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US Consulate and USCIS Office Reviews

The Reviews below are actual experiences by members of the VisaJourney community and provide insight into the many immigration related offices around the world. If you are a member and would like to submit a review please follow one of the links below. To find reviews on a consulate or CIS office please make a selection from one of the pull down tabs and click "Find Entries".


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Last 5 Reviews

Columbus OH Review #33698 on June 21, 2025:

JadeNic



Rating:


Review Topic: Adjustment of Status

Check in was super quick and easy, the wait for the appointment was minimal and the appointment went super fast. Officer was friendly and personable. Entirely painless.

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Hungary Review #33697 on June 18, 2025:

Bash44

Bash44

Rating:


Review Topic: K1 Visa

The day of the visa interview was smooth, I arrived 30 minutes early but they only let me in 15 minutes before the interview. I had to go up to two separate windows. At the first window my documents were collected, then after a couple minutes I was called to the second window where my interview was conducted. Very basic questions about the relationship and my partner and some about wedding plans. My visa was verbally approved on the spot, then I was good to go.
Pleasant experience.

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Jamaica Review #33696 on June 17, 2025:

Moniqueca

Moniqueca

Rating:


Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa

It was a 3 and a half hour process. I arrived around 7 and left around 10:30. I brought additional documents but was only asked for birth certs for myself and my husband and marriage cert. It was pretty straightforward.

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Sweden Review #33695 on June 17, 2025:

Nywoek



Rating:


Review Topic: K1 Visa

I am a Norwegian who had to go to Stockholm, Sweden for my K1 interview.

Took bus 69 from the central station to get there. It leaves every 20 minutes in the morning. The bus stop is called "Ambassadorna" and the US embassy is across the road from it, so very easy to spot and get to.

K1 visas are only done on mondays, but they have a lot of other visa applicants also coming in. The embassy opens at 8, and the lines start to form. I got in the non-immigrant visa line, but I do believe that I was supposed to wait in the immigrant visa line due to the nature of the K1 at this stage.

You need to bring a printed version of the DS160 confirmation page on paper, or they will not let you into the building. When you are called up they will ask for you to hold that and your passport up. Then they let you in, you walk through a metal detector and they run your bag through the scanner. No electronics except your phone are allowed. You can bring a small bag, they will ask to see it from outside the window. They say in the letter they have storage for your phone, but you actually get to keep and use it, with clear instructions to not record anything.

Once you get through security, follow the dots and the pathway to the next building up the hill. Inside a security guard will tell you where to go. Just say immigrant visa to him when he asks if you already told him K1. You get to sit at table by the windows and I was told I was next in line after someone, and to watch for when they finish and go up to a window, because no one will call your name at that point. Just pay attention and walk up to the window. At that point I just had to give my passport and then was told to go sit down again. Then you wait for a while and they call you back to the same window to give your papers. This is not the interview.

This is where I was told I did not need to bring a waybill to ship my passport back to Norway with my packet and visa. They do this free of charge if you have registered your address in the usvisaschedule website. So no need for a waybill, no matter what the internet tells you. The lady at the window also took all the papers I needed and we clarified the situation with my kids who are US citizens. She still needed their birth certificates (But only copies) and I did not need their CRBAS. I had to ask her to get my divorce decree back later, so any originals you want back you should ask to get back, or they will take them and keep them.

Then I had to wait again (most of this will be waiting), until an officer called me up to a window. You make an oath that you have answered truthfully in your applications and they take your prints. Then they ask you questions about your relationship. I was a little out of it but I think there were the questions I got:

-How did you meet your finace?
-So you are both gamers? (I told him we met on discord playing games.. lol)
-Have you visited him? And how many times.
-Has he visited you? And how many times. (He seemed impressed that we have met 13 times over the past 2,5 years lol)
-What does he do for work? (He also asked about specifics about the job, but it was more of a conversation. My fiance is a developer so he was asking if he made games and I said he works for a big company and creates tech solutions for them)
-Do you have any degrees?
-When did you meet?
-When did you get engaged?
-So you met in 2021? (It was 2022, so I corrected him)
-Why have you not gotten married yet, if you have been engaged for a year and a half? (This was the only question that threw me a bit, I was not expecting that. I told him the truth - that we have not been 100% sure where we wanted to live, so this was the best way to do this and keep our options open. We have both looked at opportunities in both countries and landed on me moving there for now).
-I think he asked if we would be living where my fiance lives, although he never asked me where that is or anything.

I had prepared the proof of relationship from the i129-f printed in a folder, plus new photos for every trip we took after submitting the application. I also had my fiance fill out the financial support papers, got a letter from his employer, printed W2s and paystubs and we both signed new letters of intent to marry since the NOA2 had expired in may a few weeks prior. I was not asked for any of this, but I am still glad I had it.

During the interview and after he typed up my 221g. This was because despite completing my medical in Oslo over a month prior to this, they had not sent my papers to Stockholm yet. So I technically got refused, but he told me he would approve the application as soon as they got the medical records on file. I called the clinic for the third time, telling them I had been refused because of the missing papers, and a few hours later I got a text saying they were sending my papers to Stockholm.

The officer told me that once they have the papers it will probably take about 2 weeks. I do not know if he means that it will take 2 weeks to finish the visa, or 2 weeks to ship it. I have tickets in late july so I am hoping for the best here, but that is the risk you take when you get them early. (They are 100% refundable, so it will be ok). Maybe I will update this review and say how long it took before I had visa in hand.

Everyone was friendly and professional. Just pay attention and follow instructions and everything will be ok. The building is big and has a bunch of metal fences around it, so it feels a bit intimidating, but it is all going to be ok.

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France Review #33694 on June 13, 2025:

Nico12



Rating:


Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa

I recently applied for an IR1 immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. After my case was approved by the NVC and an expedited request was granted in early May 2025, I had my interview at the embassy on May 21, 2025. The consular officer was professional and informed me that my visa was “Approved,” pending receipt of my medical file.

Despite my doctor confirming that my medical file was sent on May 13, 2025, my case remained stuck with no updates from the embassy. I sent several emails between May 22 and early June but received no response or clear information about my situation.

Due to this lack of communication, my American wife contacted a Congressman on June 8, 2025, to try to resolve the issue. It was only after her intervention that I saw progress: my case status changed from “Refused” to “Ready,” then to “Administrative Processing,” and finally to “Issued” on June 12, 2025.

In summary, the interview and the expedited processing via the NVC went smoothly, but the complete lack of communication after the interview and the inability to get any answers without outside intervention were very stressful and are areas that the U.S. Embassy in Paris should work to improve.

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