Meatball699

44 minutes ago, m17122018 said:

What worries me is that, apparently, in the last year the timelines have changed a lot. The embassy says “about 3 months” but honestly that wouldn’t make any sense! 

If you don’t mind me asking, why did it take so long since P3 to the actual interview? 

You need to have patience in this process. The current administration has been cutting budgets and he state department has had a lot of people leave so I am not surprised the timelines are longer. We waited nearly 5 months for the green card interview communication after sending the documents.  

The wait between P3 and interview was just personal logistics. My fiance had to go to Madrid for the medical exam and then we had to find a time when we could both get back to Madrid for the interview. We could have scheduled it sooner. 

14 hours ago, m17122018 said:

Hey everyone! I am not sure if anyone on this post is still active and will see this message. So my case will get to the embassy tomorrow and from then I am at an absolute lost as to when what is going to happen. Can I send P3 BEFORE the email it to me? As I already got a coy of it... Also, in your experience, how long does each step take now????

THANKS!!!

You should wait for instructions from the embassy, in our case we got them within a couple of weeks. I have attached the instructions they sent me to this post and they are very specific, if you send it before they ask, you may be missing a document or  they may not be ready to accept it. This is from the Embassy in Madrid, others may be different.

Check out the timelines on this site and you can look at mine for our specific wait times. 

Embassy instructions english.pdf

6 hours ago, Mary&Rafa said:

Just to clarify because you said most documents. Do they require any documents to be translated then??

 

The general rule is that any "supporting documents" that are in a non-english language need to be translated. For us, that was only a birth certificate and her divorce decree. I used an online service to do the translation, but I think that you can use anyone that is fluent in the language as long as they sign the paper. 

So my Fiance is here and we just got married on Saturday!!

I am working on the AoS paperwork and realized that I might have a name consistency problem.  

So her name is a typical Spanish last name  <fathers last name> de <mothers last name> 

Due to my own ignorance, I have filled out the paperwork up to this point using her <fathers last name> as her middle name and "de <mothers last name> " as her last name. 

Nobody has questioned it so far, but I am afraid that we might run into a problem with the next steps. 

Should I just continue with the middle-last as I have or should I fill out the next documents with her full, real last name (using both)? 

In most of the documents I have seen, your middle name is not considered part of your legal name, only first and last are. 

I really don't know why I wasn't allowed in either. The security guard said that sometimes it is allowed. Another couple was there at the same time and they were already married, he was not allowed in either. 

My fiance had her final interview at the Embassy in Madrid, Spain today and she was Approved!!

For the benefit of others, here is our experience. 

First, IMHO, you don't need a lawyer if you have a real relationship. There are a lot of details to cover, but each step is well documented and even if you make a mistake, it just costs you a little bit of time to fix a document. 
I filled out the I-129, included photos and plane tickets from 2 years worth of trips together. I used an online service to translate her birth cert and previous divorce papers. This was all easy if you follow the directions.

After the paperwork made it to the Embassy, it got a little more difficult because there were quite a few details left out of even the best guides. FYI.. Madrid will only communicate by Email, but they are good about responding quickly. 

The Medical exam was the most difficult part to figure out. In Madrid, there is only one doctors office that can do the exam and the exam needs to done at least a week before your interview. My fiance had to fly to Madrid for the day and have the exam. We picked up the medical packet on the day before the interview. She did not have any of her childhood vaccination records, so she had to have a blood analysis for MMR and Chicken Pox antibodies plus a vaccine for Tetanus and another. The office was very good and they made it fairly easy. 

The actual interview could not have been easier. I was in Madrid with her, but I was not allowed in the embassy for the interview. She went to a window and gave them the medical paperwork then waited for a few minutes. She was called to a second window for the interview where they asked- "How did you meet?", "What job does he have?", "Have you met his family?", "How many children does he have?", "How many times has he been married?" and thats it. Even though we had a complete packet of pictures and plane tickets to prove the relationship, they did not ask to see it. 

Language and Translations- The interview can be done in English or Spanish, whichever you are most comfortable with.  Most documents do not need to be translated if they are in English or Spanish.