Refused entry at embassy even w/ interview confirmation

[chantuff9 21]

Hi everyone,

I don't know what else to do or who to turn to, but my fiance and I are having a huge problem this morning. He has his interview in Paris at 1:30pm (Paris time). We filled out our DS160, scheduled the interview, paid the fees, everything. He printed out all the confirmation pages INCLUDING the one that says his interview is today at 1:30........ and when he got to the embassy they told him his interview is NOT today. They wouldn't even let him in or let him speak to a supervisor. They just told him that the embassy is the one who is supposed to schedule the interview, but that's not at all the case for the French embassy. The applicants have to go online and schedule it, according to packet 3. We did that! And they simply won't see him!

I called our caseworker who is going to try call Paris right now, but I'm just so hurt and confused. Does anyone have any advice or information about why this could have happened?

Thank you all so much

EDIT: They wouldn't even let him INTO the embassy. They told him his name wasn't on a special list.

Edited July 8, 2015 by chantuff9

[mallafri76 1,012]

Wow, that's crazy. As far as I've heard from others here on K-1, the K-1's always schedule their own interview. Weird that the guard didn't know that.

Have you tried calling or emailing the embassy to see what happened? How long ago did you schedule the interview? Maybe it has been changed by the embassy for some reason and there was a lack of communications?!

Hope it works out for you. That's horrible going through this process only to face this issue at the end.

[GandD 5,966]

One derogatory comment removed and offender thread banned

[chantuff9 21]

@mallafri76 We scheduled our interview June 12, so it's been a while. We tried calling and emailing the embassy but, of course, nothing is really working.... like I said though, we have a caseworker and she's great. Hoping to get a call back from her soon!

[CowBoE 429]

That's awful.

The only thing I can think of is the DS-160 was accidentally filled out with wrong name or spelling?

Double check all the information that's on the confirmation page.

[chantuff9 21]

Thank you for your input! We double checked (a thousand times) that everything is correct and it is I am just so... at a loss here! Do y'all think it's possible that with the technical problem they had a while ago, they changed the scheduling system?

[ClaudiaxFF 7]

Hello ( I apologize for my rusty english ^^)

I had my interview June 25th at Paris Embassy too.

Out of the embassy the guards let me in without any problem (and they let in my mother also which surprised me !)

But at the front office where they gave you the ticket, a young lady ask me about the "invitation" with the Embassy logo on top but I just had the confirmation of payment with me where it says the date and time of the interview. She said to me it was not that but I insisted that I didn't receive any other email and she gave me my ticket and let me in.

After when i was called at the guichet the first time to let them know I was there, the lady told me that the invitation is only for the people who have to come from outside France ! If you live in France the confirmation page should be enough.

But I suggest you to not give up with your caseworker because this is a mistake from THEM.

[chantuff9 21]

First of all, your English is perfect

Second of all THANK YOU. Although I'm not sure there is anything we can do about this today, I am so thankful for your information. Just to know all that is great. It sounds like you were very close to having the same problem as us! Maybe we just had someone who is in a bad mood or not as well trained I am waiting for my caseworker still but I just forwarded your story to her! Thanks again!!

[walrusbaby 20]

Hello ( I apologize for my rusty english ^^)

I had my interview June 25th at Paris Embassy too.

Out of the embassy the guards let me in without any problem (and they let in my mother also which surprised me !)

But at the front office where they gave you the ticket, a young lady ask me about the "invitation" with the Embassy logo on top but I just had the confirmation of payment with me where it says the date and time of the interview. She said to me it was not that but I insisted that I didn't receive any other email and she gave me my ticket and let me in.

After when i was called at the guichet the first time to let them know I was there, the lady told me that the invitation is only for the people who have to come from outside France ! If you live in France the confirmation page should be enough.

But I suggest you to not give up with your caseworker because this is a mistake from THEM.

Thank you for responding.

Do you have any idea what the "invitation" could be? I'm from France as well and my fiancé (petitioner) received on his e-mail something that explained which documents to gather and the link to schedule the appointment, but it had no precise date given for the interview on it. I thought that was Packet 3. It had the logo of the embassy on top of it. It was not personal, it was the same information we find online.

