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Israel US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 3.9
/ 5
81 Review(s)
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| Israel |  Review #8339 on September 17, 2011: |
melissahinds
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The process at the consulate was just as I had heard. They let me come in with my fiance after a little bit of begging. First we were sent up to a window to give them all the paperwork, there was 2 problems I forgot to bring 2 copies of the I-156 and instead of the I-134 I filled out the I-864 for the affidavit of support. They let both of them slide, thankfully!! Then there was a little bit of problem with the $350 payment since we had paid at the post office (like the instructions said) instead of there at the consulate but they worked it out. When we got to the actual interview we were relived to have a nice guy from New York who loved the story of how we met and wanted to hear all about it. He also made fun of one of our facebook conversations I printed out. In the end he told us we were approved and it might take a little extra time to get back the Visa because of the upcoming Jewish holidays. All and all a good experience and I am very happy its over with :-)
| | | Israel | Review #8267 on September 8, 2011: |
bobo54
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Hello,
I am waiting already for a month after I was told that I was approved in the interview for an immigration visa based on merriege and my visa will be issued but I haven't hear from the consulate yet. I have emailed them to find out if there is any additional doc they need but they didn't respond to me yet. Is anybody went through the same problem? I read that some cases take additional processing but the officer did not tell me anything about it, does anybody know how long this process takes? do they let the person know that his case is on this process or that's what I should expect when it is taking so long?
my interview was excetlly a month ago...
| | | Israel | Review #8049 on August 3, 2011: |
tobey
Rating:
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: General Review
My fiance had his K1 interview appointment on 8/3/11 at 7:45 am at the Jerusalem consulate. He went alone. He arrived early for his interview. After going through security he waited for a bit to be called to window one. He noticed that people were called to windows by languages (Russians were called to a Russian officer, Israelis to an Israeli, Americans to Americans & Arabic speaking petitioners to an Arab). So my fiance was called to a Russian officer who immediately began speaking to him in Russian with the comment "whats with all the papers?" (he had a binder of relationship evidence, about 200pgs worth of financial support papers and his medical). The officer then took all his documents, one by one- DS 156, 156k, 157, military records (discharge papers), sealed envelope from medical and then I-134 (since I am a student I had my parents co-sponsor us and had him bring all my school papers- they didn't want anything but the affidavit from my sponsors signed in front of a notary and 2010 tax transcripts). He then was told to sit down.
He was then called to the second window for his interview. This time, the officer spoke to him in Hebrew from the beginning. After he took his fingerprints he put his hands behind his back (nervous habit) and the officer said to him "Relax, your not in the army" which eased the tension and fiance was now comfortable and smiling. He was then sworn in and signed all documents and some papers for the U.S. army and was told "As soon as you arrive to the US you have 30 days to show up at a army recruitment center for reserves- otherwise there is a 250k fine and 5 years jail time" (Fiance is 23 y.o. so the draft is until 25). Although fiance thought to himself (great, more army time) he already knew that we were approved by the way it was said). Then the actual interview began. He was asked basic questions: How did we meet? How many times have I been to Israel? In what language do we communicate? Who is (my fathers name)? What he plans to do in the U.S.? Does he have money saved up for a plane ticket and how? (he had just finished army in June- fiance already started working and had a bank statement to prove it). The officer then looked at my school records and commented "whoa, your fiancee is very smart" javascript:emoticon(' ') and said "Congratulations! You are Approved! Your visa will arrive in a month, maybe less". Fiance was out by 9:00am!!
* A few notes
- Directions are very misleading and confusing.
- Takes them a while to send out packet 3 and 4
- They sent us packet 3 twice with different info. in each
- also sent packet 4 with 2 different options for payment- * pay at the post office
- a pretty slow embassy... do respond to emails but also, the information provided is often wrong
- I ended up calling DOS throughout the entire process to find out our status
- They do take a while to print the visa... possibly due to AP so I am not making any plans until the visa is IN HAND.
- I really think that the interview was the simplest part of the process- both officers commented on us having too much information, saying they already have a large file to go through but it was comforting to have extra financial documents and proof
- Also, it is important to bring in all the necessary documents and forms such as the army discharge and records- my fiance said that a couple who were both at the interview and the beneficiary was very pregnant were told to come back because she was missing FORM 807 (military record)
- They do state on their site that most cases are not approved on the same day and require additional information to be brought in but that is also due to them not being clear with just what forms they require.
*Conclusion- be alert & on top of your own visa process, don't expect this embassy to lead you entirely through it & don't plan anything until visa is in hand!!
(updated on August 3, 2011)
| | | Israel | Review #7712 on June 6, 2011: |
ecce
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
7/12/11
I have to edit my review of the consulate that appears below. I gave them a generous 4 stars after my interview (even though they screwed up some before the interview) but I was in a good mood when I wrote the review. But given what happened after my interview, they're going down to a 1. Please note, you just CANNOT believe ANYTHING they say, because they will come right out the next day with "oops, that was wrong." I cannot conceive of how they keep their jobs.
