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Nicaragua US Consulate Reviews
Average Rating: 4
/ 5
53 Review(s)
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| Nicaragua |  Review #6753 on October 22, 2010: |
Nica_In_Love
Rating: 
· 2 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Our appointment was set for 8am but we got there at 7:20am, went to the 1st security guard who asked for the medical sealed envelope, told me to open it, then he checked our passports, and let us in.
Once inside you leave all cellphones, gums, candy, etc. they give you a number for you retrieve your stuff once you leave the embassy. Then we sat down with all the people waiting, after about 10 minutes a young lady came asking for Immigrant Visa Applicants, we stood up, and went through another security checkpoint and entered the area where you are interviewed. They gave us a number, and we sat down to wait. We waited for about 20 min, then we were called by a local Nicaraguan employee who asked for my Birth Certificate, Police Record, Marriage Certificate, and 2 passport photos. I had everything except the photos, so then she checked what the NVC had sent them and found the 2 photos, she was a bit serious at first, but then when she saw my birthday was on Oct 29th she was nice and said hers was on the same day too. She asked us some questions as:
How we met?
When did we start a relationship?
When did we get married?
Did his family come to the wedding?
Does he send money?
How often does he send it?
How many trips has he made after we got married?
Then she asked for evidence, I gave her money gram receipts, yahoo chat logs, cellphone records, and our wedding pics. She then told us to sit down until we were called again.
Then the US Consul called us, and she was really really nice, very pretty and always smiling. She asked basically the same questions, and then asked if I swore that everything on the DS-230 was true, I answered yes I swear, then she said CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED! It was the best feeling ever!! We were out of there by 8:35am, we were both ready to wait at least a couple of hours, glad it wasn't the case.
| | | Nicaragua | Review #6671 on September 29, 2010: |
jlee
Rating:
· 1 person found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Once we arrived at the Consulate, we had to wait outside the building for approximately 45 minutes (We were really early).
We then were called by an Officer to get in line, of which we were then split in two different lines, one for resident visa applications and the other for non-residential visas. Several questions to the officer later, he explained we had to rip open the medical envelope of my fiancee's since no closed envelopes are allowed inside the Consulate.
We were then allowed to go inside the building to again wait until everybody had gone through the metal detector as well as releasing any makeup, drinks, electronics, etc.. a la airport security. After, we were given a number to pickup our items once we were done with the interview. After security, we entered a large holden area with several chairs. However, we got there so early, that all we had to do was go directly to the second metal detector screening to finally enter the Visa Applicants area (all other personal who are not applying for Visas must wait in the holden area). Once we entered, a friendly lady gave us a ticketed number and we sat down. There were 7 windows (8 actually, except this was the pay window). We waited for about an hour or so due to the fact it was only 7:00am and the officials did not start until 8:00am or so. This does not apply to those non-resident Visas since they were being called at 7:30am already.
Our number was finally called and surprise surprise the gentleman who was speaking with us was the same person whom I've been in contact with via email several days prior to arriving. Luck was on our side! He asked for every piece of paperwork which is needed as well as evidence. Everything was looked at thoroughly and he even circled two items on my fiancee's birth certificate to which he explained that the inscription date was too far from when she was born, resulting in my fiancee having to obtain a Certificade Unico (this was later scratched off by the actual Consulate later). My fiancee's Certificade de Soltera was actually the wrong one, she needed the one that was Nation wide (this was only department wide) Make sure you read the packet carefully where to obtain it!!
He finished the process by asking us:
How did we know each other?
When did we meet?
How long/times have I visited her?
Do I send her money periodically or just when needed?
After all the paperwork and questioning he explained we just had to pay at the window, and he would give us the Green paper indicating what we were missing (the soltera certificate) and that the Visa could not be finalized this very day, however we could continue the process. We waited again to be called for the final interview by the Consulate (only about 10 minutes). As she called us, she looked through all the paperwork again (double checking). She looked at the green paper and scratched off the "Certificado Unico" meaning she no longer had to provide it. She asked us:
When did we meet?
How did we meet?
I believe that was all she asked. She then showed us the DS-156 and told my fiancee if she swears to marry (ME) before 90 days, to which my fiancee said YES !! She then said "well everything is done here all she needs is the Certificade de Soltera". I said WELL ARE WE APPROVED ONCE WE PROVIDE THAT!?!? and she said..
YES !!! I hugged and kissed my fiancee several times and had to hold back from tearing up. Such a long and costly process but my fiancee will finally get to be with me.
Unfortunately I had to leave same day due to only haveing 3 days of Leave from the military. My fiancee explained she returned the next day with the proper document, and that her Visa would be ready 10-05-2010. UNREAL!!!!
In the end, everybody here was very professional, friendly, and available for questions if needed. I felt comfortable and stress free although nervous. Thank you Nicaragua consulate members for all your help and patience. God Bless!!
| | | Review #6605 on September 13, 2010: |
Kiki&Coki
Rating: 
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: General Review
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| | | Nicaragua | Review #6023 on May 5, 2010: |
Rating: 
· 2 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I will not give a detailed description of the US Consulate office since Mike did solid job of describing the place. Every detail he gave was a 100% accurate.