Does anyone think that could be it?

[ClaudiaxFF 7]

First of all, your English is perfect

Second of all THANK YOU. Although I'm not sure there is anything we can do about this today, I am so thankful for your information. Just to know all that is great. It sounds like you were very close to having the same problem as us! Maybe we just had someone who is in a bad mood or not as well trained I am waiting for my caseworker still but I just forwarded your story to her! Thanks again!!

Thank you ! ahah

You're welcome, we are here to help each other . Yea it was close and I had a little panic attack when she said the invitation was missing. But In front of my insistence she abandoned and just told me to see with the person at the guichet.

It's always a hard time when at the last moment something goes wrong after all that wait, but hopefully it will be back on track for you ! Good luck for the rest of your journey !

[ClaudiaxFF 7]

Thank you for responding.

Do you have any idea what the "invitation" could be? I'm from France as well and my fiancé (petitioner) received on his e-mail something that explained which documents to gather and the link to schedule the appointment, but it had no precise date given for the interview on it. I thought that was Packet 3. It had the logo of the embassy on top of it. It was not personal, it was the same information we find online.

Does anyone think that could be it?

Well I had the packet 3 with me and that's when she saw it that she told it was something like that with the same logo on top. I only could show her my confirmation page where it says I paid 252euros (visa fees) and where it states the date and time of the interview with all my informations (name, passport number..)

I think it depends on the person at the front desk.. The young lady was very antipathetic with us, happily for me I didn't let go anything and insisted !!

[djnantes 3]

It might be possible that your case was affected by the technological problems last month?

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/news/technological-systems-issue.html

I hope it gets resolved for you both quickly! I'm waiting to schedule my appointment at the Paris Consulate too. They got my package June 18 — we're waiting for the packet from them in the mail. How long did it take for you to get your letter in the mail to schedule your appointments and fill out the DS-160?

Edited July 8, 2015 by djnantes

[chantuff9 21]

Update!! I just got this email from my caseworker!

Hello Ms. XXXXXX,

Mr. XXXXXXX arranged an appointment by himself via our appointment system –without having received instructions from us to do so. Applicants for fiancée visas should first receive an email from the Immigrant Visa section regarding which documents to gather and bring to the interview before scheduling the appointment. Unfortunately, we are in the process of changing the system of appointments and it is a bit confusing at this point.

At this point, Mr. XXXXXXXX can be scheduled for an interview on July 15, and he will receive an email from us shortly.

I can't believe they would change the system without telling anyone.... SO JUST FYI PARIS PEOPLE!! New system update..... I guesss......

[chantuff9 21]

It might be possible that your case was affected by the technological problems last month?

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/news/technological-systems-issue.html

I hope it gets resolved for you both quickly! I'm waiting to schedule my appointment at the Paris Consulate too. They got my package June 18 — we're waiting for the packet from them in the mail. How long did it take for you to get your letter in the mail to schedule your appointments and fill out the DS-160?

Well it looks like they are in the process of implementing a new system, so I think it was probably because of the system problem before!

I never received Packet 3 but they've had our case for over a month now, and I had spoken to others who said that they never received packet 3 and it was never a problem. So we scheduled our interview and stuff, but it seems to have posed a problem anyway.... I just also don't understand, how is it possible that we can go online and schedule an appointment so easily if in fact we are supposed to wait for an email first? It seems like a strange system..... But why am I surprised??

[Girl from Celebes 588]

Update!! I just got this email from my caseworker!

Hello Ms. XXXXXX,

Mr. XXXXXXX arranged an appointment by himself via our appointment system –without having received instructions from us to do so. Applicants for fiancée visas should first receive an email from the Immigrant Visa section regarding which documents to gather and bring to the interview before scheduling the appointment. Unfortunately, we are in the process of changing the system of appointments and it is a bit confusing at this point.

At this point, Mr. XXXXXXXX can be scheduled for an interview on July 15, and he will receive an email from us shortly.

I can't believe they would change the system without telling anyone.... SO JUST FYI PARIS PEOPLE!! New system update..... I guesss......

Sounds great! As long as your fiance will have the interview scheduled, you are safe!

Good luck for both of you. Keep us posted.