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Chile US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 4
/ 5
82 Review(s)
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| Chile |  Review #8232 on September 1, 2011: |
kels1787
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I am the US petitioner, and my fiance, Carlos is the Chilean beneficiary. We have been living together and working in Santiago for about a year and a half now.
Yesterday (Aug 31st) we went to the US Embassy for his interview. I was quite nervous, but everything turned out great. We arrived at about 1:30pm (a half hour before his interview time - 14:00). There was a line outside, which we waited in. Once they opened the doors a little after 1:30pm, the line moved pretty quickly. Security let us through at about 1:40pm, and when they saw us they actually commented "la pareja feliz, pasen". That made us smile! They gave us a red number to claim our cellphones after the interview and a yellow number to be called in order for the interview. Then we put out stuff on the x-ray scanner table and walked through the metal detector, and out the back door through the patio, and into the Consulate. There were quite a few people in there waiting for various types of visas. We waited probably about a half hour before our number was called up to window 8.
I went up with him, and the Chilean woman behind the window told me (in English) that I could take a seat because she was just going to ask him for some documents, and that I could be right by his side during the interview. So I took a seat and I was trying to overhear what they were saying. She asked (in Spanish) for all of his stuff (birth and police certificates, doctor's envelope, I-134 from me and my step-father sponsor, ChileExpress receipt), and he had to sign item 41 on a couple of the forms, swearing that he would marry me within 90 days of entry to the US. She also asked him how we met, and if we were going to include his 13 year old daughter, Camila, on this petition (which we are not). Then he sat down next to me and we waited probably a half hour more until his name was called to window 8, where we were received by an American woman, Raquel.
She first asked Carlos if he speaks English, or prefers the interview in Spanish, and he said Spanish. She then asked me if I speak Spanish, and I said yes. She then took his fingerprints, using the electronic thing on the counter. Then, she started to ask him about what he does professionally and where he works. She got a little firm and told him that he needed to give more details in his answers and speak more loudly into the microphone. She continued to ask him what he studied and what he plans to do in the States, and if he's planning on learning English (to which he answered YES). Then she asked him how we met, and she asked me why I chose to come to Chile, and asked where I was from and what I want to do in the States. She was nice to me, trying to identify with me, saying "I understand why you want to take a piece of Chile home with you." hehe. Then she asked me "WHY HIM?" I started to answer in Spanish and then changed to English part way through. Then she asked him "WHY HER?" He responded, and she said "very good." Then she told us that our case was not done yet, but asked what our travel plans were. We explained that we're planning a big wedding for June, but if it's necessary we'll get a legal marriage before that date. She told us if we wanted to wait longer, she could do some things to make it take longer; and even offered that we could take a seat to think about it a little. We said we'd prefer to have it sooner. Then she made him raise his right hand and swear that everything he'd said was true. She said that everything appears to be in order and that the VISA IS APPROVED!! She gave us a yellow slip to pay DHL.
As we were walking to the DHL table, we both were on the verge of happy tears. We paid 6.500 for the passport and visa to get sent to our apartment, which they said will take about 2 weeks. Then we walked out and hugged and kissed each other in the court yard, and went for a very happy and delicious celebratory lunch javascript:emoticon(' ')
| | | Chile | Review #8104 on August 11, 2011: |
CarolinaandNick
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We had our K-1 visa interview on 7/21/11 at 2:00 pm. We waited in the line outside until I noticed that US citizens don't have to wait in line. We jumped ahead and went inside. The security guards directed us to the waiting area.
After about 30 minutes they called Carolina to the window. I went up with her and we spoke with the Consulate worker. She said that she just needed some papers from Carolina, and she asked me to have a seat. She said that I could be present for the acutal interview.
Carolina spoke with the woman, and after a few minutes she began to wave me over. Carolina did not know that she was supposed to pay in advance, we thought that we were going to pay that day. Luckily the woman still allowed us to have the interview, but we weren't off to a good start. Carolina had also forgotten to fill out a paper so she did that quickly.
After that we had to sit and wait for the interview. It was another 15-25 minutes before they called us back up. We were interviewed by a woman named Rachel. She remembered Carolina from a previous visa interview (tourist visa). Carolina had been denied the tourist visa. Rachel asked Carolina why she did not mention me during her tourist visa interview. She felt that Carolina had lied and misrepresented herself. I brought up the fact that Carolina had been to the US twice while we were dating, and she never overstayed her visa.
