Brazil - K1 interview - Petitioner needs to be present?

[PhotoJ89 30]

Hi all,

 

I'm hoping some recent interviewees from Brazil can help answer this. 

 

Our K1 interview (i'm the US petitioner, fiancée is Brazilian) should be coming up in the next month or 2. My fiancée's mom REALLY wants to see us leaving together, when she finally leaves her home to come to the US for good. Problem is I can't take 2 separate trips to do both this and be present at the interview in such a short time. Basically I have to choose one - go to the interview with her, or respect her mother's wishes. It's a gut-wrenching decision to try to make, we've talked about it quite a bit and can't come up with a good decision. 

 

I read some threads back in 2013 that the Rio consulate, without warning, was randomly rejecting beneficiaries at the interview if the petitioner was not present. Has this happened recently? Has anyone here recently done the interview without the fiancé/e present? I'd just like to hear some opinions on this.

 

Thanks

Edited May 10, 2017 by PhotoJ89

[mkm1993 92]

I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to do both... If you go to the interview you will have to be in Rio already... just wait for a couple of days afterwards so that you could pick up the visa instead of waiting for it to come in the mail to her house a week or 2 later. I may be wrong on this but you should be able to do this. My fiancé is in Brazil also. We are waiting for NVC to receive. I plan to be there for her interview... we will wait in Rio until she gets her visa so that we can pick it up there. I read that you can do that. I'll be staying 2 weeks most likely. How long do you have off from work? This plays a significant factor into all of this. 

[PhotoJ89 30]

1 minute ago, mkm1993 said:

I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to do both... If you go to the interview you will have to be in Rio already... just wait for a couple of days afterwards so that you could pick up the visa instead of waiting for it to come in the mail to her house a week or 2 later. I may be wrong on this but you should be able to do this. My fiancé is in Brazil also. We are waiting for NVC to receive. I plan to be there for her interview... we will wait in Rio until she gets her visa so that we can pick it up there. I read that you can do that. I'll be staying 2 weeks most likely. How long do you have off from work? This plays a significant factor into all of this. 

Hey there. I ended up just going to "pick her up". I did not go to the interview, but everything went smoothly. She received her passport with the visa in it 6 business days after the interview. She fiancee lives 3 hours by air from Rio, so she stayed there for the medical the week before, through the interview. Each extra night there was another night away from home/hotel costs, so she just wanted to get home and have the passport sent to her.

 

We just arrived back to my home in California yesterday. Point of entry was in Houston, it only took 10-15 minutes longer than "normal" immigration at the airport, but this was at 5 am and there were only a few other arriving flights at the time - we basically arrived right when immigration opened, so YMMV at different airports/times. Logistically it's actually quite difficult to get down there (without much notice, and in a fairly short time frame of dates) and return on the same flights without paying an obscene amount, at least for our cities involved. Best of luck to you. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

[mkm1993 92]

1 minute ago, PhotoJ89 said:

Hey there. I ended up just going to "pick her up". I did not go to the interview, but everything went smoothly. She received her passport with the visa in it 6 business days after the interview. She fiancee lives 3 hours by air from Rio, so she stayed there for the medical the week before, through the interview. Each extra night there was another night away from home/hotel costs, so she just wanted to get home and have the passport sent to her.

 

We just arrived back to my home in California yesterday. Point of entry was in Houston, it only took 10-15 minutes longer than "normal" immigration at the airport, but this was at 5 am and there were only a few other arriving flights at the time - we basically arrived right when immigration opened, so YMMV at different airports/times. Logistically it's actually quite difficult to get down there (without much notice, and in a fairly short time frame of dates) and return on the same flights without paying an obscene amount, at least for our cities involved. Best of luck to you. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

I appreciate that... luckily my girlfriend has a sister in Rio and I guess we will be staying there. We've debated wether or not I should come after it's already issued to her or for me to be there for the interview... I can have as much time off as I need but financially I can only probably do 2 weeks maybe 2 1/2. So you are saying you went to pick your soon to be wife up after she had already gone home and received her visa by mail? The only thing that concerns me about going to the interview and staying at her sisters or a hotel to wait for the visa to pick up is the fact that it would end up taking a longer amount of time. Go ahead and gamble and stay or just wait till she has it and is already home is the question I've been pondering lol. Thanks for your input and congrats on your future with your wife. My fiancé is from Salvador. 

