Consulate Review: Sweden
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
May 5, 2018 |
| Embassy Review : |
My appointment was at 9 am on May 3rd, 2018. I arrived at the embassy by bus at about 8:10. There were already tons of people by the "bus stop"/in the non-immigrant line, and even though I stood by the pole with a yellow stripe like I read I was supposed to, it was a bit unclear if I was really in a line because no one else was by that pole. Moments later another K1 visa applicant came by and decided to stand there too which made me feel more confident.
I was called up to the embassy entrance pretty quickly and going through security was smooth. I went up to the waiting room and was greeted nicely by a man who asked me what visa I was applying for, and then told me to go to window 7 to leave my passport there. Then I sat down and waited for an hour to be called. The process has two steps; document drop-off and interview. The document drop-off comes first and normally only takes 5-10 minutes, but there were three cases before me of which one took a lot longer than that. When I finally got called up, it all went very quickly, and the Swedish lady in the window gave me a copy of my full medical record to keep for AoS, asked if I had read the IMBRA pamphlet which I had, and proceeded to ask for the following things:
- DS-160 confirmation (not the UID number though, I realized just now)
- Birth certificate and police certificate (she also asked if I was ever in the military or ever lived in another country for long enough to need another police certificate, to which I said no)
- Any evidence of support I may have. I gave her the I-134, and asked whether she wanted the IRS transcript or the tax return. She wanted the return. I gave her the whole 1040, including all extra forms and W2s, but she returned everything except the first two pages. She then asked about the discrepancy between my fiancés income as per the tax return (line 22 in the 1040) and his supposed income as per the I-134. I gave her a letter from his employer stating that he started the position only in June last year, and told her he was a student without any significant income before then, which she accepted.
- Any evidence of relationship I may have. I gave her two pictures each from our last four trips/visits, as well as our Airbnb reviews (most hosts have included our names, so I thought why not) and she asked about the last time we saw each other which was about a month ago. She then asked how we keep in touch when we don't see each other and I handed her a copy of four Facebook messenger chats, and some print screens from Facetime calls including dates. She was happy with this.
- Two passport style photographs of me
She finally thanked me for being so well prepared (such a relief) and I went to sit down again at the round table with the other K1 applicants (three Norwegians, three Swedes including myself). I waited another half an hour or so, and then I was called up to the next window for the actual interview. The CO in the window was a young American lady and she had me take the oath and give my fingerprints. She then asked me the following questions, as far as I can recall:
- Who's petitioning for you? (I answered his full name, and at this point she got a huge grin on her face... No idea why, but it made me feel at ease. And I later told my fiancé that he must have a funny name. He was not amused.)
- And what's his relationship to you? (Fiancé)
- How did you meet? (In country X while we were exchange students there)
- When did you start dating? (I gave month and year)
- And when did you guys move back home from country X? (I gave the exact date)
- Have you ever lived anywhere else, besides of course country X? (Yes, I have lived in the US as a child)
She tapped on the keyboard for a while and then smiled and said "Well, obviously your interview went well. You will get your passport back in about 10 business days, just because it'll take us a few days to issue the visa". She also handed me back my relationship evidence. I went past the table with the remaining K1 applicants and wished them good luck. I then went to pick up my phone, left the embassy and immediately texted my fiancé and my family the news.
Spontaneous reactions:
- The real interview takes place in your preparations, or at least that's how it seemed. It took a long time for me to collect everything and double and triple check, but that made their job easier. At the point of the actual interview it seems like they've already decided on a direction for your case.
- The embassy does not seem very concerned about protecting the privacy of applicants. Your full name gets called and everyone in the waiting room can hear what the COs ask you. In may case I don't care because nothing sensitive was brought up, but I heard many interesting stories while waiting and I guess I was just a bit surprised at this.
- All the COs I listened to during my two hours there were not just professional and courteous, but had kind manners. Including the ones that interviewed people for non-immigrant visas, and the ones that interviewed people who had not followed the instructions on what to bring.
All in all, I had a great experience at the US Embassy in Stockholm. 5/5 |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0