Am glad to oblige....
I arrived at the building at about 7:10 a.m. and was the fourth case in the line in the lobby of the building. At about 8:00 a.m. a guy came down, starting with the first case, asked what the purpose of the visit was and gave us all stickers to affix to our shirts. He gave me a card with my number in the line (queue - have to practice my Canadian English!). I received a card because I was a PR applicant. They are able to take the first 10 adults (with a small child or two) at a time. Others remained, but a new group goes up every 10-15 minutes.
A very friendly woman came and escorted the 10 of us to the elevator. She advised us to shut off our cell phones and said we'd have to turn them in upon entering the visa processing area. A nice security guard puts them in a metal box that he guards at the door. Then, you go and sit down (if no cell phone you just go sit down) and wait for them to call the number on the card.
I went up to window 2, very friendly woman greeted me and asked for my passport, 3 photos and letter. I reminded her that I was asked to bring a piece of paper with my name, height and eye color. I put all of that in a sliding metal drawer (the agent is behind glass). [TIP - be organized and ready to just hand over what's needed - no fishing around for stuff at the window.]
She typed some things in the computer and put all my stuff in a green transparent document sleeve. And then she said something amazing - your documents will be ready in about an hour. Wow.
So, I sat back down and continued to chat with the people around me. After about 30 minutes, she called my number again. There was my passport (with visa), confirmation of permanent residency form (DO NOT SIGN YET - it's is signed at the border upon landing) and two photos (I guess they pick the best one and put it on the Confirmation of PR form).
She asked me to review the documents, which I did - everything was fine.
Long story short - very friendly, efficient and welcoming.
PS - I'm at the Buffalo airport now, able to return hours earlier than I had imagined (for more $ of course - LOL)
