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Chile US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 4
/ 5
82 Review(s)
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|  Review #10367 on September 11, 2012: |
Christy04
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
This is a general review of my experience as the petitioner; I was not present at the interview.
Setting up the interview was a frustrating process. My fiance never received his packets of instructions from the Consulate. The only reason we knew about the interview at all is because I emailed them a couple weeks prior to make a general inquiry about the status of his case. They emailed me back about 2-business days later and forwarded the interview letter (date and time), with no other information. This was 11 days before the intended interview. I wrote them back to ask what should be done to acquire the information, but they never responded.
Luckily, my fiance was able to set up the medical appointment not too long after we found out about the interview. He explained the situation to the doctor (the man, the woman was out sick) who was both very flexible in setting up the appointment and able to provide the necessary medical forms. While in Santiago (he's from Chile), my fiance went directly to the Consulate to ask for the packets. There were two security guards. One was relatively rude while the other was very friendly and, after my fiance explained his situation, that security guard went inside to find out what my fiance should do. He was led into the office and the woman behind the desk was very friendly. My fiance had no problem picking up the information, despite arriving unannounced. However, when the woman found out that his interview was scheduled for Labor Day (US Holiday), she informed him that the Consulate is closed on that day and pushed his interview back another week! While we were both happy that we had a little more time to prepare, it makes me wonder what would have happened if he had shown up on the original date.
On the day of the interview, my fiance stopped by the doctor's office in the morning to pick up his completed medical forms, and then went to the Consulate. While I don't have a lot of information about his experience, I know the interviewer was very friendly and helpful, and the visa was approved quickly. It was a positive experience. My fiance was informed that the visa should be ready in 2-3 weeks. He had the option of either picking it up at a DHL office or having it sent to his home and, given our prior experience, he will be picking it up.
| | | Review #10143 on August 7, 2012: |
laurabrew
Rating: 
· 1 person found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The consulate was really great. My only criticism would be that you can't call them directly, any questions have to go through email. In the final steps of the process they answered my questions within 24 hours, but in the first stages, before we had a case number, they took a week or more.
I went in to the embassy twice. I (the sponsoring citizen) live in Chile so it's been a lot easier for us. First I had to go to pick up the instruction packet because it took so long. We received our 2nd NOA in mid May and by July we still didn't have the packet, so I called the NVC and they told me to contact the consulate, which I did, and the consulate told me I could pick it up there. Funny how the same day I picked it up the package arrived at our house! The first time I went in the morning when they do tourist visas and the place was packed. But when we went back for our interview on a Monday at 2pm (they gave us one month to prepare everything, it was stressful but we did it!) there was only one other woman in line ahead of us, and another couple and single guy came behind us. We arrived at the consulate around 1:20 and they opened the doors for us to enter at 1:30. We waited until the interviewers opened the windows at 2:00 and called us up. The lady at the window was Chilean and the same one who I spoke to the first time I came to pick up my package. I was able to stay with my fiance the whole time and even help him answer the questions. She asked how we met, and recorded in pretty good detail the story. Then she asked what we did in Chile (he is from Peru so we are both foreigners here) and how long we've been here. She asked about other dates, when we started dating, when we moved in together (we told her we lived together), when we got engaged. She looked through all the papers I gave her (over 100 pages!) and gave me back anything that she didn't need, including the proof of the relationship. Then we sat down and waited to be called to another window. While we were waiting we could overhear another woman's interview, she had previously overstayed her visa by several months and then claimed that she hadn't on her application form, so she was denied pending an apology letter that would take about 6 months to process. So a tip for anyone else- don't lie! They catch you. But luckily for us everything went smoothly. In the next step, the actual "interview", the guy (American, but did the interview in Spanish for my fiancee) asked about our plans for the US, the trip, the wedding, and we responded that we hadn't made set plans because we wanted to wait and see what would happen with the visa. He said that everything looked good, gave my fiancee the paper to sign saying he would marry me within 90 days of entering the US and even joked around asking him "Are you sure you want to do this?". He told us on the spot that we were approved and could pick up the passport with the visa at DHL in two weeks. So like everyone else says in the forum this was really the easiest part! On a side note, I have some advice about the medical interview: We had our embassy appointment on a Monday and the medical exam on Thursday before. The fiancee had to take off Thursday and Friday because the next day he had to go get vaccinations and a chest X-ray, and then drop off those documents at the doctor's office. We had to wait until Monday morning, the same day as the interview, to pick up our package from the doctor, who was really nice but kind of spacey and forgot where she put everything. I was really nervous about the interview and couldn't sleep thinking that she might lose some important piece of the packet! So for the rest of you, make your appointment at least a week before the interview so you can have time to get your vaccinations and scans and give the doctor time to put everything together for you. Good luck and I hope this review helps!
