|
|
|  Review on October 18, 2012: |
CharityA
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband's CR1 visa interview was Monday, October 15th. We stayed in the Barcelo hotel, not too far away. He had been in Guatemala for a year and half at this point and we were hoping for good news, but we had been told he had a deportation order by members of his family so we were thinking we might have to have I212 waiver. Our lawyer had filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) to see if he actually had the deportation order and according to it there was nothing under his name, but they didn't search all of the databases that the Embassy has. So we went in expecting the worst, that they would find a deportation order.
Our interview was at 8 am. I had been told I was not allowed to go to the interview with my husband unless they had specifically asked me to come. The people at the embassy will always tell you that when you call. It is NOT true. An officer who works at the American Embassy in Guatemala was at the Barcelo when we were and we met him the night before the interview and he told us that as long as the US citizen has their US passport that they are allowed to enter with their spouse. I had been expecting not to be able to go in and since cell phones are not allowed inside the embassy I was going to be in for a long day of waiting.
So the next morning we both get up around 6 and arrived at the embassy around 7:20. It is very confusing with people all over the place and people following you around asking to look at your papers and telling you that you have the wrong size pictures, IGNORE THEM. They are just trying to make money off of you. So we went and got in the immigrant visas line and there were already quiet a few people in front of us. The guy came out and started handing out numbers. We ended up getting number 17 and then had to get in to the other line to be let in to the embassy. The man let both of us in and then we went through security, which should be extremely easy if you didn't have your cell phone. The only thing my husband had to do was remove his keys and change from his pocket and we were good to go.
There is a small room with benches where the security is and people waiting on non-immigrant visas were sitting there but the man told us that since we had an immigrant visa interview we could go on through. So we entered the embassy and every seat in the room is full and people are standing up along the walls, so it's all very confusing. We stood up against the wall and waited because the windows the man outside told us we would be called to weren't open yet. Around 8 am the windows opened and they began calling people starting with the number 1. It took about an hour and a half before we were finally called.
The key to this is to be ORGANIZED. We saw many people in front of us turned away simply for not being organized. At this window (I think we were called to window 7) they just look over the paperwork to make sure everything is there and that they don't need anything else. We had copies and originals of everything we had sent with us just in case. The lady was very nice to us and when she realized that I didn't speak Spanish she talked to us in English. She had an accent, but her English was very good. She asked us for the results of my husbands medical exam and his passport and the letter that stated what time our interview was. She then went and got our file. Everyone in front of us had had only a few papers in their file, she brought ours back and it was 4 inches thick!!!
She asked us a few simple questions like how old we were and if we had any children or if we had been married before each other. Then she gave back the letter and two passport photos and some other documents that she said they no longer needed and told us to go wait to be called to window 11 for him to be fingerprinted. So we went and found a seat and waited about 10 minutes before he was called to get his finger prints done. Then he returned to the seat and we had to wait to be called to the actual interview at windows 8 or 9.
We watched the people ahead of us and most of them turned away not looking to happy so I was getting extremely stressed out. Finally we were called up to window 9, with a male interviewer. The other interviewer was a female. He asked if we spoke Spanish. My husband said yes and I said no. The interviewer was definitely American. So he asked if we would like the interview in English or Spanish and we chose English of course. So we were sworn in and he looked over the file for a second. He asked for my passport to make sure who I was. He then asked what my husbands birthday was and what date he had left the US. We watched him count on his fingers before he asked us if my husband had left less than 6 months after he turned 18 (or else he would have had to get the I601 waiver). We told him yes. We answered and then he looked at the marriage certificate and asked why we were married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee instead of in Georgia and we explained that we wanted a small wedding in a wedding chapel there and that we spent our honeymoon there afterwards.
So he looked over stuff on his computer and through our file for a little longer and then turned back to us. He started to say something but then he stopped and looked at the lady next to him and I was freaking out thinking that something was wrong. Then he looks at us and asks if we felt that? I was confused and said no. Then a minute later the whole building starts shaking. There was an earthquake in the middle of the interview! So we stood there shaking for a few minutes before it finally stopped. We joked around about the earthquake for a few minutes and then he continued on with the interview.
He asked how long I had been here with my husband? I told him eight months total but that I had been coming back and forth because my visa only lasts for three months at a time. Then he said to us, "I think you spoke with one of our officers at the Barcelo last night? He told me I might be interviewing you guys." I was shocked the other guy had even mentioned us, but I think he gave us a good word. Then he asked my husband if he knew exactly when he came in to the US and he said no because he had been to young to remember. The guy looked in his file and said that it said September 7th, 1998 but that he thought someone in his family had told immigration that at some point so he was sure if it was correct or not. Then the funniest thing happened when the interviewer told my husband that he even spoke English with a Southern accent! We were cracking up over that.
So then he asked my husband if he had ever had any trouble with the police or immigration. My husband told him he had never had any trouble with the police but that he had been told my his family members that he had a deportation order from when he was brought there and got caught. The guy shook his and head and said no that he didn't see anything in his file stating that he had a deportation order and then told us that minors couldn't get deportation orders anyways! How did all of the lawyers we spoke to not know this? He then read us everything it said about him in his file just to show us that there was nothing. At this point my husband was so relieved he started tearing up a little. I didn't want him to get too relieved though in cause they still denied us for some reason.
The man closed Miker's file and put it to the side and said to us, "Well everything appears to be in order." We didn't know exactly what that meant, if he was accepted or what because they never asked us for a single piece of evidence. We had pictures, letters from family and friends, bank statements, etc. and he asked for NONE. He then reached up and looked through some papers that were in a shelf on the wall before he turned to the lady beside him and his microphone cut out a little bit but we heard him say "Do you have anymore of those approval slips?" At this point we are both freaking out on the inside, but trying to remain calm and not look like idiots. He then hands us a sheet of paper with information on how to decide where Cargo Expreso would send the visa and I asked him if he knew about how long it would take to receive his passport with the visa in it? He told us about a week but we received it two days later.
Overall the experience for us was GREAT. They seemed to be really nice to everyone who was organized and prepared, because that just makes their job that much easier. Be confident and don't LIE about anything. Overall though, most of the people there are very nice.
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10664