The embassy rescheduled my fiancé interview at a short notice.

[orangeblossom 0]

My fiancé visa interview date is rescheduled to 3 weeks early than the original date. The embassy had to reschedule his appointment for some odd reason. It was rescheduled at a very short notice. Now we only have 3 weeks until our interview date. The original interview date was suppose to be on a Tuesday at 7:30AM and now they changed it to a Friday at 1:00PM. Has this happen to anyone before? What's input or experienced? I thought the embassy in Phnom Penh doesn't do visa interview on a Friday.

[TBoneTX 42,991]

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to the Embassy/Consulate forum -- topic involves that phase. ***

[NikaMo 39]

My wife's interview was on Friday back in 2013. September 27. Friday is normally a visa pick up day only at this embassy. For some odd reason they scheduled us on Friday too. Then following Friday was a holiday so we had to pick up visa 2 weeks later on Friday. I think they had too many cases and was trying to clear up. Also it was my wife's 2nd interview. She was refused visa 2 years earlier as K-1. I also noticed about 25 people appeared that day for interview all were like 2nd time around(Most of them). Normally they refuse or deny visa a lot at this Embassy but on this particular day, most of them got visa. May be something to do with that. From my experience they kind of pre determined who to approve visa. You could be a lucky one. They probably picked the pre approved(Easier one) to give visa to clear up backlog.

[orangeblossom 0]

That's awesome. Thank you for your reply. I had a very good feeling about Friday too. I front load all the evidence when I filed my fiancé petition. I hope we get approve.

[NikaMo 39]

You are welcome. Keep us posted

[NikaMo 39]

I don't know your situation. Make sure you attend the interview. At this Embassy, if you got engaged on your first visit to your fiance, the denial rate is very high no matter how much evidence you have. I fought this Embassy for about 4 years and witnessed many interviews.Denial rate is very high specially on K-1. Biggest and only reason, getting engaged on first actual physical visit. I was traveling all over south Asia with my wife(Then fiance) had mountains of evidence. She visited my parents and stayed with them in my native country(Bangladesh). We visited many countries together flew together stayed in same hotels together same room same airlines etc etc what more evidence you want for evidence of relationship and we were still denied!! I was so sure about getting approved and shocked to learn after interview(It was perfect interview I did the most of the talking) visa counselor was telling us he cannot approve her visa. I kept pressing why not? He would never give specific reason other then kept saying he has reason to believe our relationship is not genuine!! What a joke!! She was traveling all over Asia with me and he had doubt about our relationship? Anyway we fought back got married re applied as I-130 took 2 more years and 8 trips to Cambodia later finally got approved and a apology from the visa counselor for keeping us apart for so long! The 2nd interview was on that unusual day Friday the 27, September of 2013.

[orangeblossom 0]

I front load our petition when I filed for K1 in February. No RFE or anything. It's a smooth process for our case. Surprisingly the embassy is working really fast for us. This whole process is under 4 months.

I started talking to my fiancé in January 2014. After getting to know him through FB and Skype, I took a trip to visit him in March 2014. Then I went back again the end of August 2014 for our engagement ceremony. Several of my immediate family from the United States also attended our engagement ceremony. I'll be flying back to Cambodia next week. It'll be my 3rd trip to Cambodia visiting my beloved fiancé. I'll be attending the interview with my fiancé for moral support.

I have faith and confident that we will pass this interview. I will definitely keep you both posted after our interview.

[orangeblossom 0]

I can't believe they made you guys waited so long. So glad to hear that you both are finally together. ? Did you have to pay the Cambodian government any money to get married in Cambodia? I heard it's a few thousand dollars. Not sure if there is any truth to this.

