interview experience

[seer8 10]

This is my experience when we went to the manila interview.

We arrived there at around 6:45am and the lines were very long. Of course, we didnt know what line we were in so we asked the guards who were there. They pointed us to the line on the far left. When we got into the line, there were only 3 of us. The other 2 lines on our right were for workers maybe. Those lines were very long, about 100 people.

After the lady checked us in, we went forward into 2 doors: one for us citizens and 1 for non us citizens. I took my fiance's bag and left it at the counter after I entered the building. Just a note: the 3 lines were outside of the compound. So after you pass those lines, you enter the compound.

As soon as we entered, my fiance told me to just wait at the other side. She was doing the processing for the DS-forms. I didn't go with her cause she felt that she would be fine. That process took only about 10 minutes.

When she got out, we went insideof the building. You will go to a security check as usual. When you are there, you can see on the right for immigrant visa processing. We took a seat and waited. We asked the 2 girls who were walking around as to the process. There were 3 boards on the wall and in red print. Basically, the process moves from left to right. We sat on the left side since her fingerprints were first. The windows used was 39-42 I think. When our number flashed, we went there and the person asked her her name and date of birth. This is how the numbers on the boards looked like to the best of my knowledge:

60XX 42 6029 53

6011 56 6035 42

6025 62 6035 42

6033 39 6035 42

You see the 3 6035 to go window 42? It means that the person is not paying attention to the board and its his/her turn. But the 2 girls walking around will be calling those numbers out.

We waited there until the board flashed to go to the Filipino consul at window 54? I don't know the exact number but the numbers go from left to right, 39-64. when we got there, she asked my fiance her name and birthdate. She asked me if I'm the petitioner and my full name. She asked her when we first met and how we met. She then asked me how many times I visited her. She asked me for my employment verification so I gave my W2's, paystubs, last year tax return, and employment letter. She then asked us to wait for our name to be called next. This step took about 4 minutes.

We took a seat and waited for our number to be flashed. We knew that it was goin to be at windows 55-65. The waiting was very long.

Finally, our name was called to window 62. The American there was a young girl in her twenty's. She asked her when and how we met. Then she asked me my full name. Then she asked me about the last petition I filed. I was going to tell her the whole story but she said that after a withdrawal, it takes time for the record to "fall out". Then she said approved and to wait for our name to be called. We were happy and we knew that it was for the 2go delivery process. Those were at windows 65-66? Oh, the American consul took maybe 2 minutes.

After the 2go, we left there and went back to the hotel and arrived there 10:30am. The hotel we stayed at was Bayview Park Hotel. We just walked to the embassy for the interview, about 2 minutes. This is a nice hotel and I would consider getting the room with buffett breakfast. It's high in price but well worth the value.

[Pitaya 2,580]

~Moved from K-1 Process to Phil. Regional Forum~

~Commentary is embassy-specific~