Ed Hall

It was not overkill. Remember, this particular consulate is not your typical consulate that plays by the rules. They play by their own rules. We submitted tons of evidence multiple times only to be denied time after time due to "Lack of Evidence". It quickly became clear that we were dealing with a consulate that had a different agenda other than granting K1 visas to credible couples who wanted to spend a lifetime together. Finally, the only way to bring the suitcase full of evidence was by an 8 hour bus trip to the consulate. Fortunately, it finally worked but it was costly. Anyways I repeat, don't take any chances with this dangerous and unpredictable consulate.

Also, make sure you bring tons of evidence. We brought over 500 pictures and 3 reams of paper consisting of emails, online chats and e-cards. It all weighed in around 40 lbs. There is no such thing as too much evidence at this consulate. No matter how much you present to them, their standard motto is "Lack of Evidence". Anyways, good luck and don't become a victim.

You don't have to be there but not doing so could very likely cause you tons of grief, delays and being subject to harsh interrogation that's full of illegal questioning. I know this from first hand experience at this horrible consulate. However, it's your choice, but I'm warning you now. Also, make sure you get there a day early. We were scheduled for 3 pm and they pushed it back to 9 am claiming that the consulate would be closing in the afternoon. It was a total lie. I later learned that these types of games are standard practice that this down in the gutter consulate.

Thanks for all the responses and for the advice on hunting wild pigs / puercos. I'm the person whom TBoneTX wrote on behalf of. As already mentioned, my Ecuadorian wife and I moved from the city out to the country in Goliad, TX not too long ago and it has been quite a change. We've got a lot of wildlife roaming around here including wild pigs which are both plentiful and quite tasty from what I hear. Now that we've recently bought a big 23 cu ft chest freezer, I'm ready to buy a firearm to hunt these puercos. I have to admit that hunting and firearms are like Greek to me but since puercos are plentiful and good for eating, I now have a reason to be interested in hunting. Any suggestions on where I might consider buying a rifle? Should I buy used from a place like Craigslist, pawn shops, eBay???? What should I expect to pay for say a Remington 870 express?

There are no limits to what they can ask as in our case at the Guayaquil consulate in Ecuador. They know that they are immune from any form of retribution. The purpose of their interrogation techniques is to find a disparity between you and your fiance/fiancee answers so they have reason to call your relationship fake. All it takes is 1 disparity between the answers. And like in our case, they will go as far as asking questions regarding intimacy knowing that this is where people will often not answer honestly. If you said yes to having sex and she said no, that very well could be reason to deny the visa since both of you are asked beforehand to raise your hand and swear that you will tell nothing but the truth. In our case, we spent many months preparing for the interview knowing how difficult it would be and to this day, we are very shocked at the illegal treatment we received. We both were treated like criminals.
My advice it to prepare beforehand and always answer with short concise answers. Also, don't be afraid to answer "I don't remember" or "I don't know".

Well, I can tell you that we were interrogated at length with very specific detailed questions including our sex lives back in 2009 at the consulate in Guayaquil Ecuador for the K-1 visa. First, I was interrogated for nearly 45 minutes then afterwards, my fiancee at the time was interrogated and they asked the same exact questions. Luckily, our answers matched since we had spent months preparing. We even discussed how we would answer in the case they asked about our sex lives and luckily we did because it did happen. It's been nearly 2 years since and we are still feeling the shock from the horrible mistreatment.