Thanks to Innocent4Ever. Your guide helped me a lot. Thanks to all forum members too.
I made an appointment for Wednesday, 30 Nov 8:00am. I made it a point to take the 8:00 am appointment. Chances are, the interviewers won't deny you unless the papers are majorly screwed up. People usually don't start their day by making someone unhappy.
My background - I have a US degree. Then changed 3 companies. I had one H1 stamped from Mumbai. This one was the extension H1. I am a landed immigrant in Canada (basically i have canadian GC). But I don't live there.
I flew to Canada. I didn't need a visa, I have a GC. While entering Canda, on the Customs form I had written home address as my friend's Canadian address (For some reason I thought that would make the process easier. But it turned out, that was a problem. Basically because that was a lie. I managed to confuse the immigration officer by telling him I thought they meant home address as in home address in Canada. I gave my friend's address since thats where I "landed" and that was my "home" in Canada). The officer asked me to change that to my US address. And let me in.
I had booked a suite at Best Western Cartier Hotel @ US$67 per night. I booked it for 2 nights. Its a decent place. Cable/pool/wireless internet access (bring your own laptop). They say they have a restaurant, but I never saw it open. Cab fare from airport to hotel CAN$30. On checking in I asked the reception to give me a wake up call at 6:00am.
Next morning, took a cab to the consulate. CAN$5.85. Reached there at about 7:35. It takes not more than 5 minutes to reach the consulate by cab. There were 7 people there. At about 10 minutes to 8:00 the guard started letting us in after checking our appointment/interview letter. ALL electronic items should be left behind. A word of advice, take only your documents. After the security check we sat in a room with about 25 chairs. There were 7 (maybe 8) windows. 4 of our interest. 3 for interviewing 1 for paying the money. After about 10 mins window number 7 opened and the person there asked us to come one by one and pay the money and give the forms. At this window I submitted D156, D157, I-797 cash US$100 all kept in my passport. At about 8:15 the first window opened and then the second and then the third. The interviewers call people by name and also announce the window number. for e.g. "xxx please come to window number xxx"
My name was called at about 9:00. I went to the 3rd window. There was a lady there. Both other were men. I was hoping I get called by one of the mens. For some reason, an old american lady taking my interview made me feel a little nervous. Anyways, she proved me wrong. She was quite friendly. My interview lasted for 2 minutes.
Her - Good morning
Me - Good morning
(She finger printed me)
Her - Please show me the letter that your company must have given you for us
(I handed a clipped stack of papers. It had the letter and all the documents that my company had filed for my H1 applcation.)
Her - Oh you have all the documents, that is good (She did seem pleased)
Me - "smile"
(She just browsed through the documents)
(Then she started looking through the forms)
Her - So you are a landed immigrant in Canda
Me - Yes mam, I landed on xxx at xxx.
Her - But you don't live here
Me - No mam
(Looking at the forms again)
Her - You did your education in the US
Me - Yes mam, xxx university
Her - Can I see the certificate ? No need to give it to me, just hold it up so I can see it
(I took the certificate and held it up for her to see)
Her - Ok thats good.
Her - Sign here
(I had forgotten to sign the D-157)
Me - Oh I'm sorry
(Signed and dated)
Her - you can come tomorrow and collect your passport
She gave me a ticket and the receipt for the US$100 that I had paid earlier. The ticket had a T for Thursday circled and 3:00pm marked on it. I didn't have to pay the extra US$50 since I am a landed immigrant in Canada.
I walked back to my hotel (about 18 minutes). There are couple of museums at a walking distance from the hotel. I went to one - Canadian Civilization museum. There is an excellent eat-out place (non vegeterian) St.Hubert at a walking distance less than 5 minutes (Something similar to Applebee's). There is also a McDonalds at walking distance (around 5 minutes). There is a retarded place called Cafe Henry's Burgers too. Stay away from it. Totally usless service. One of those places which will sniff you some food and ask a price for it. One of those places where everyone is dressed formally. And if you still want to try it, dress up ! Not to mention, the waiter did get an earful of my blessings on my way out.
Next day I went to the consulate at 2:30pm. I was the only one. The guard outside asked me for the ticket. Looked up my passport and gave it to me. I had the visa stamped on it. Please check for the correct information on the visa.
Flying back home, give yourself an additional 30/45 minutes as they do the finger-printing immigration and customs before you enter the gates. This was a surprise for me. But a good one. Because I was thinking I would have to go through the winding lines at the entry point in US.
Everything went good for me (except the little tussle at canadian entry point. But that was my own stupidity). carry all your documents, dont be too nervous. People at Ottawa consulate are very friendly.
Documents I carried with me -
File 1:
Passport
I-797
Forms - 156 (printout of the online filled form)/157 (photo stapled)
US$100
File 2:
appointment Letter from my employer
Employer documents - Letter to the consulate, all documents my employer filed for my H1
Pay stubs (6 - 3 were recent, 3 were random)
Form 158 (I carried this with me just in case. But no one asked me for it. 156/157 were good enough.)
Recommendation Letters from past employers
Some paystubs from past employers
Appointment Letters from past employers, internship, assistantship
Photocopy of I-797 from past employers
File 3:
Degree certificates (US and India)
Hope this helps.
Ignore the typos.
Good luck
