PETITIONER GO TO THE INTERVIEW OR NOT???

[Pitaya 2,576]

As I previously mentioned, if you can go, GO!

 

It is up to the individual consulates/embassies if the petitioner is allowed to actually attend the interview. When my wife (then-fiancee) and son had their interview at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, it was a five hour jet flight from their city north of Beijing to Guangzhou near Hong Kong in the south. I was determined to go to Guangzhou knowing full well that the consulate doesn't allow the petitioner to attend the interview. I was down the hall,

 

nervously enjoying an expensive Starbuck's.  I felt that it was important for me to make the over 16 hour flight from Seattle to be in Guangzhou to support my future family in one of most important meetings of our then-fledgling relationship. My wife was well prepared for her interview, but of course she was still very nervous about the importance of doing very well at this monumental meeting. If all goes well, our fate could be resolved in 10 minutes. I had her take my passport with an evolution of relationship letter from me, folded lengthwise tucked inside the passport. She placed it on top of her documents when passing her documents through the teller window. As she later told me, the CO spotted the blue US passport, glanced at my letter, commented that "I was there," and passed my passport back to my wife. The outcome of this meeting would have a direct bearing on each of our lives.That is why I made the trip to Guangzhou, not just to hand-deliver my I-134...lol.. After the successful interview, the celebratory dinner we enjoyed tasted all the better.

 

Support your future spouse if you can, and even if it is by only being in the immediate vicinity, it was worth it. Besides, it counted as another visit.

 

Good luck on your immigration journey.