didn't take my Biometrics. So I got that done and rushed my butt through the xray part. I hope not getting Biometrics taken doesn't mess up something in the long run.

Got to my terminal and the plane is gone. I missed it.


I went to the only flight left out of American Airlines and had to rebook. I flew out of Toronto to JFK Airport on one of those 40 seater planes that night and had to say overnight at the Ramada @ JFK. The hotel wasnt very good either. Wireless wasnt working, no hot water, etc. It was just terrible. The only reason I went to this one is because they allowed pets. I even missed last call on room service, so I didn't get to eat. I had to burden my parents with paying for it too, I feel bad for them, I really do. I really seem to feel like I owe them alot of money. I mean, I know this was unforseen, but I should have been able to pay for it if I did everything right.

Finally at around 6:30am on November 25th I flew out of JFK to Los Angeles. That was a hell of a long flight. Was on a 767-200, never been on one of those, it was pretty cool. My dog cooperated, thank goodness and no damage done to my wedding dress. Thankfully the flight was early as well, my fiance had to work that morning at 11am.

I'm glad I'm finally home.

It's crazy what I had to go through, I wasn't expecting it what so ever.
 
 
Getting married 2 months from now, this date.
It's also my Birthday today, haha. 22nd Birthday.
Hopefully filing for Adjustment of Status by the beginning of February.

Port Of Entry Delayed

Well, I got my visa in the mail on Thursday, November 19th.

Needless today, it was too late.

I was supposed to leave for the US today, but the prices for tickets went way too high, 1300 dollars.

So, I will be leaving for the US on Tuesday, November 24th. It was the first day with cheaper airfare again. Thankfully, I had a ticket I could use, I just had to pay a difference of about 180 dollars. Better than paying all 332.

Here's hoping the entry to the US is smooth. Just need to figure out what to do with my wedding dress, since I'll be bringing it with me.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Waiting for Visa to be Received
  
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport - November 24th, 2009
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Approved!

We were approved at our interview on November 13th, 2009.

Here's the review I posted on the VJ Forums:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We left for the consulate at 6:30am. I forgot I still had my cellphone, so I had to get my fiance to run it back up to the hotel, since I had blisters on my feet from the night before.

Got to the consulate at about 6:40am (ish) and we were 2nd in line. After about 10 more minutes or so about 10+ other couples got in line.

At 7:35am the consulate doors opened.

The security guard came outside and asked for our P4 and passports. He then gave them back to us and directed us to security.

We were told to put everything in a box and put anything in our pockets into the wooden tray. Little did we know the remote alarm for our rental car counts as an electronic so we got a little ticket for us to claim it afterward.

After we got by security, we went in a door and down some stairs. At this point it was us and two other couples (darkchilde and JEmoonbear). There IS a photo booth just in case you forgot your pictures, just to let you know. We put together a few things they asked for and the security guard came down and got us. We went up to the 19th floor on the elevator and got told to sit down and wait.

We all chatted for a good 10 minutes. The room is quite spacious (until it fills up) and the view was very nice. A whole ton of people came out of the elevator after the 10 minutes. Some of us were given letters and some numbers.

I was called up first, even though I was letter B. The man was very nice, but still made me a bit nervous. He started out by asking us a few questions and asked for paperwork along the way. Some of it wasn't even on the letter given by the security guards, but it was things like a long form birth certificate + copy, a photocopy of your passport's bio page, letter of intent to marry etc. I had a border denial in the past so I was a bit nervous about explaining that.

Because I got the new P3, I did not have to bring anymore of the forms. I did anyway just in case, so I would advise to do so. It's good to have it for your own files anyway. He also took my envelope. The "Priority Next Day" envelope is fine, since it was the correct size.

Afterward he told us to go pay, which we did. The lady we got didn't even normally do the payments, but the person was sick or something. She didn't have change, so TRY to bring exact change. We then went and waited to be called again.

About 15 minutes or so later we were called back for me to take fingerprints. Very simple. We were then told to go sit down again.

This felt like eternity. I don't even remember how long we were waiting. We were called into room 7 which is a small room with a door. We were told to put our stuff on the chair and raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth.

The lady was VERY nice. She used to be from Southern California so she could relate. We even had common interests in cake decorating. She was very nice and told me my border denial would have nothing to do with her decision. I was then told I was approved after she asked a few more questions (how we met, when we met irl, etc), welcomed me to the US, signed the one form and gave us a paper about what to do afterward. She said my visa should be received by me within 2 weeks, but I'm sure it'll take less than that.

When we came out we shook hands with I think 8 people, all from VJ. It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience but it was all good.