We were told at our interview that we were approved and we would have the visa within a week to 10 days. After 10 days we called and we were told it would be a few more days. After a few more days we were told it was printing and it would be "maybe one more day, maybe 3." We asked our congressman to send an inquiry (as my fiance was trying to avoid re-booking his flight) and they sent a rude email to the congressman's office that really took that case worker aback, and we were told to stop interfering in consulate affairs. The following day, a Friday, the day after he missed his first flight, we got an email notifying my fiance that the visa had been issued and it was with the courier service and he should confirm that he received it. We were excited. It was ready! We had it IN WRITING!
On Monday morning we expected to pick up the visa from the courier service, but no one at the courier service could find the visa. We asked the consulate what happened, and they wrote back that they were "very sorry for the confusion" but that the visa was approved but in fact had not yet been issued. And they didn't know when it would be issued.
Silence ensured. Two long weeks. We confirmed with DOS that we were in administrative processing - they saw nothing in the system about us being approved. Finally, today, 5 weeks and one day after the interview, he received the visa.
Why not just tell us at the interview it could be that long? Why tell us we were approved/ printing/ issued when it wasn't the case? Given what these visas mean to people, it's terrible service and regardless, it's a poor job done.
Original review on 6/6/11:
My fiance had his interview today at the Jerusalem consulate. In general, it was very straightforward. I (the petitioner) went with him because I had previously planned a trip to Israel so I happened to be there. However, we weren\'t sure whether they were going to let me in because of a previous review we had read, and they website doesn\'t sound welcoming to the petitioner.
The consulate is in a new location so it doesn\'t show up on a google map, but you can take the buses they suggest on their website and end up quite close. Building is very nice and new. We arrived early for our 7:45 appointment and we were the first ones there. At 8am they let us in (both of us! No questions asked). We waited about 1/2 an hour and then were called to a window to submit our documents, page by page. Then we waited about another 15 minutes and were called for the interview. The man who interviewed us was really, really nice. He talked to us for about 20 minutes. He flipped through our application page by page and pretty much asked us stuff that was straight from the page. He asked about half the questions to me and half to my fiance. Really nothing challenging at all. To me they asked: How did you meet? Where was my family living? Would they be at the wedding? Was I currently working? What was I studying? To him they asked: How long have we known each other? What did he study in the U.S.? Had he ever been stopped at the border to the U.S.? Did he currently have a tourist visa in the U.S.? What were our wedding plans? What was the origin of his family name? How old was he? (Not sure why they asked his this - maybe something about military discharge...) Had either of us been married before? At the end he said \"Your case looks good\" and made sure there was a blank page in his passport to put the visa. He said the visa would arrive in Tel Aviv with a week to 10 days. We were out of there by 9:30am. Overall, quite positive experience.
However, this consulate does not get 5 stars for 2 reasons. The first is that the acoustics are TERRIBLE - we had to ask \"what\" to almost every question he asked. There was lots of background noise and the microphones they use to talk through the glass window are really soft. It makes for some awkward moments when you\'re not sure what they are asking. Second, the letters we got from the consulate prior to the interview are TERRIBLY inconsistent and full of errors. For example, we got a letter with our packet 3 saying that we MUST pay the $350 fee IN ADVANCE at the LOCAL POST OFFICE. Then, in our packet 4 (interview date) they wrote that we MUST pay the fee AT THE CONSULATE on the interview day. I mean, really? (BTW, you pay the fee in advance at the local post office). Their instruction letters had tons of cross outs and errors, big and small, as if no one had looked at them or edited them in years. Also, just a small warning, they say to bring only ONE passport style photograph, but they need 2 (we happened to have a 2nd one). At least they are very responsive to emails (at the email address with the word \"inquiry\" in it), so if you are unclear about something before the interview it\'s definitely worth it to ask. Overall, good.
(updated on July 12, 2011)
| | | Israel | Review #7579 on May 11, 2011: |
Malak805
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
May 2nd went to his interview appointment. He arrived at 7:15 and his appt. was at 7:45am. They let him in at 8:15, first a lady took all the missing paperwork, asked a few questions and told him to wait for his interview with the Counsel. He waited for about 40 mins until they were ready to interview him. The Counsel was very nice and pleasant, he asked a few simple questions like have you ever been to the US? Why do you want to go to the US?, where does your wife live?, whats her mother and fathers names?, Have you ever been to the West Bank?, When was the last time you saw your wife?, What do you plan to do for a living when in the US? He then took his passport said congrats and said that his passport will be returned to him with 10-14 days. Overall it was a simple and quick process. Good luck to all!!
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