Rachel asked me where my parents were, which I thought was strange. I told her that they were in downtown Santiago. They had came to Chile for our wedding in Chile (ceremony only). Obviously she already knew this somehow. We showed her a picture of Carolina and I at the wedding. We also both had our wedding bands on. I showed her the wedding contract for here in the US.
She asked us a few other questions. Carolina was very nervous. A couple times when Rachel asked me a question, Carolina tried to answer. She got a little annoyed and told Carolina that she was asking me, not her. She was very nice while talking with me, but pretty rude with Carolina.
We had one other issue. When Carolina was here for the first time, she had worked illegally in a restaurant. She was on a tourist visa and she was not to be working. She only worked for about 2-3 weeks. We were honest about this and we listed in on her G325. When Rachel asked us if there was anything else we needed to tell her, we mentioned this.
She looked pretty concerned and she left the window to speak with some coworkers. She came back and said that she would have to consult with the Legal Department and get back to us. She could not give us an answer on the visa, and the interview was over. She made it clear that Carolina had to pay the fee as soon as possible. We thought that they were going to deny the visa, but that they wanted to get the money first. We also had a bad feeling because Rachel asked Carolina if she needed her passport. We knew they would keep the passport if we were getting the visa.
Carolina paid the fee and we waited for 20 days. I had emailed them a few times, but they just told me that it was still processing and they would be in touch when a decision was made. Finally, on 8/10/11, Carolina received a package from the embassy with the visa inside. It was one of the greatest days of our lives.
| | | Chile | Review #8098 on August 11, 2011: |
Joy&Fernando
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
my appointment was Scheduled at 2 pm, I arrive at 1:30 pm at the embassy, had many people ahead of me but soon a security guard at the embassy told us that have on hand the passport or ID, the letter which was to bring to the interview and turn off my cell phone, a few minutes after i get into the building, he asked me if I had cellular phone with me and i say yes...i give him my cel phone and he put it into a locker with my Coke :P and give me two token, one red with the locker number and a yellow with the number of the interview, mine was the number 1 ...he told me that I had to go to the consulate and wait at the counter number 8, at two pm a Chilean woman called me to the window 8 , i gave her my passport,birth certificate, criminal record, the payment of visa fee, the sealed envelope of medical examination and I signed FORM DS - 156 Form (2 copies) that I don't send signed because I wasn't sure about the instructions, I asked if she could give me a copy of the medical result and she said yes .. wait a few minutes and gave me the copies ... then she began to ask me how we met with my boyfriend, where he worked, how much time we spent together, how he proposed me marriage, how we communicated, and so on.
i told her about our story after that,she asked me the affidavit of support and other documents and me back the pays stubs because they were many and the tax transcript was enough, then she said me to wait and sit, that they would call me by my name in the window 6,
wait a few minutes sitting there and another woman (American) called me by my name, she was chewing gum, I found it strange for someone in that charge interviewing people, she gave me the DS - 156K Form to sign then started asking me the same questions I answered to the first woman who interviewed me (Chilean) she was a little aggressive with her questions ... she made me nervous with his way of asking :S in a moment I thought she would not give me the visa and i began to lose hope, until she said i was approved and have luck. she gave me a yellow paper and said to go to DHL to pay the delivery of my passport and said "dont make plans soon because they still take about a week to deliver the passport".
I went to DHL and pay my delivery, unfortunately do not deliver where I live as I did not have my phone could not call anyone and dont remember numeros phone or fixed address in Santiago or ask any of my relatives, but in the end we agreed that i will pick up in Santiago.
my English is not the best :P
| | | Chile | Review #7328 on March 28, 2011: |
Patty♥Paul
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My interview was scheduled for march 2nd at 2 PM, Paul and I went to Santiago about 10:30 am so we will have time enough to pick up my medical exam results, then we had lunch (yummy lasagna hehe)and afterwards we took a taxi to Santiago Embassy, once there (1:45), we went trough security and they gave us a token with the number 5 on it, that meant that there were 4 people before us all waiting for their visa interviews, there were 1 more couple waiting for the K-1 as well. I was a little bit nervous cause you never now what would happen plus all the experience with the LONG USCIS process wasn't too pleasant to make me feel comfortable with the american immigration officers...but I was wrong, everyone at Santiago Embassy was really nice and polite,Paul went to the window with me as we saw another couple did same thing before (different window though) but the lady asked him to have a seat and asked for my papers (Chile express receipt,Birth and police certificates with their translations, medical exam results, form I-134 with all the backup documents)then she made me sign the DS-156K sworn part, She asked me to go back to my seat and wait for the consular officer who was going to ask me some more questions. Then we just waited for the second part of the interview with the Consular Officer, we were just talking and being goofy as always meanwhile my name would be called again. Finally they called me, the consulate officer, a really nice lady named Rachel, talked to me in spanish, asked me how we met, what our plans were, she asked me if I spoke english, I said yes :P and then she asked if Paul spoke spanish, she laugh when I looked at him and said not much, after that she called Paul and told him "we were talking about you" then she asked him a few question about his work and asked me if we had wedding plans,I told her yes on march 12th, she smiled and said I'll see what we can do about it, because DHL supposed to deliver Visas in a range of 7 to 10 days, we already had plans to travel back to US on march 8th so it was a little bit overwhelming at first but, as always, Santiago Embassy did their magic and mailed my visa 2 days after my enterview!!