[NikaMo 39]

Yes it's called tea money. About $1500 under the table and also a big wedding that cost a lot of money. We also had a big engagement ceremony as well 2 years earlier. Good thing you got engaged on your 2nd trip you should be fine. To tell you the truth getting engaged on your first visit, denial rate is over 95%. First question they ask you how did you meet? 2nd question when did you decide to get engaged? If it's the first trip then they hammer you on that question for 30 minutes to an hour. How could you get engaged in few days? Anyway getting married in Cambodia is actually more harder then visa process itself. You actually need to be physically present at least a month! It's a whole different grueling story. CO asked my wife how many times I visited her? When she said 8 times he screamed OMG? 8 times in 3 years? The whole room full of people turned around!. Didn't even ask all the tough questions we were anticipating. I was right there and he called me back to window and told us congratulations! You guys are approved! Some people clapped. We left Embassy in 20 minutes before my sister in law could find a parking outside Embassy I was ready to face anything. There was no tomorrow. I had many letters from many high ranking officials including 2 senators, 1 congressman and many other well known public figures. I went all out but it was surprisingly easy 2nd time around. May be they already predetermined. I witnessed many interviews on 3 different occasions at this Embassy. I know ins and out about the interviews here by now. No matter you are K-1 or I-130 if you got engaged or got married on first actual visit, chances are you are denied here

[NikaMo 39]

Unless they changed policy at this Embassy, you can be with your Fiance during interview. I did most of the talking on our first interview back in 2011. Also did at least half the talking 2nd time in 2013 which was about 5 minutes total conversations. So go ahead go with him and you will be surprised. Don't pay attention to others who says you are not allowed in there. I also spent 3 full days inside Embassy witnessing many interviews so I know. I had to go there another time to get a certify letter to get married and witnessed another 2 hours of interviews. You can actually see and hear all the interviews right in front of you. In front of all the people waiting.

[orangeblossom 0]

Holy smokes! You made the embassy sounds like a terrifying torture chamber. ? Thank you for sharing your story with us. I think hearing your past experience prepare us better for the interview. What are some of the other red flags besides engaging the first visit?

[NikaMo 39]

That is the most damaging red flag at this particular Embassy. I understand that now why after dealing with it for 4 years. There were massive fraud going on in the past which was like 7/8 years ago. They busted a big human traffic ring(You can google it) involving this Embassy. Since they busted this ring this Embassy was black listed. As I mentioned getting engaged in first visit denial rate is very high specially K-1 is like 90%. There are some other red flags like different race, religion, language, age difference recent divorce etc. the way co talked to us first time if it was inside US it would have been a bias and he would have lost his job based on discrimination. He violated few things here example: he looked at me and my Fiancé and made a comment: you guys are not look alike!! That's a race discrimination. She is Khmer I am Asian Indian. He also said you are not same religion!! Another religious discrimination! He also said you guys don't speak same native language!! Another discrimination! Few other things I don't even remember! He is in a position that domestic US law doesn't apply to him. So he was abusing his power and showing how much discriminatory he could be because there is no consequences. He got power and if you try to protest, you risk becoming black listed and lose chances of getting visa permanently. I am sure he was doing that to a lot of people because all I was witnessing denial after denial for 3/4 years and even to this day I hear stories of mostly denials specially on K-1 cases.

[chhay8882 0]

NikaMo, you are scaring me. I just got the NOA2 and waiting for NVC to process the case. I also did my engagement on the 1st visit I know her family well, and we knew each other through facebook and skype for 2 months before I went down and visit. And decided to get engaged then. Man, if the interview failed, 2 years is such a long time. I can't even wait 4 months. I am considering moving back to live in PP since I grew up there.

[NikaMo 39]

Sorry to scare you but it is the truth. I witnessed many many people getting denied here for this exact reason. So gather every piece of evidence you can and attend interview. It doesn't matter how long you know each other chatting skype facebook etc they will come down hard on you on that single question. How can you get engaged to someone first time you ever saw each other? I witnessed this again and again for about 4 years. Unless everything perfect like you both Cambodian, very close age, close family etc it will be extremely hard. Be prepared for that 1 tough question to overcome. They will hammer and hammer you for 30/40 minutes on that same question. It will be 2nd or 3rd question they will ask and stuck to that for a long time

[NikaMo 39]

Since you grew up there, any chance you knew her back then? If not romantically at least knew each other somehow? That will be extremely helpful