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Costa Rica US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 4.2
/ 5
98 Review(s)
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| Costa Rica |  Review #4221 on April 13, 2009: |
Ranita y Aleluya
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K3 Visa
 I went to interview on March 17th, 2009. All documents are complete but they didn't give me the visa because my husband is not with me at the moment of the interview... Consul said "in a few days I will comunicate with your husband" but we have 4 weeks and nothing... I NEED MY HUSBAND, HE NEEDS ME, I'M GOING CRAZY... 
| | | Costa Rica | Review #3490 on October 22, 2008: |
rue2you
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K3 Visa
We had our interview and we were approved. My wife will pick up her daughters and her passports tomorrow with their VISA'S.
We arrived at 11:50am for our 12pm to 1:30pm interview.
They call us up at 12:05pm. They asked for all our papers, one by one. The lady actually forgot to ask for my wife's birth certificate and her police report, she had to call us back up to request those items. The only financial support docs they wanted from me was 2007 tax return and bank statements, and she really didn't have to have those she said but she would take them. She would have wanted W-2's but I am selft employed.
They told us to have a seat after getting all our docs they needed. There was about 10 people there for interview items. Only 4 for actual interviews the remainders were there picking up packet 3's.
We were the first one's called up for the docs but second to last to get interviewed. The first lady who was interviewed was alone her husband was in US. The interviews were held right there in the lobby basically. The beneficiary/petioners were standing at the glass windows. He ask her alot of questions about how they met and asked for several items to provide proof of relationship. She was approved. The second person was a boy/man seeking a visa to live with her father in the US. He was denied, they wanted other documentation, not sure exactly what but you can tell he was disappoinated.
They finally called us up after waiting 1 hour and a half. They ask if I spoke spanish and if she spoke english. I said yes spanish but not completely and my wife speaks even less english. No problem he would talk in both spanish and english. He told me to have a seat so he could speak with my wife. He ask about her current job and was particularly interested in her past job with Johnson n Johnsonl. He ask her how we met, if she met my parents, yes she had, if she had ever been to the US, no she hadn't, if she would be working in the US, no she wouldn't, if she knew I was previously divorced, yes she did twice, what my job was, how old was my son and that was about it. He told her to have and seat and ask me to come up. He ask me where my wife worked, I told him, he asked about previous job, I told him, he ask about other previous job, he was getting to the Johnson n Johnson job, kinda weird but that was where he was going. He ask me how old my son was and what he thought about me getting married.....again, I told him he was good with it, he is 18 and will be going to college. He ask if I wanted more kids, I said yes, he said I was brave. He ask how we met I told him through a mutual friend. He said I know you brought alot of evidence to prove your relationship so I guess I will look at some photos of your wedding. He said I don't need to see the photos because I can tell a couples relationship in about the first 45 seconds, he said I have been doing this along time and I can tell when people have a REAL relationship. He asked my step daughter if she wanted to live in the US and she shook her head furiously and he laughed. He asked my wife if she wanted to live in the US and she said yes. He asked where she would be living and she said with my husband. He asked her where in the US and she said Texas and he said where in Texas and she told him the city......I guess he wanted to check and make sure she knew where I lived. He said congratulations your VISA has been approved. Good luck with your new life in the US. Please have a seat and you will be called up for instructions on how to pick up your visa tomorrow.
The whole interview took about 15-20 minutes. We took a seat and they called us up about 5 minutes later. The lady told my wife to come back tomorrow and pick up your passports with visas at 3pm.
Overall: The people at the embassy in Costa Rica were extremely friendly and thorough. I told them we waited 7 months for VSC to approve our application and after they did it took about 1 week to get to Costa Rica and 2 weeks later we were approved. He said yes he knew and they prided themselves on being quick and precise at processing the visas once they receive the paperwork.