To God be the glory! He was in control of everything
We were not asked for any additional evidence but is always good to be prepared.
| | | Chile | Review #7323 on March 27, 2011: |
Lisa & Vinko
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I arrived in Chile on March 17, hoping for the "luck of the Irish" to bless our interview process javascript:emoticon(' ') The only thing we got out of that was several nights of bagpipes and U2 Tribute bands from the Irish pub across the street from the friend's apartment we were staying in... javascript:emoticon(' ') We stayed there, because it was only a 5 minute walk from the embassy...and well, we hadn't see each other for 10 months...we needed the privacy javascript:emoticon(' ') It was our luck then, that this friend was in Serbia for a month!
Of course, we didn't know how Obama's visit to Chile was going to change things slightly. Nervously, we got all our paperwork ready days before the originally scheduled interview on March 21, and left the apartment to find out some minutes later at the embassy that all appointments that day were cancelled and that we would have to return during the embassy's public hours on March 23. I felt crushed. I worried that they'd schedule Vinko's interview for a later date and that my trip to Chile was in vain. I knew that my presence at the interview was going to make a big statement and that if I couldn't be there that things would not result well for Vinko. Turns out, a message was left for Vinko on his cell from the embassy on Friday the 18th saying that the interview was cancelled and that to come to the embassy on the 23rd. Still confused about what was to happen, I wrote an email to the embassy to clarify if the interview would take place on this date. It was going to be my last day in Chile and my plane was not leaving for the States until late. Thankfully, they responded quickly as always and emailed a new appointment letter for Vinko to take to the embassy stating an appointment date and time of March 23 at 2:00pm. Regardless of this, we still arrived at the public hours in the morning, hoping for an earlier interview, but they were too busy with the public inquiries and asked us to come back at the interview time.
When we did come back, we showed up an hour early. They allowed us to enter at 1:30. I agree that the architecture of the building is beautiful, but the courtyard once you leave the security portion and enter the consulate is breathtaking. We entered the consulate building being the first of two other couples, which I presumed were already married and obtaining either K-3's or IR-1/CR-1's. They called us up to window 7 at 2:00 almost precisely and we were greeted by the same beautiful woman that greeted us earlier. She apologized for not being able to take us earlier and began to solicit our application materials, Vinko's medical exam results, mine and my mother's I-134 documents, and my divorce papers. I asked them if they wanted our relationship proof and she told us to hold on to it, that if the second person who interviewed us needed it, then they would ask for it. We never had to show it! They returned my mother's birth certificate; one because it was an old original, and two because I think they thought my income was enough to sponsor. I also got them to return my original divorce papers, because my petition (which they had already) contained them. The woman asked questions to me about my visits to Chile, and about my children. Curiously, I was asked more questions than Vinko was...maybe because I'm just more forgoing in general. We were asked then to sit back down.
We were then called to the 6th window by another woman. I think this woman was originally from the Midwest as she commented on liking to hear my "Midwest accent". She asked more information about our careers, our relationship, how the relationship started, and why we basically thought we were the "ones" for each other. She made us feel very comfortable, and all of us switched back and forth with the English and Spanish. Following this, she had Vinko take an oath that all of the information he presented was truthful. She scanned his fingertips and had him sign the fiance application. Then she said, "well, I think we have everything you need here, you are approved!" I of course said, "Happy dance of joy" and started dancing around!! We then went to the DHL counter to make arrangements for Vinko's passport and visa to be sent to his house. It is now the 27th and we've checked the status of the mailing and it is on it's way! Hopefully he will have it in hand by tomorrow. The whole process from entering the consulate and being called to the first window and leaving the consulate took only 45 minutes.
So, there were some setbacks, but all in all, working with this embassy is rather painless. They go out of their way to help you with the process!javascript:emoticon('')
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