| | | Chile | Review #9632 on May 8, 2012: |
Matt & Rocio
Rating:
· 3 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I attended the interview with my wife and step-daughter. Their interview was scheduled for 2pm. We arrived at the main entrance around 1:30pm. There was another person being processed so we had to wait about 5 minutes and then they let us in. We were given number 4 and after going through a metal detector and handing over cell phones we proceeded to the consulate section of the Embassy. There we waited until 2pm when two of the windows opened, #7 and #8. It took about 15 minutes for them to process those that were ahead of us. When they called us up to the window they reviewed our packets and asked a few simple questions like had my wife ever applied for a visa before or if she had ever been to the US. She told the woman that she had applied for a Tourist Visa but was denied. She then asked for the medical results and any other documents we wanted to provide. We gave her the medical results along with about a dozen photos and some credit card statements that showed charges from both myself and my wife on the same account. We were at the window for about 10 minutes and and then the woman gave us a piece of paper with information on how to register with DHL to receive the passports with the visas. She told us that we would be called up one more time for a few questions. By this time window #6 opened up and a man was calling up the people who were ahead of us in line. We ended up waiting another 20 minutes or so before it was our turn. When we were called to the window he asked how we met and a few other simple questions. He then informed us that the visas were approved and that it normally takes 1-2 weeks for them to return the passports with the visas. I told him that I had to return to the US the following week for work and asked if we could pick up the passports directly from the Embassy. He stepped away for a minute then asked for a number where we could be reached and told us that the visas would be ready to be picked up in 2-3 days. We left the Embassy at about 3pm so the whole process took about an hour. In my opinion it was one of the easiest parts of the entire process. Prior to the interview I had been in contact with the Embassy via email and they were always very helpful. I just wish I could have dealt with them directly for the entire process.
| | | Chile | Review #9352 on March 20, 2012: |
Kay&Jon
Rating:
· 2 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Jon's (Chilean beneficiary) review of the embassy...
I got to the embassy at 1:20pm my interview was at 2:00. I was by myself waiting outside. At 1:30 two couples showed up to get in line for the K-1 visa as well. The security guy opened the door at 1:35. He asked me to go in and told us to take out any cell phones or electronic device and I had to give it to them. Then I had to walk through the metal detector. He gave me two numbers. One was red for my locker number one was yellow (Number 1) for the number of my place in line for the interview. Then I went outside to the courtyard. It was a huge place but there you can see a path to the consulate. In front of the door that says "Consulado" there was another security guy who told me to take a seat and wait for my number to be called. After I walked into the room nobody was there. There were just three girls (Chilean) at a desk working quietly on paperwork but it had nothing to do with me. I took a seat in front of window number 8 and waited there for about 20 minutes (In the room they have a TV playing a video provided by the USCIS I assume talking about America. There is also a bathroom and a vending machine!) Then other people started getting into the room, they were applying for other kinds of visas. The girls at the desk started taking their papers and then they opened the curtains and a Chilean girl said "Number 1 to Window 8". I went to the window, the girl said do you have all your paperwork? I said yes. Then she asked me if I had the receipt for the visa, I also said yes and she asked me for the receipt. Then she asked me for my DS157. Then she gave me back some papers saying I gave her too much. Then she asked me for my DS156 and my DS230 (part 1 only). Finally, she told me she was going to ask me some questions. The first question was "How did you meet your fiancee?" I told her the whole story of how I met her. Then she asked me if I knew my fiancee's parents. I said yes. She saw that I had been in the United States twice (on a work and travel visa) and asked what I was there for. Then she asked me how many time my fiancee had been in Chile (like 10!). Then, what is the language you use when you speak to each other (I told her she speaks Chilean very well!) :P When I was giving my answers, she was typing them into a computer. Finally she said, ok everything looks alright take a seat and they will call you to window #6.
I waited 5 minutes and an American man called me to window #6. He said "Ok I am going to ask you some questions. I need to know if you understand everything on the DS156K, I said yes and signed it in front of him. He then had me raise my right hand and swear this.
Then he started with the questions (in Spanish, he never asked me which language I wanted to do the interview in) Tell me how you met your fiancee? I repeated the answer, he asked if I had met my fiance's family, I said yes (again). He was very nice with me for the entire interview.
Then he said "Ok all your files look in order so that's it, do you have any questions about the process?". I said, no, sorry that I wasn't speaking in English to you I just wanted to be sure of my answers. He said "Its ok I'm not sure of my Spanish sometimes either" Finally he made sure that I knew I had 90 days to get married once I arrive in the U.S. I said ok and left.
The whole process was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Everybody was really nice to me, it wasn't a bad experience at all! 
| | | Guangzhou, China | Review #8970 on January 6, 2012: |
Steve and Jing
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My fiance's interview was scheduled for the beginning of the new year. She had to show up the day before to hand in her paparwork which took 4 hours to do and then was scheduled the next day at 7:30 AM to wait in line for what would be another 3 hours for a 5 minute interview. While the whole point is for Visa approval which was relatively easy the process of getting to that interview was ridiculous. She even had to go through the Immigrant line even though this is a nonimmigrant visa. That was confusing in itself. All-in-all we are happy. She has the visa. But if you have to go through any interview process at all here, please be well prepared and EARLY.
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