A+ for the US Embassy in Costa Rica. From application in the US to receiving the visa was about 8 months to the day.
| | | Costa Rica | Review #3082 on July 3, 2008: |
CourtAndGrey
Rating:
· 2 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our interview was on Wednesday, June 25th at the US Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica. Our interview was scheduled for noon and we arrived around 11:30. We waited in a short line out front of the embassy and when we reached the door, we told the guard we had an appointment at noon for our Fiance Visa interview. He waived us through and we went through the security scan and entered the embassy courtyard. We were instructed to take a number from the little machine, so we selected "Immigrant Visa" and were given #609. We went to the lobby waiting area and sat with about 25 other people who had already arrived. Everyone in our area had #600 numbers. There was another part of the waiting area that was handling Tourist Visas. Those people took up a HUGE part of the courtyard and the waiting area. Our little section was much smaller. At 12:00 on the dot, they opened one window and started calling 600-numbers. There lady who was calling people up was very nice. She collected documents and prepared everything for the Consular who did the interviewing later. Numbers 600 and 601 each took about 20 minutes, and once we reached 1:00 we thought it may be dinner time before we would be called. Things sped up a little and around 1:45 we were called. I brought my PACKPACK full of papers to the little window and the nice lady greeted us and asked our names. She pulled our file and started asking for papers. She asked for the DS-156, DS-156K, DS-157, and DS-230. These forms need to be signed in front of the embassy official, so she asked Greivin to do that. A few of the forms are needed in duplicate, and I had two copies of everything, so that was fine. Then she asked for all four photos and she attached those to several of the forms. Then she asked me for the financial documents. First all my I-134 info, then the co-sponsor's. I had duplicates again of everything although none were needed. NOTE: I WAS ASKED TO PRESENT PROOF OF MY CO-SPONSOR'S CITIZENSHIP! I didn't see this in the I-134 packet, but it is required to present a copy of their passport or something else that can prove their citizenship in the states. I did not have this, all I had was my birth certificate with my father's full name, but this wasn't sufficient. She said the consular would need to decide how to proceed on this. She asked us if either of us had ever been married and if either of us had children. We did not need to present any other evidence of relationship or anything else at this time. ANOTHER NOTE: OUR PACKET THREE STATED WE NEEDED TO HAVE ALL CIVIL DOCUMENTS TRANSLATED BY AN OFFICIAL, APPROVED TRANSLATOR TO BRING TO THE INTERVIEW. WE PAID OVER $60 FOR THREE PAPERS AND THEY WERE NOT NEEDED! Of course I hate to say you don't need this, but in our case, it was a HUGE waste of money. We asked if they needed these documents and she lady looked at us like we were crazy. She said everyone there is fully capable of reading in both english and spanish and they translations are not needed. GRRR. She then collected the Medical info - which was all in one envelope from the Doctor's office. They did not need the actual X-rays, although we had brought them. After we presented everything, she folded our giant packet in half and put it in the pile of files for the Consular. She told us to have a seat and he would call us up for our interview. We sat back down and waited another hour and half.
Eventually he called Greivin's name and we went up to the window. The Consular was very friendly and greeted us cordially. He asked if we wanted to do this in english or spanish, but before we could answer he offered to do a bit of both, so we agreed. He started by having Greivin take an oath swearing his was telling the truth, verifying who he was, and what his intentions were with this visa. At this point, Greivin finally got nervous. The entire waiting process he was cool as a cucumber, but once we went to the window, his nerves just took over. When he raised his right hand, it was shaking so much he couldn't hold still. The consular then had him scan his fingerprints in the little scanny machine (which he had to do twice because of the shaking...) The Consular could obviously see his anxiety and was very nice. He asked us if we were nervous and said we had no reason to be and that everything was going to be just fine. We both laughed and relaxed a little.
He then started flipping through our file. He asked us when we met and greivin said "last year", and I added "in april". He asked me what I was doing in costa rica, and inquired about my school and what i was studying. Then he asked me about my work and what I plan to do with my Master's degree. (A little random, but I went with it). He was very friendly through the whole thing and I felt like he made an effort to smile and help us relax because he knew we were nervous. He then asked me about my cosponsor. He started clicking around on the computer, and I later found out he was looking in some database to try and confirm my father's citizenship. He asked me a ton of questions about my father and his family and his life and his ancestors. Eventually he either found what he was looking for, or was content with all my answers and said he would accept the birth certificate as proof, but that we were getting lucky. Then he asked Greivin what he wanted to do in the states and where he was going to live, to which he answered "I want to get married, and I will live with her in her house." The Consular flipped through the file one last time and said "Alrighty, everything looks great, I am going to approve your Visa. As long as everything with the fingerprints come back clean, your Visa will be ready to pick up on Friday at 3:00. Congratulations to you both, and now you can relax. Have a great life in the states."
