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Macedonia US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 3.7
/ 5
29 Review(s)
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| Skopje, Macedonia |  Review #14725 on June 27, 2014: |
B&T_P
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| | | Skopje, Macedonia | Review #14139 on March 18, 2014: |
Mary&Zlatko
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Skopje Consulate Review
Zlatko was originally scheduled to have his interview on Feb 27, but he was able to reschedule the interview for March 6, because it fit into our schedule better. I was nervous about him losing his interview spot, but when he called them, he was able to have the interview rescheduled. He called a week before his interview to confirm the change, and there was some confusion at that point, but they figured it out without too much difficulty. In general, Zlatko found the consulate quite helpful and accessible by telephone, so we encourage you to call them if you have any questions or issues, but make sure to ask to be redirected to the consulate department.
I arrived in Macedonia the night before the interview, which was nice because I was able to bring our documents by hand rather than mailing them. Unfortunately, I missed my plane (another story!) and arrived MUCH later than planned, so we didn’t have time to put our documents together as nicely as we’d hoped, but we had everything we needed, and that was the important bit.
In the morning, Zlatko’s cousin gave us a ride to the consulate. We arrived around 7.40 for the 8 am appointment. There is a bus station style waiting area outside the embassy where people were already gathering. Around 8 am the guard started calling people by name to go in. Zlatko was one of the first people called, but he ended up being one of the last to be interviewed. I was able to wait in the coffee shop across the street—I think a lot of their customers are waiting for people inside the consulate! There’s not much else nearby, so bring something to keep you busy while you wait.
Once inside, Zlatko went through a metal detector. After that, he was told to go the next building where his interview took place. When he got in, he was told by the security to wait in line for document sort out. The documents he needed were put in the passport, and those that he didn’t need (like the second page of the visa appointment confirmation) were left out of the passport and all the documents were given back to him. Zlatko was seated in a waiting area near a bank of windows. He was first called to Window 4, and after a short introduction, he was sent to the window 1 to make the payment of $240. After the payment had been made, he got a receipt and went back to window 4 where he had a brief conversation with the officer in Macedonian and was asked if he speaks English well.
We had been very careful to have ALL the documents requested in the letter Zlatko got. This is apparently a common problem in Macedonia, because the consulate people Zlatko talked to mentioned that quite often people don’t have all the documents they need. NOTE WELL! You need a Police Certificate AND a Court Certificate. They’re NOT the same thing. We also had, as I mentioned, a lot of supporting documents, including roughly 30 pages of chats and Skype records, my boarding passes from my arrival in Macedonia the day before, my family Christmas letter with info about our engagement, and lots of photos from my visit in November. We also included additional copies of all the chats and photos we’d included in our original I-129 F application. This probably isn’t necessary, but since not much time has passed since our original application, we didn’t HAVE much new evidence! I also wrote a "letter of ongoing intent" and got a letter from my minister about the wedding arrangements. For the I-134 Form, we had my form AND the form from the co-sponsor (my mom) along with bank letter, employer letter, two pay stubs, 2012 and 2013 tax returns for both of us. Zlatko got NO questions regarding the financial documents, thank goodness!
After having his documents sorted, Zlatko waited a while before being called to window 3 where he got his fingerprints taken and was asked to go back to his seat and wait more.
Finally, Zlatko was summoned to window 7 for his actual interview with the American consulate official. The first thing she did was to ask him to look her in the eye and she demanded very seriously “WHO are you going to marry??!!!” to which Zlatko replied, “Mary!!”. So, he got that one right anyhow! After that (kind of alarming) start, she asked a lot of questions about how we met. At one point she seemed to get confused, but Zlatko took it slowly and explained the whole situation in detail .She also had a lot of questions about my work—I run my own business, so my guess is that they wanted to make sure it was a real operation and not just something we made up! From what he told me, Zlatko got all these questions absolutely right, but since it’s a small business I can’t imagine how they’d check. I guess they’re looking for confidence in answering, and for evidence that he knows what my life is like (asking questions about how many people work for me, what kind of tasks I do at work, etc). Zlatko told her that I was sitting across the street and they could call me if they had any questions for me, but they didn’t do that. She also asked him questions about our wedding plans—and Zlatko was able to refer them to the letter from our minister regarding marriage arrangements. Finally, the lady said “I’m happy to tell you, we’re granting your visa. Welcome to the US!” At some point Zlatko had to take an oath to marry me. The whole process took a little more than 3 hours (note that there were about 9-10 visa applicants that morning, if there were more applicants, the whole process would probably have been extended). Zlatko did a LOT of waiting between each step of the process, and, like I said, was among the last to be interviewed.
Zlatko was told to return at 4.30 few days later to pick up his visa. This was a similar process involving waiting outside the embassy and being called in one by one, but it only took a few minutes. They also gave him a sealed envelope with his materials in it.
Regarding the overall experience, Zlatko says: "The phone conversations were very good, the people at the embassy were precise in instructing me about what to do, but overall it was a very unpleasant invasion of privacy--they were asking private questions in front of everyone. I'd give them a 3 leaning towards 4."
| | | Skopje, Macedonia | Review #12513 on August 10, 2013: |
ScottieHristina
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It took three hours from the time Hristina went inside to the time she came out. She later told me that most of the time she was waiting for the others to finish. She was the fist to be called to give her documents to the Macedonian employee. He asked a few basic questions in Macedonia and separated the documents that she wouldn't need and instructed her on the documents that she should take with her to the window when she spoke with the American consular.
