Mario001

Just got back from my Visa Interview. Here is my feedback:
 
Let me share my experience of the K1-Visa at the France US Embassy. I did my interview today, May 5th 2021.
 
I am Portuguese, so I will comment on my experience and what was the necessary documents for a Portuguese Citizen. If you are not Portuguese the required documents or what they check could be different.
Embassy sends an email 3 weeks before the appointment.

You should book your medical appointment 15 days before your interview. The embassy says that you will get an envelope with the medicals but that information is outdated. After your medical they send the results by email to the embassy (If you do the medical in Lisbon). You don't receive anything. The medical exam is: Blood analysis, eye exam, chest x-ray, check your vaccines and do a general touch on your whole body to see if you have any lumps.
The police certificate is a document that you can get online. You pay by card and you are able to download the document. The document is exactly the same if you get it online or in person, so I strongly recommend that you get the document online to save time. To access the document you will need your "Chave Movel Digital" Be sure to have it, if not you can order online and you will receive it in 5 businesses days. I think the cost was 5euros
The birth certificate, you cannot get it online, you need to go to a "Loja do Cidadao" or "IRN" that offers this service and they will print it and stamp it. It took my one week to get the document because booking is a bit limited. Cost was 20euros
 
The website says that you need 1 One color photograph – 2 inches by 2 inches — for each applicant. This is outdated. They asked for 2 photographs 2inches by 2 inches. You can get this picture at any place, just be ready to pay extra because this is not a usual format in Portugal. I payed 10 euros for 3 photos!
 
I brought the I-134 and I-864 documents with me to the embassy, but they were not necessary. They didn't even ask for them. However, just in case you should have them (just don't put a lot of effort into them).
Additionally, you will need to get a chronopost envelope to give at the embassy. This can only be purchased in France at any La Poste office (there is a bunch of them, and one near the embassy). The envelope costs 59euros. Do not throw away the foam that comes inside the envelope.
 
If you are flying to Paris from Lisbon. I recommend that you fly to Orly or BVA, Both have really good bus routes that take you to Paris city center. It's much cheaper than flying directly to CDG airport. On my departure flight I flew Lisbon to BVA and took a 1hour bus (this bus departs the airport every 20min, and costs 16euros) to Paris. In Paris you can take the subway to your hotel. On my return flight I took the bus to Orly. It was 9.50euros.
I found that AirBnb was cheaper than a hotel.
 
At the embassy you arrive and you need to wait to be called in. I was let in at exactly my interview time. I had to leave all my food with the officer. Inside the embassy you go to 3 different people:
*  First booth - Asks for the DS-160 and your passport, they then send you to another booth
* Second booth - The lady asks for your Birth Certificate, Police Record, Passport, Medical Record (in case it was not submitted by email from the hospital), the chronopost envelope, 2 passport photos and the Fiaance statement that she is still free to marry.
* Third booth - Finally you have the interview. To be honest, the interviewers was really not putting a lot of effort. It felt like he just had a checklist to fill out, and that's it. He just asked:
        * Is your fiance a US citizen or a Greencard holder?
        * Where did you meet? (You don't even need to give details)
        * Please show me one picture you two together.


And that's it. Total time at the embassy from entry to exit was 45min. If you have an appointment in the morning you can book a flight in the afternoon (ex: 4pm) and you will have enough time to arrive at the airport after the interview.
PS - Don't forget that when you do the DS-160 you need to select France Consulate and not Lisbon.
 

Just want to add here a comment for future Portuguese people that go trough the K1 visa process.
The birth certificate, you can only get it by going to a "Loja do Cidadao" or "Registos". It's a paper that has both Portuguese English and French translation. It has a stamp, so it's not possible to get it online. It took be one week to get it. I had to make an appointment and then I got it there.
The police certificate you can get it online it's an online certified document. Getting it online or physically it's the same thing. It's just something printed. It has no stamping, but it says it's digitally certified. To access it you will need you "Chave Digital" if you don't have it you can sign up for it and it will take 4 business days. Getting the online certificate is instantaneous.
The doctor appointment was pretty straight forward. You go there in the morning (from 8 to 10am), they take your blood, do a chest X-Ray and a eye exam. After that you return at 5pm and get a normal doctor appointment where they check if you have all your vaccines, any diseases or physically problem.
You don't take the medical records with you, they will send them either by mail or a pdf to the embassy.
To the medical exam you need to bring: 1 Portuguese passport photo, vaccine card, passport, embassy appointment email, ID card (Cartao de Cidadao). The cost was 224euros.
 