We were scheduled for our interview at 8:00 am and arrived at 7:30. My fiancée forgot the two required photos in the hotel but luckily there was a man that approached us and offered to take pictures on the spot for $20. We then went through security check and got a number (207). We waited for about an hour and 15 minutes before we were called up. We were serviced by a female clerk. She asked for different documents. We had a hard time hearing here since she was behind a thick glass window and it seemed like the intercom was not working at all. We had to ask her to repeat herself several times which only made me more nervous than I already was. Also, she was not as friendly as I would have hoped. Once she collected all the forms she asked for our evidence supporting the validity of our relationship. She asked why we had so few pictures. My fiancée explained to her that she was not much of picture person. She then asked my fiancée how old I was and went on to make a bad joke about how old I looked. That to me seemed a bit unprofessional but I was not upset, I guess because I was so nervous. We then proceeded to sit down. Me being a pessimist, I started to imagine that our application would be denied. I felt we did not have enough supporting evidence. We only had about 10 photos, about 10 pages worth of e-mails, 3 months worth of phone bills, a receipt for the engagement ring, signed and notarized letters from a few of friends, about ten pages worth of IM correspondence, a letter my fiancée wrote me for my birthday, and my passport showing I had made bout 6 trips to Nicaragua in the last 3 years. I felt that we had way too few photos and that was the main reason why I felt I had to be present at the interview. I figured what better evidence that our relationship is true than for me to be physically present to answer any questions. After about 30 minutes of being at the edge of our seats we were called up for a second time. This time we met with the consular officer. She was much more pleasant than the first woman (Judging from the reviews written by other people it seems they have a bad cop, good cop thing going on). She first asked my fiancée a couple of questions. All here questions seemed to come from the letter describing our relationship, the one that we provided in the I-129F application. She asked my fiancée how we met, who introduced us, when we became a couple, and a few other things that were in the letter. She then asked me how we communicated, where we planed to have our wedding, were we planed to have our honeymoon, and who was going to be present at our wedding. She asked if any of her family was going to be present at the wedding to which I responded that unfortunately most of her family would not be present. She seemed a bit sad for my fiancée when I said this but I then went on to explain that we would only have a civil wedding for now and eventually have a church wedding back in Nicaragua so the rest of her family and my family could be present. She seemed to be pleased when I said this. She then had my fiancée sign the DS-156 form and explained to us that we must get married within 90 days of my fiancée entering the US. She then said our application was approved and congratulated us.
The whole thing took a little more than 2 hrs from the time we came in to the time we were done. The Consulate staff was professional. The consular officer was extremely gracious. Other than the bad joke the clerk woman made and the fact that they forgot to take my fiancée’s finger prints (she had to go back the next day) I would say the experience was extremely pleasant.
In conclusion, the only advice I have for anyone applying for a K-1 visa is to have plenty of supporting evidence. Take lots of photos, especially if the petitioner will not be present at the interview. And in the case where your relationship may raise any red flags, like in Mike’s case, I would definitely advice the petitioner be present at the interview. But in the end, if your relationship is genuine and you have plenty of support you should have no problem getting approved.
| | | Nicaragua | Review #6012 on May 3, 2010: |
purduefanmike
Rating:
· 2 people found this review helpful
Click here if you found this review helpful | Review Topic: General Review
Our interview was scheduled for 8:00 am and we arrived at 7:45. We didn't know it until we got there but the Embassy opens at 7:30 and we were given number 206 (6th in line)at the second security check. The security checks are no different than going through the security at an airport, except as stated in previous reviews, no phones, water, etc. and they do have you open your medical envelope before entering. Once past the second security point, you sit in an air conditioned room (which was great since it was 95 degrees that day,lol). There are 6 windows and a separate door ( bulletproof glass, a small pass through tray and terrible microphone/speaker system). On this day 4 embassy employees working the windows. There are two restrooms and a small play area for children.
We waited about 1-1/2 hours before my fiancee's name was called and we both went up, introduced ourselves and passed along papers as the clerk asked for them. The clerk quickly learned that I don't speak a lot of spanish and that my fiancee doesn't speak very much english which led to a series of questions about how we communicated.In a nutshell, we've corresponded via email (and translated them) for the past 4 years, I've made over a dozen trips to visit and we just make it work with the little we know of each other's language. This particular line of questions was repeated by 3 different people over the course of the next 4 hours.
The first clerk took all of our papers and after another 30 minutes we were called up to a second window.As we were waiting, we noticed there were 3 other women (alone!) apparently there for their fiancee' visas also. Two of the women were given their passports back along with a green sheet of paper and left. The third woman was called to a separate room and after about 20 minutes came out crying and left. The second clerk asked us how we met, how do we communicate, asked about specific items in the papers, asked about some of the emails, about photos and trips, what we knew about each others families, etc. She asked me to sit down and then asked my fiancee' one more question, which I thought was somewhat inappropriate...when and where was the first time you made love with your fiance? She also took my fiancee's fingerprints at this time. (I thought we had it made at this point....but I was wrong!)
After another wait, my name was called and I was asked to go to the separate room. In there, I was interviewed by two women from the Fraud division. One did all the talking and I was informed that because of red flags from our file, they were investigating the possibility of fraud. The red flags were: age difference of 20 years, lack of speaking the others language and the fact that her family had gone back and forth to Costa Rico and to Spain for work.She stated that due to how bad the economy is in Nicaragua that people will do just about anything to improve their lives and did I truly believe that my fiancee loved me. She also asked the same questions regarding how we met, did I know her family, etc. I was in there for about 30 minutes answering questions and then they asked me to leave and for my fiancee' to go in. she was only there for about 5 minutes and they didn't ask anything that hadn't been asked previously.
Again, we sat for about a half an hour and were called up to the second window again where we were told that THE VISA WAS APPROVED!!! I cannot stress enough about the importance of being there with your fiancee'! and to bring lots and lots of evidence. I truly believe that the final deciding factors were:I was there and that I had brought my daughter to meet my fiancee in November and had plenty of pictures to prove it.
All in all, they staff was very professional and courteous.
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