Consulate Review: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
|
| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
January 24, 2018 |
| Embassy Review : |
Hello all,
My interview at the US embassy went well, even though I forgot to take the original marriage license. Pretty dumb, I know.
Anyways: I arrived 20 minutes before my appointment. I had a backpack with me, with my passport, all (or so I thought!) the originals and some photo-albums. Your bag stays with the guards, you will pass through security (just like at the airport) with your passport, your originals and photo-albums.
You are allowed to take your phone with you. It should be on and Bluetooth should be off. Be prepared to hand your phone to the guard and show them that your phone is working.
The guards then direct you to a table, to wait there. Some staff will then call you forward to wait again (standing a little akwardly next to the chairs), right in front of 4 service windows (think of an old-fashioned bank).
They will call your name and ask for
- passport
- original marriage license
- passport photo's
- your original birth certificate
- your police records of all countries you lived in (need to be recent, but you will find instructions in the letters that you get way ahead of time)
I had all this, EXCEPT for my original marriage license! javascript:emoticon(' ') How could I be sooooo stupid! I had organized everything meticulously, checked, prepared, checked again, but the marriage license I had kept in a different envelope because it is very large and did not fit my document folder. So my tip would be: put EVERYTHING in your document folder and just make sure to take that thing to your interview. I did however have a certified copy of my marriage license and the friendly woman behind the counter said that it would be okay (it had a seal and everything). Of course, I was freaking out a little, but she told me to relax. javascript:emoticon(' ')
After she checked all my papers (make sure you have copies of everything, like they tell you in the preparation letter, like the IRS tax transcripts, the I-864 with autographs, the original birth certificates and/or passport copies of all your sponsors), they take your fingerprints and then she told me to take a seat and wait for the actual interview with the consul.
After about 5-10 minutes (which I used to look through my photo albums: I can highly recommend getting some good vibes in before your interview javascript:emoticon(' ')), my name was called out (Mrs. C to window 4 please).
The consul asks you to confirm you date of birth and raise your hand to take the oath (swearing that everything you say in the interview and have submitted previously is true to your best knowledge). She then asks if you are familiar with your rights in the USA (to prevent and/or to raise awareness about domestic violence and where to seek help should you fall victim). I had already read all the information in the leaflet online so she didn't repeat any. She tells you if your medical check came back "cleared" (but if there are any issues you should have heard it from the doctor before the interview).
Then, she checks if all the papers are there. In my case, the original marriage license wasn't there and I did say that it was a certified original copy, but she said that I should send in the original anyways. Maybe I should have pressed more and let her check the seal and such, to confirm that it is indeed equal to an original, but I didn't. I was just a little too stressed for that.... She told me that there would be a delay of about two days because of it, but that she would get to it soon. Then she asked me some questions while going through the papers, like:
- So your husband is living here with you in the Netherlands (which I though was an odd question, but anyways, I clarified that he is not living with me unfortunately, if only that were true!)
- What is your husbands name? T
- What does T do? He works at the university, doing his masters degree (I elaborated a little about this).
- Where does he live now? In Colorado.
- And how many times have you visited T in Colorado? Five times in total.
- Okay, and has he visited you here? Yes, in December last year.
- Okay, and I see you need an extra sponsor, that is your father in law? Indeed.
- Okay, this all looks good (she checked a table to see if the income was indeed high enough for the sponsorship).
(I said I would be pretty dissapointed in myself if I had made a mistake calculating the needed income for the sponsorship, and she could appreciate that joke)
- Okay, and where does your father in law live? Washington State.
- Oh so they don't live in the same state? No, they don't unfortunately.
- And what kind of work does he do? He works in the IT department.
- Okay. So the forms look good but we do need the original marriage license, but you can send that in. Okay, thanks.
- Now, I see that you brought some photos. Do you have some that represent your relationship through time? Could you hand me them and then tell me a little bit where you were at the time and what you were doing? Yes, I can (and I told her about the photos, I had some from the very start of our relationship, travelling, getting married, Christmas with my family, Christmas with his family, some of Thanksgiving this year. She did raise an eyebrow when I told her that we got married only 5 months after we met (we met while traveling, then I visited and met all his family and we decided to get married to enable us to be together in the long run... and what a long run it has proven to be..........javascript:emoticon(' ')). Anyways, she asked if it was unlike any other relationship I had ever had before - Yes, I beamed! And then she asked me if I had ever dreamed of living in the US or work there, before I met T. I answered her honestly that I really enjoy travelling, but that I often traveled alone, and the US is not a very accessible country for backpackers, due to it's size and relatively minimal public transport system, so no, I had never considered it, or even visited it. But since I had visited the US with T, I really had started to appreciate it and I am excited to go and live there.
- Okay, thank you very much. I find that you have a legitimate relationship and I approve your conditional visa. After two years you'll need to take some more steps to lift those conditions on your visa. All will be explained in your letter. Please send me the original marriage licence with REGISTERED mail (aangetekende post). I will review your case again within two days of receiving that and then we will mail your passport back to you. (I forgot to ask how long that would take, but I'll update when I have received it). She also explained that I would receive the sealed envelope with the medical records through the courier service, not to open it and to bring it with me in my carry-on luggage.
Me: THANK YOU! javascript:emoticon(' ')
Note that this whole "interview" lasted for less than 2 minutes.
After this, I got my things, picked up my bag and rushed home to get my original license in the mail (it cost me 24 euro's, to have it delivered with a "spoedverzending", and it would be delivered the next businessday before 12 PM. It got there at 10.03 AM (online confirmation)).
I am still waiting to get my passport, but hopefully it won't take very long any more.
Good luck to all. If your relationship is legitimate, your documents are organized and complete, you have nothing to worry about. And even if they are not complete, you will still get your visa eventually! |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
|
ver 5.0