Trip to CHC-Islamabad
Was basically told that CHC-Islamabad was open to "Canadian citizen" from 8:30 to 11:30, Monday to Thursday. Since the locations I was residing in was approx 2 hours away I had to hit GT road around 6:30-7 to make it in the time slot. 2 hours or so later I was at a shuttle service parking lot (since the enclave is a high octane security dome) only "authorised" vehicle can enter. Paid 20rps to park my ride and got searched by numerous guards. Walked into the ticket counter to purchase a shuttle ticket that hopefully would land me on the foot-steps of the Canadian embassy. On the counter a typical Pakistani middle-aged dude asked me where i was going and i said "Canadian embassy". He asked me for my "Canadian passport", after verifying I'm a Canadian he made me pay 200 rps for the shuttle. He signaled me to go the a counter where it said "deposit your cell phones" and obviously they took my cell. I, then walked through a 3rd security check and was made to sit in a steel cage with plastic seats installed to the concrete floor. There the shuttle would come and the cage door would open and people lined up to sit in the shuttle. If the shuttle was full and your turn didn't come you were made to sit again for next shuttle (which arrived every 10 mins or so). Then a low-standard shuttle with brick hard seats and metal bars on the windows would pick you up and take you to your destination. Before entering the diplomatic enclave, the shuttle was stopped at a police checkpoint where an individual would enter the bus and take a video of every person sitting inside. A pakistani beside me said a intersting thing, "hum apne ghar mein hi moujarim hain" (LOL). Then the trip started slowly the driver would stop at an embassy and yell its name (ex: Sir g Kanayda embassy or Sir g Amricka embassy) and people would jump off the bus accordingly. I, obviously jumped of at the CHC. Then the guards searched me 4th and 5th time before entering the compound. (Yes, they let me in). Was a nice compound, flowers, "maple leaves", water fountains ect. I was made to sit in the compound. There were many visa officers walking around some "canadian goray" others pakistani. They didn't seem to be doing much, just walking, talking and laughing and then i was called by a senior consultant visa officer. He checked my forms and what not (for lvp and ccc). Everything seemed ok. I asked some questions regarding spousal sponsership (he didn't tell me much but did notify me about a few things) and they escorted me back out to wait for the shuttle where i would eventually be returned to the car park.