[PhotoJ89 30]

1 minute ago, mkm1993 said:

I appreciate that... luckily my girlfriend has a sister in Rio and I guess we will be staying there. We've debated wether or not I should come after it's already issued to her or for me to be there for the interview... I can have as much time off as I need but financially I can only probably do 2 weeks maybe 2 1/2. So you are saying you went to pick your soon to be wife up after she had already gone home and received her visa by mail? The only thing that concerns me about going to the interview and staying at her sisters or a hotel to wait for the visa to pick up is the fact that it would end up taking a longer amount of time. Go ahead and gamble and stay or just wait till she has it and is already home is the question I've been pondering lol. Thanks for your input and congrats on your future with your wife. My fiancé is from Salvador. 

Nice! Salvador is really interesting, it was the first place I visited in Brazil. My fiancee is from Maceio. 

 

Well, everything at this point becomes a complex cost-benefit analysis. You have to figure out how much these different options mean to your fiancee. Figure out what's most important to her and make it happen if possible within reason. Also it's up to you to explain the factors on your side (time, money, work, etc.). It felt like every decision that was made towards the end was complex and difficult with one of us giving up something either way. I've found it's difficult to communicate well when we were in different countries, especially with the time difference.

 

Congrats to you too. The real fun is just about to start...

[trames87 227]

Congrats to both of you. I am currently still waiting for the NOA2. My fiance' is in Sao Paulo. He made mention of having me there for the interview, but I didn't think I had to be there.

[Mococatx 45]

Nobody has actually answered the OPs question.  I realize that he doesn't need the answer now, but I DO, and maybe there are others out there as well?

 

Does the petitioner need to be present for the interview at the Embassy in Rio?  

[trames87 227]

5 minutes ago, Mococatx said:

Nobody has actually answered the OPs question.  I realize that he doesn't need the answer now, but I DO, and maybe there are others out there as well?

 

Does the petitioner need to be present for the interview at the Embassy in Rio?  

 

On 6/27/2017 at 11:19 AM, PhotoJ89 said:

Hey there. I ended up just going to "pick her up". I did not go to the interview, but everything went smoothly. She received her passport with the visa in it 6 business days after the interview. She fiancee lives 3 hours by air from Rio, so she stayed there for the medical the week before, through the interview. Each extra night there was another night away from home/hotel costs, so she just wanted to get home and have the passport sent to her.

 

We just arrived back to my home in California yesterday. Point of entry was in Houston, it only took 10-15 minutes longer than "normal" immigration at the airport, but this was at 5 am and there were only a few other arriving flights at the time - we basically arrived right when immigration opened, so YMMV at different airports/times. Logistically it's actually quite difficult to get down there (without much notice, and in a fairly short time frame of dates) and return on the same flights without paying an obscene amount, at least for our cities involved. Best of luck to you. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Per OP's response, he did not need to be there.😊

[Mococatx 45]

Just adding my fiancé 's point of view since he went for his interview today, by himself...

 

He said he saw lots of couples getting approved for their visas and lots of people there alone getting denied or being told they need more documentation.

He was told he needed more documentation.  I'm still waiting to see exactly what documents but it seemed to be related to a police document that he had to get from the cartorio that he had never heard of and that was not listed on the website.

 

I realize that his point of view is just that, HIS point of view, but it looks like I may be (spending even more money and) making a trip to Rio when we set the next appointment.  

[Ash&Jaye 159]

As long as your fiancee has a lot of evidence, she should be fine. You don't have to be there for the k-1 visa interview, any US citizen going with their foreign fiance to the K1 visa interview is just there for moral support  

Edited May 9, 2019 by Ash&Jaye