We thanked him and left the little window. We left the embassy with smiles from ear to ear! Greivin was squeezing my hand so tight! We walked out the doors, down the stairs and were practically running up the sidewalk. About two blocks later we realized we had no idea where we were going and stopped to gather our thoughts. We celebrated with a wonderful lunch and took some time to process everything.
On Friday, we went back to pick up Greivin's passport with the Visa. Greivin went straight in and did not need to take a number. He was called up the window and the same lady from before gave him a big, sealed envelope, a little letter with some directions, and his passport. Overall, the pickup process took about 20 minutes. Greivin came running out of the embassy around 3:25 with a smile even bigger than before. He sprinted up to the car and immediately pulled out his passport and we sat in the car admiring the shiny new page that had changed our lives!
Overall, our process was relatively smooth. The waiting was horrible, but for being CSC, 125 days is very reasonable. Once the NOA2 was issued, we had the visa in less than a month. This was VERY quick compared to most VJ'ers. Please message me if you are working with the Costa Rica embassy and need any help. We are happy to share any info that we can!
| | | Costa Rica | Review #2903 on May 22, 2008: |
Puravida4ver
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
The interview was short,and to the point. The questions were about how we met, where I work, where I live. I was not at the interview and they asked why. (I couldn't make it for the interview). The interviewer was friendly and Marcela said he wanted to see our photos and some of the docs such as Western Union receipts and boarding passes from my previous trips. The interview had previously been scheduled for 5/30, but the date was changed, twice, to 5/21.
| | | Costa Rica | Review #2802 on April 29, 2008: |
lunabean
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
So this review is being posted second hand. Jose, my fiance, went to the interview at the embassy by himself. I would have liked to have gone but I really have no vacation time to spare. Also, financially speaking, it seemed to make more sense to put the money I would be spending to go down to CR toward Jose's ticket to the US.
So, Jose's appointment was at 12:00pm. He arrived at 11:30 and waited outside the embassy in the hot sun for half an hour. He was allowed in at 12:00 and overall he said that everything went extremely well. He was super nervous, having been denied twice from tourist visas, but he said that everyone was friendly and the process wasn't so bad.
Jose's experience is very similar to that of kidbrooklyn's fiance. In fact, I am wondering whether the same employee saw the two interview candidates. Jose waited for a while and then was called up to see a Costa Rican who took all his forms and papers. She asked how Jose and I had met and a couple of other questions about the nature of how we began dating. She also asked why I was not at the interview. She was mostly just concerned with gathering all the forms and documents and Jose figured out pretty quickly that she was not going to be the one interviewing him.
After Jose had dealt with the initial employee he sat down and waited a long time. He was nervous because the majority of people he saw waiting for their interview were accompanied by a US citizen. He started worrying whether we should have arranged for me to come. BUT, he held tight, stayed patient, and kept the faith!
Soon, Jose's number was called. He took an oath and the interview began. He was in a state of shock after his Visa was approved so he had a hard time thinking of all the questions he was asked but I will include as many as he could remember. He said the consular was very friendly, casual and positive throughout the process. The employee said Jose and I looked happy in our pictures and Jose hadn't even presented him with any new photos. When Jose asked what photos the man was referring to, the employee replied that he had looked through all the stuff that I had sent in with my initial packet. He never requested any further evidence because he said I had submitted more than enough in our packet.
Here are the questions Jose can remember being asked:
Where did you meet?
Why isn't your fiance here? (to which he replied that I was working)
Where does she work?
What does she do/what is her job title?
Where are you going to live?
Where do you live now?
Where do you work?
Do you want to study in the US?
Do you know your fiance's family?
Who do you know from her family?
How often do you guys see eachother?
I see you were denied twice from a tourist visa, what was the reason you applied twice for a tourist visa?
What was your fiance doing in Costa Rica when you met?
When are you getting married?
Have you ever been married?
Do you have kids?
Has your fiance ever been married?
Does your fiance have kids?
That is all he could remember from the interview. The bottom line is that he was prepared for every question asked. There were no surprises. The employee was friendly and reassuring. Jose was out of the embassy and calling me by 2:08...just about 2 hours after his appointment time. We were delighted. If anyone has further questions, they can PM me.
All in all, a very great experience after such a long wait and many bumps in the road as we made this journey....  PURA VIDA!!!
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