Took about 2 hours. Get there by 6:45 if you don't want to be too far back in line. Everyone was nice and I received no negative vibes from anyone.

Thank you staff at Montreal!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good experience over all.

Not a whole lot to say about it other than what's above.

Hoping to get the visa for the 20th so I can leave with my fiance.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Waiting for Visa to be Received
  
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Interview

On the way to the interview soon.

It'll take about 8 hours to get to Montreal, then we're meeting up with others from Visa Journey to go out for dinner.

I think it'll be a nice night.

Will post probably Friday night or Saturday about the interview.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Medical

So on November 2nd I went for my medical.

It's just a standard medical, though the xray was new to me.

I did a review for it for the Visa Journey forums, it's for the Toronto Office:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dad and I arrived at 6:20am. There was only one car parked on the street. Thinking that parking would cost about 4 bucks an hour on the street, he found a parking lot nearby. It was 9 dollars a day.

If you drive, I suggest getting there early and parking on the street if you're not too worried about your car. Street parking is 2 bucks an hour in front of the buliding. My dad's just paranoid that his new FJ Cruiser would get dents.

There was 2 people already there when I got in line. At about 6:35am they opened the doors. The woman took our P4s and told us to go to the waiting room. I was called around 6:55am. She filled out paperwork using the P4 and the passport. She then asked me to pay and give the 3 photos. You fill out something extra if you need it couriered.

After, she told me to wait in the hallway and about 1 minute later the xray lady came. And boy is this lady a b**ch. DO NOT question her. She will just jerk you around even more if you do. Put your stuff on the chair, she yelled at me for almost putting it on the desk. You undress your upper half and put the seam of the gown at the back, she yelled at me for that too. Take off any necklaces you have, she made me take off both. ALSO have your hair really really high up on your head, it must be above the sholders. Apparently it wasnt good enough for her, so she tugged my hair up even higher. I went to go adjust it for her and she grabbed my arms and shoved them back down. Sheesh, havnt had your morning coffee yet? Without even warning me, she shoved me against the metal plate and told me to breathe in. You then get dressed again and she'll shove the paperwork back into your hands and tells you to go back to the hall. (I think, I was too angry at her to remember this part )

About 5 minutes later I was taken to an office. I waited 5 minutes for a man to come in and take my blood pressure, my height and weight. He asked if I was nervous and I just told him I was breathing kinda funny cause I had a stomach ache. He wrote a note to get my blood pressure re-checked but the other doctor never did it. He then took my pulse and left.

About 30 minutes later, someone comes in and tells me to undress and put the blue cloth robe back on. I did that and the doctor and his nurse showed up about 5 minutes later.

He then asked me if I had any health problems, if I've been in the hospital recently, if I've had any surgeries, medications, etc.

I told him about my asthma I had when I was a kid and he just asked more about that. I also told him high blood pressure ran in my family and that according to numbers I've had before that I do actually have high blood pressure. He asked why I haven't been on medication for it, and I just shrugged and told him that last time my doctor took it she said it was fine.

He then asks about 30 other short things, all of which I said no to. Pretty simple.

Then the nurse takes over while the doctor transcribes the vaccinations. He did a full physical minus the internal part. Felt around my glands in my throat, checked my eyes, ears, stomach, lungs, heart, etc. I told them that I had a heart murmur when I was younger, and he tried and tried to listen for it but didnt hear anything, so it must have gone away.

Afterward, a female nurse came in and did the breast exam.

Surprisingly, no one looked down at my female genitals. They must have seen I had no bump down there from the paper haha.

Afterward, I went and had to wait about 10 minutes for blood to get drawn. That was simple and painless. Well, it hurts a bit right now, but that's okay. I've been poked with too many needles in the past month. My poor arm.

Then after that you hand in the little white slip with the tests signed for to the receptionist, then she goes to explain when you can pick up your packet.

My dad showed up with perfect timing.

All and all it took 2 hours.

I told my dad about it and he said I shouldn't have mentioned my murmur or asthma, but really, there's no point to hiding stuff. There really isn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that's it.

My fiance's done his side of the paperwork and is bringing it to me on Monday.

As of Monday I'm on vacation and once I get approved at the interview I am quitting my job.

And I have more money than I thought I did. I thought I still had to pay November rent, but I actually already paid it. That's a nice thing.

As an FYI, if you're looking for cheap hotels and don't really care for an exact hotel company, try www.hotwire.com . I booked through them and got a 3.5 star hotel for $69 dollars a night. Their actual rate is about $149 a night. Pretty close to the consulate too!

So. Interview on the 13th. Here's hoping the visa gets mailed on Monday.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step