First of all, make a hotel reservation as soon as you find out when you're appointment is. Especially if you want to stay in a hotel near by the Consulate. We stayed at a Travelodge in Dorval that was just outside of the city. It was cheaper than the ones downtown, and it's probably more easy to find since you'll most likely have to drive right by it on your way to the Consulate.
Click here for information about the Travelodge we stayed at.
Getting to the Consulate:
I have to admit, we got lost on our way to the Consulate. We were doing fine but some how we got off of 720 and ended up on Rue Notre Dame WAY far away from the consulate. Maps suck! Luckily, we got pulled over when James did an illegal U-turn and squealed his tires, but she said it was our lucky day and let him go without a ticket. But before she left we asked her for directions. So, unfortunately I can't really tell you how to get to the Consulate the correct way. You'll just have to buy a good map of Montreal (one that shows the one-way streets) and hope for the best.
I can tell you that the door for the Consulate is on Rue St. Alexandre and that it's a one way street. The Consulate is a tall dark gray-stone building on the corner of St. Alexandre and Rene Levesque. On the left side of St. Alexandre right before the Consulate building, there is an old stone building with a small parking lot in front of it. There are signs that say it's reserved for something (don't know what cause we can't read french. Hey.. maybe it's reserved for us! Doubt it, but I don't know) We just pulled in and parked on the left side by the trees and we didn't get in trouble or get a ticket. Free parking! YAY! There will most likely be a line in front of the door unless you get there very early in the morning.
Click here for a map of the Consulate.
At the Consulate: Click here for a picture of the Consulate.
(This process may change and your experience my differ from ours)
I suggest getting to the Consulate an hour before your appointment. If you come too early, they might turn you away, if this happens, just go to the back of the line cause it will take you awhile to get back in. The sign said that the consulate was only open from 8am to 11am and I think what that means is that they only let people through the doors until 11am, and anyone who comes after that will not be allowed in. We got there at about 9:30 or so (appointment was at 9:30, but we got lost remember?) Once through the first set of doors, you will be called one by one into the security check. (If you're with someone, they go in with you) Make sure you don't bring anything electronic (not even a calulator) to the Consulate they'll take it away and you'll have to get a number to collect it after you're done with the interview. They'll ask to see your appointment letter and your passport so have them handy. You'll then walk through the metal detector and then they'll go through your bag if you have one. All but one elevator was broken when we were there, so we had to use the elevator that the Consulate workers usually only have access too. After we went through the security check, a guard took us up to the 19th floor. Once there, another guard showed us through the doors and told us to go to window 25. There were a lot of people already there waiting, almost all of the seats were full. But by noon, the room was half empty (because they stopped letting people in I guess).
At window 25 you tell them what you're there for, and he or she will give you a number that's on 2 slips of paper, make sure you don't lose either of these, and then you go sit down and wait for your number to come up and tell you which window to go to. We were number C29 and we had to go to window 3 so it looked like this: C29 <--- 3
Every time a number is called it makes this accordion sound, which can be quite amusing when several numbers are called at once. You might want to bring something to read because this wait can be quite long, but make sure when you here the accordion, you look to see if your number has come up. We waited about 2 hours and even though I had to go to the bathroom, I waited because I was afraid our number would be called and James would have to go by himself and I'd come out and not know where he was.
When you're number comes up, go to the window that was next to your number. There, you'll need to give them your appointment letter, passport, long form birth certificate + a copy of it, RCMP police certificate, the envelope that's attached to your big x-ray envelope, affidavit of support (I-134) and all supporting documents, letter of intent from the U.S. fiance, form DS-156 (x2 UNSIGNED) and form DS-156k (UNSIGNED).
If you have everything and the person is satisfied, they'll give you a receipt and tell you to go to window 25 again and pay the $65 USD CASH and come right back to the window and give them the receipt.
After you do all that, you go and sit back down and wait yet again for your number to come up. This time, it's for the interview. There are 2 interview rooms, number 12 and number 13. We got lucky number 13. We went to the door and went in. It's like two closets back to back only there's a counter and a bulletproof glass separating them. On our side there was one metal chair but neither of us sat down, instead I put the x-ray and my bag down on it. The man behind the counter swore James in and then proceeded to ask us the normal questions, how did we meet etc. He didn't ask to see any pictures or any other documents. After he was done with his questions, he said that he was going to go ahead and issue the Visa. I don't think I've ever smiled as big as I did then. LOL. He gave us a receipt that said that we have paid for everything and told us that he would try to get them to get the Visa in James' passport before 1pm which is when they go for lunch. At this time is was about 12:42 and I didn't think this would happen because there were people that had been waiting 45 minutes or more for their name to be called. We thanked him and went and sat down. About 8 minutes later, James' name along with about 3 other people were called to window 4 and they gave everyone their passports with the Visa inside and the sealed envelope and explained that they had until Jan. 9 2003 to cross the border and not to open the envelope. And that was that. Back home we went. The police officer was right, it was our lucky day. Free parking, we got approved, and we were out of the Consulate before 1pm.