She then waited the three hours and finally spoke to the American at the window. He asked a few similar questions and then gave her a small piece of paper that she should bring back to get her visa the next day. She said it was very easy and she wasn't nervous. We had no reason to lie or to worry. I was so proud of her and the way she handled herself. We have tickets for the 27th of August and we are excited to travel to America.
| | | Skopje, Macedonia | Review #12378 on July 21, 2013: |
Lex Specialis
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· 1 person found this review helpful
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You line up outside the consular entrance of the embassy and wait for your name to be called. We had an 8am interview and we were there 15 min early. They started calling people inside at 8:10 a.m. The staff is Macedonian. They are generally smug and unpleasant, but not any more than most people in the Balkans who have not mastered the art of working with customers and not being jerks. If you are from the region, it will come as no surprise to you. Although the embassy's web site says that the petitioner is not required but may attend the interview, this is not the case. They will not let you in under any circumstances. You have the choice of doing the interview in Macedonian, Albanian or English. There is no reason so far as we could see to select English if you are less comfortable. Absolutely no advantage.
My fiancee's interview was handled by a Macedonian speaking employee of the embassy. Obviously it is not a private area as the other reviews suggest. You have to answer questions about your personal life to strangers in front of more strangers.
I generally believe in being overprepared when it comes to paperwork, so all our documentation was neatly tabbed and easily accessible, despite the fact that they didn't look at 90% of it. I strongly believe that having a lot of papers which are organized by itself makes an impression.
The questions you should know the answers to right away are how you two met and under what circumstances. If the US petitioner came to visit, or if you went to the US, or if you spent a vacation together, be sure to know the dates when such trips began and ended because they will ask. The date and the circumstance of your proposal is also a big deal. They also asked her about my job, where in the States I live. Names and info about your future in-laws are also a good tip. We had copies of airline tickets. We also had joint finance documents, like a credit card that my fiancee is authorized to use. We made copies of both out cards showing a common account, as well as Western Union slips evidencing transfer of money from me in the US to her during the last few months after she had quit her job. My fiancee told me they were less impressed by that than I thought they would be, since when doing your green card interview in the US, joint finances do add a lot to your case's value.
Our photographs were organized by time periods. I printed 9 to a page. The size is perfectly functional so long as you have a color printer. Putting 9 on a page and sizing them down saves you money in cartridge ink. We had copies of airline tickets when I had visited her, copies of our first trip, our summer vacation, our new years and Christmas vacation, etc.
What did make an impression were copies of the call logs since the start of our relationship, which went back 16 months. I have T-Mobile and they have a $10 / month flat fee plan for unlimited calls to many countries, but only to land lines. So we had a LOT of calls. If we had to do the interview again, and if you have fewer that 3-4 calls per day for a year, I would have preferred to include our Facebook messages or Skype IMs. We chose not to do it because some of them are way too private but on second thought we could have taken out the more private ones. I am glad we didn't come to regret that.
All in all the questions that were asked pertained to dates of time in our relationship, critical dates about having met and when and where was the proposal, nothing that was too unpredictable. The Macedonian employee with the interview and even told my fiancee that she was approved (as in gave her the time when she should come to pick up the passport) but he then told her the American consular officer had some follow ups.
This was the less pleasant part of the interview. He had one issue, namely the idea that my fiancee and I started talking to each other before my divorce to my ex was finalized. In reality, my first marriage had been over for over a year prior to us having started talking to each other, but the actual filing and finalization of the divorce happened after we started talking but before we began to date. All in all, my fiancee believes he only looked at the final date of the divorce and didn't get that there is a whole period prior to that time when my marriage was de facto over (the consular officer was young and kind of an unattractive nerdy type, so probably not too much experience with marriage or women) but he made some judgmental implications that perhaps my fiancee had been the reason for my divorce. Overall, except for the fact that this was unpleasant, it did not affect the overall outcome and she was issued a visa.
We were given a date SIX days later to come pick up her stamped passport, so if you will purchase a ticket in advance, leave yourself at least 8 days to leave for the US. I hope this was helpful.
| | | Skopje, Macedonia | Review #12146 on June 15, 2013: |
indiana_sweetie
Rating: 
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Beneficiary's Country: Kosova
Embassy: Skopje, Macedonia
The interview was tough but in the end the CO was satisfied, but the visa wasn't issued until I provided a joint sponsor and proof of the dates of my trip in 2012. Many people going through the Macedonia embassy now are being turned away and need to come back with more documents or proof.
A second interview was not needed but an appointment to return to the embassy with additional documents was required (they would not let him show additional documents even though he had them with him).
Hubby went back to the embassy 11 April. His 11 am appointment was with the same CO. She took the papers and at 12:30 pm she told him they looked good and his visa is approved. She smiled and told him "Congratulations, welcome to the USA." Then she told him to come back at 4:30 pm to pick up his passport, brown envelope and instructions.
Note---The NVC sent instructions as PDF files via email, which is good, because my husband received the hard copy in the mail the day before his interview. One file was for the medical, the other was his appointment letter and instructions. Please note--make sure the NVC has your email address because then all packets and instructions will come as PDF files.
The embassy is professional but tougher now than in the past.
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