Hope this helps!
 

Sounds like you are eligible. 

Even so, it's still great news that you got a biometrics appointment so quickly.  There are folks here who have been waiting close to a year just for biometrics.
 

You can't get a EAD issued without biometrics, therefore, you can't request to expedite it if your biometrics haven't been done yet. So after biometrics are done, you can request to expedite it again.

They can waive if the USCIS has a recent capture on file.  DOS and USCIS don't share biometrics information 

Just want to let everyone know that I got an email today from the US Embassy in France saying that my K1 interview has been scheduled for May 5th.

It's all taken care for by email. Yes you will need a Portuguese address to receive the packets!

Just want to let everyone know that I got an email today from the US Embassy in France saying that my K1 interview has been scheduled for May 5th.

Given that the I-485 seems to be taking longer than I-765 and I-131. It would make sense to also apply for those? It seems you would get you EAD/AP combo 100 days early than your greencard. (From VJ timeline).

I would, it’s free when filing altogether for adjustment of status.

You are welcome!
 
You don't need any notarized or translation of any of the documents. The document already comes write in multiple languages including English.
 
It comes like this:
Nome/Name: XXX
Data de nascimento/Date of birth: XXX
 
Same for the police records
 
 

Just want to let everyone know that I got an email today from the US Embassy in France saying that my K1 interview has been scheduled for May 5th.

Not required from USA

You are confusing the regional COVID proclamations with 2 very different proclamations. The ongoing regional COVID proclamations don't have a set end date. The April 22, 2020 proclamation (PP 10014) and the June 22, 2020 proclamation (PP 10052) did have a listed end date that was subsequently extended by other proclamations. PP 10052 is the one that expired on March 31 and PP 10014 was completely rescinded by Biden on February 24: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/rescission-of-presidential-proclamation-10014.html But PP 10014 and PP 10052 did not at all affect K-1 visas.
DOS recently announced NIE for K-1 visa: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/updates-to-national-interest-exceptions-for-regional-covid-proclamations.html
 

You can always send them an email or see on the webpage. If I had to make a guess I would say that they are not processing K1 visas. 

Just to give a follow up to this thread and to provide information to anyone trying to fly to Europe.

My fiance (American) flew yesterday to Portugal. The only requirement to fly was to have a negative COVID result done 72h before her flight. She prepared a folder to prove our relationship (unmarried couple). The folder included photos of us at different places, common expenses, flight tickets, our K1 visa documents.
At check-in they were a bit confused, because there it's not explicitly written that unmarried couples call fly to Portugal to be reunited (it's a generic sentece), but nevertheless they let her fly. She had a layover in Newark, and the same thing happened. When she arrived in Portugal, at border control the guy just stamped her passport, didn't even ask why she was there.

The people that asked all the questions at checking, they were just doing there job, from what I was able to understand they have some specific guidelines, but they are very open if you case is not 100% clear for them. It also seems that if you are able to board chances are good that you are able to get to your final destination.

I don’t think that you have to have a common law marriage. As long as you have proof of a long lasting relationship, I think it’s worth trying. I know that Germany has a form to fill out for the American visiting their fiancé. I am actually flying to Germany today and have a layover in Portugal (I’m American and my fiancé lives in Germany). I will be sure to update you to let you know about traveling to Portugal. 

That's interesting. At least for me on the website, it still shows that there are no available dates. 

Hey everyone! I saw on Department of States Twitter that certain embassies would be opening up their schedule for routine services. https://www.gtlaw.com/en/insights/2020/5/summer-2020-travel-advisory-us-embassy-consular-services-and-covid-19-restrictions
Then I saw on this website that France was opening up the schedule for non immigrant appointments in August. Did anyone hear from/ call the embassy to confirm this? My fiancé has Interview been rescheduled for the three times on August 5th. Hopefully this means that this one might not get cancelled.

I would wait for the upcoming days, when the EU is going to release a travel guide, saying which countries can enter the EU. I think they are going to release it tomorrow. I know this doesn't really answer your question, but it maybe you will have more info then.