Thursday, April 14, 2011

US Consulate in Montreal

So, a few months back, I found a thread that had pictures of the US Consulate. Decided to post them here if anyone's interested. Also, when I went to pick up my results for my medical on Tuesday, I decided to actually visit the Consulate myself as it was about a 5 minute walk away. I took some pictures and I'm adding them here too. If you click on any of the pictures, it will blow them up to full-size.

Picture I took of the entire building. The interview takes place all the way at the top (I believe the 19th floor).

Picture I took of where you line up outside and wait (if you get there early).

Picture I found. Different angle from the one above.

Close-up I took of the front doors.

Even closer picture that I took.

Picture I found of the front doors.

Picture I found of the sign above the doors.

Picture I found of a notice board on the front doors.

~Lindsay

19 comments:

  1. Hey Lindsay,
    It's me again (Sarai), I have another question.
    It's regarding the police clearance records.
    We got them after we filed the I-130 that was in the beginning of June last year!
    I'm a bit concerned about the one from the place I currently live, for sure we'll get the interview later than June, so my question is that it's going to be more than a year older already, NVC said that's it good for a year, though I don't know if it's good for when you file the case or for when you get the interview?
    I would rather go and get another one now, since it takes two days to get it, rather than waiting for an RFE (we already filed the IV package with that letter)
    What do you think?

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  2. If you got it in June last year, then yeah, I'd definitely suggest getting a new police certificate since you'll need it for the interview as your old one will be expired by then.

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  3. But it will be fine for the IV package to be approved now that we sent it?
    Tks a lot!

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  4. It should be, yes as it's been less than a year when you sent it.

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  5. I hope so, meanwhile I asked James to call NVC to make sure.
    By the way, Montreal's Consulate bulding is very nice compared to the Embassy in Mexico City, it looks old and ugly. I've never been to Cd. Juarez though, I don't expet that building to be nice either! I heard that it's one of the busiest in the world, some said that there's so many people that it looks like there's a fair around or so.

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  6. Yes, good idea on calling NVC, just to make sure.

    Oh yeah, the Consulate in Montreal is beautiful. The pictures I had found online just showed the entrance, I hadn't seen one of the actual building. But when I saw it in person on Tuesday, I was like wow.

    Too bad the Mexico City one is ugly. They should update it. And I found this picture of the one in Cd Juarez: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/uploads/images/article-images/USembassyInciudad.jpg Looks really amazing.

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  7. Oh well, it looks nice after all.
    Last night James called NVC twice since they said that the police clearance records are not longer needed since Mexican government no longer issues those.
    I'm still what, who, when, how, where?
    My sister got a transit visa not long ago and she got her police clearance record...
    God, it's just nuts, how do they know if you are criminal?
    I'm still puzzled, I'll try to find out about that, according to the operator it's been like that for a couple of months and said that the info is online.

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  8. Oh ya, that's right, I heard that Mexican police certificates aren't available. It's what it says on NVC's website under the Mexico portal. You can find it here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_4881.html?cid=3622 Just scroll down to 'Police Records'. Says they're unavailable. Would you be able to call or email the Consulate in Cd Juarez and ask them if the police record is needed at the interview?

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  9. We already sent the ones I got last year. I don't think it will hurt our case, we didn't even know about it, and it's funny because James called regarding it not long ago.
    One of these days I'll go to the place I got it and ask.
    Thanks for the info Lindsay, you are fast girl!

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  10. I'm trying to find out if NVC will be closed on Thursday & Friday, still don't know where to look for that? Any idea?

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  11. It doubt it'll hurt that you sent in a police certificate.

    And here's a link to 2011 federal holidays: http://www.opm.gov/operating_status_schedules/fedhol/2011.asp They should be open till May 30, or if there's severe weather, but as winter is mostly over, I doubt that will happen.

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  12. You are a genious Lindsay.
    I was just wondering about that since here in Mexico, we have the so called "holy week" which is the whole week before Easter... Thursday and Friday are federal holidays here, but that's because most people here are Catholic.
    And I wasn't sure about the States, I guess they only celebrate Easter...good, Mexicans are well known for taking days off, if a federal day happens during the week normally they take either the first days or last days of the week plus the weekend... it's crazy!

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  13. The US does have Easter, but apparently it's not a federal holiday, so you're lucky, lol. NVC should be open all next week! :)

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  14. Hey! Thanks for posting. You are sooo lucky to live in Montreal...our I-130 finally was approved today,(!) so that means an expensive trip out there in a month or two. Thanks for all your help, you really are amazing.

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  15. You're very welcome! Yes, I feel lucky I live only 45 minutes way from the Consulate. No need to pay for a hotel or flight. And grats on your I-130 approval! Remember, it will be longer than a month or two till your interview. You have to go through NVC which will take 1-2 months if you're fast and prepared, and then another 2 months to the interview. So you still have about 3-4 months to go.

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  16. Hi i was wondering how long it took to get your Visa sent to your DHL location. Ie I had my consulate appointment august 5th and got approved, now waiting on the visa to arrive at DHL.

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  17. If you read my other posts, you'll see that my interview was May 3rd, got the email on May 5th from DHL, and my passport was ready for pickup the next day on May 6th. Only took 3 days to get it back.

    Although, Montreal is going through a slight backlog at the moment and it's been taking longer than usual to get passports back. From January to mid-May this year, it was taking on average 6 days. But a backlog started mid-May and it's now been taking weeks to get the passport back. I'd highly suggest reading this thread: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/302129-waiting-for-our-passports-from-montreal/

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  18. Thanks for the info and congrats!

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