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|  Review on August 7, 2012: |
laurabrew
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The consulate was really great. My only criticism would be that you can't call them directly, any questions have to go through email. In the final steps of the process they answered my questions within 24 hours, but in the first stages, before we had a case number, they took a week or more.
I went in to the embassy twice. I (the sponsoring citizen) live in Chile so it's been a lot easier for us. First I had to go to pick up the instruction packet because it took so long. We received our 2nd NOA in mid May and by July we still didn't have the packet, so I called the NVC and they told me to contact the consulate, which I did, and the consulate told me I could pick it up there. Funny how the same day I picked it up the package arrived at our house! The first time I went in the morning when they do tourist visas and the place was packed. But when we went back for our interview on a Monday at 2pm (they gave us one month to prepare everything, it was stressful but we did it!) there was only one other woman in line ahead of us, and another couple and single guy came behind us. We arrived at the consulate around 1:20 and they opened the doors for us to enter at 1:30. We waited until the interviewers opened the windows at 2:00 and called us up. The lady at the window was Chilean and the same one who I spoke to the first time I came to pick up my package. I was able to stay with my fiance the whole time and even help him answer the questions. She asked how we met, and recorded in pretty good detail the story. Then she asked what we did in Chile (he is from Peru so we are both foreigners here) and how long we've been here. She asked about other dates, when we started dating, when we moved in together (we told her we lived together), when we got engaged. She looked through all the papers I gave her (over 100 pages!) and gave me back anything that she didn't need, including the proof of the relationship. Then we sat down and waited to be called to another window. While we were waiting we could overhear another woman's interview, she had previously overstayed her visa by several months and then claimed that she hadn't on her application form, so she was denied pending an apology letter that would take about 6 months to process. So a tip for anyone else- don't lie! They catch you. But luckily for us everything went smoothly. In the next step, the actual "interview", the guy (American, but did the interview in Spanish for my fiancee) asked about our plans for the US, the trip, the wedding, and we responded that we hadn't made set plans because we wanted to wait and see what would happen with the visa. He said that everything looked good, gave my fiancee the paper to sign saying he would marry me within 90 days of entering the US and even joked around asking him "Are you sure you want to do this?". He told us on the spot that we were approved and could pick up the passport with the visa at DHL in two weeks. So like everyone else says in the forum this was really the easiest part! On a side note, I have some advice about the medical interview: We had our embassy appointment on a Monday and the medical exam on Thursday before. The fiancee had to take off Thursday and Friday because the next day he had to go get vaccinations and a chest X-ray, and then drop off those documents at the doctor's office. We had to wait until Monday morning, the same day as the interview, to pick up our package from the doctor, who was really nice but kind of spacey and forgot where she put everything. I was really nervous about the interview and couldn't sleep thinking that she might lose some important piece of the packet! So for the rest of you, make your appointment at least a week before the interview so you can have time to get your vaccinations and scans and give the doctor time to put everything together for you. Good luck and I hope this review helps!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10143