prolixus

I think the main thing is that they are ending the direct consular filing option because the USCIS office is closing there, and not the embassy?

I apologize for my choice of words, "fake converting" was a poor choice. You might want to consider exploring the religion and learning more about it and deciding for yourself. I didn't feel like I was deceiving anyone about my religion because I wasn't really sure whether I was going to continue practicing Islam or not at the time. I learned a lot about the religion, culture and the prayers. In the end I did not and that was my choice, it doesn't change the fact that my marriage is real, and the continued relationship my wife now has with her mom is real that otherwise may not be there. 

Felt compelled to comment on this because I went through a similar issue. I was the immigrant non-muslim male coming from Canada, so my embassy/consulate was different than what Bahrain might be like. My wife was originally from Bangladesh but moved to America when she was very young.
 
It was technically illegal under muslim law or whatever for us to marry because I was not muslim, and when her family found out about us they were devastated and were basically ready to throw her out. She was never religious but her family thought she was. In order to make the process easier for them, I kind of "fake converted" and we got married in a mosque. It's been almost a decade and her dad never did come around but her mom did pretty quickly after she thought I converted, and while neither me or my wife practice Islam at all, her mom learned to live with it and we have a good relationship with her and her side of the family. Because of that we were able to show lots of pictures with them to immigration.
 
You might want to consider the whole conversion thing if it'll make it easier for everyone, doesn't matter what you do when she comes over to the US, at that point it doesn't really matter and you don't have to be religious at all. My wife and I are atheists. 

Felt compelled to comment on this because I went through a similar issue. I was the immigrant non-muslim male coming from Canada, so my embassy/consulate was different than what Bahrain might be like. My wife was originally from Bangladesh but moved to America when she was very young.
 
It was technically illegal under muslim law or whatever for us to marry because I was not muslim, and when her family found out about us they were devastated and were basically ready to throw her out. She was never religious but her family thought she was. In order to make the process easier for them, I kind of "fake converted" and we got married in a mosque. It's been almost a decade and her dad never did come around but her mom did pretty quickly after she thought I converted, and while neither me or my wife practice Islam at all, her mom learned to live with it and we have a good relationship with her and her side of the family. Because of that we were able to show lots of pictures with them to immigration.
 
You might want to consider the whole conversion thing if it'll make it easier for everyone, doesn't matter what you do when she comes over to the US, at that point it doesn't really matter and you don't have to be religious at all. My wife and I are atheists. 

I had my interview at the Montreal consulate in 2015, but it was for an IR-1 visa. At that point my spouse and I were already married for 4.5 years. I was really worried about the outcome too but the Montreal consulate is pretty relaxed, and the interview was very easy and straight forward. The interviewer was a guy probably in his late 20's or early 30's and was very friendly. One of their biggest concerns is when the US citizen petitioner is living in Canada, and domicile becomes an issue, but that won't apply to your case. Good luck!

Had my interview in Orlando yesterday. I have a 10 year green card with no removal of conditions, applying under 3 year rule. 
 
My interview was at 10:00am and I arrived around 9:30. Security at the Orlando field office was was pretty quick, there was one couple ahead of me, took about 5 minutes. You have to have your interview letter and identification out and ready for them. After that I approached the reception desk and showed them my letter and green card, and they gave me a slip with a number. I then went to the waiting area to wait for my number to be called. The waiting room was pretty big, and not exactly crowded. There was plenty of seating for everyone there.
 
I waited about 50 minutes before my number was called. The numbers can be called at random, so for example if your number is "P62", they could call P74, P67 before yours. I think it's probably because whoever is supposed to interview you is predetermined, so your number will get called whenever that particular officer is ready to interview you. 
 
So after 50 minutes or so my number was called, I approached the door and followed my interviewer to her office. She asked me a few questions first, like my full name and date of birth, easy questions. Then I was put under oath. After that, we went through the standard yes and no questions that are on the N-400 and I verbally answered them all. One thing I'd like to note, I did get a speeding ticket 2.5 years ago. On the question where it asks if you've ever been arrested, cited, or detained or whatever, I had answered no. In preparing for my interview I got all the documents for it that I could, including what I guess is a court disposition that was stamped by the clerk of court, that showed the ticket was paid. So when I was asked that question, I said no, but I did get a speeding ticket in 2016. All she asked was if it was paid, I said yes, and we moved on. Did not need any documentation for it or anything further. 
 
Once those questions were all answered we moved right into the civics test. I was asked six questions and answered all six correctly. I was told I had passed the civics test and she was preparing the reading and writing sample. There was an issue with her system, it wasn't working properly so she told me she would close out of my file and I guess try going back into it to see if it would work. When she went back into my file, all the answers I had given for the civics test were wiped. I told her it was no big deal and I wouldn't mind taking it again, so we did that. I was asked another set of six questions and answered all six correctly again. I'll try my best to recall all the questions I was asked:
 
What is the supreme law of the land?
What are two rights in the declaration of independence?
Who does a US senator represent?
Why do some states have more representatives than others?
Who signs bills to become laws?
What is the highest court in the United States?
What are the two major political parties in the United States?
What is the political party of the president now?
What is one responsibility only for United States citizens?
How old do citizens have to be to vote for president?
When was the constitution written?
Who was the president during world war one?
 
I believe that was all the civics questions I was asked. Not in the order I was asked, but that is all of them. After that we moved on to the reading and writing. I had to read "When is Columbus day?" and write " Columbus day is in October." 
 
I brought a LOAD of documents with me. I hardly needed any of them. Another thing, my spouse was not born in the US but became a citizen when her parents were naturalized when she was 12. I submitted a copy of her US passport with my application. They didn't need to see any further proof of her citizenship, I didn't need to show her passport or anything. I guess the copy I had submitted of just the biographic data page was enough. 
 
One thing that they did need that I did not submit was a copy of my IR-1 visa in my passport. I didn't know they needed that, it was never asked for, but I still had the same passport I used when I immigrated so she just made a copy of that. 
 
Towards the end of my interview, she asked me if I had any further proof of our bona fide marriage. I had brought a lot, I gave her copies of leases from our apartments, document from our car loan, various bank statements, and recent mortgage documents. I printed about 10 new pictures over the past 3 years, some with just me and my spouse and some with her parents and with my parents. 
 
As a final note, I just want to say that I was pretty nervous for my interview, and it was all for nothing. The lady who interviewed me was professional but very very nice, and it helped to put me at ease. As far as I could tell, everyone who does interviews at the Orlando office seems very nice and friendly, and overall it was a fantastic experience. Once my interview was over, I waited about another half hour for a lady to come through a different door and hand out the oath ceremony letters. Mine is scheduled for tomorrow.