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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on April 2, 2013: |
Scottie Pippen
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Our appointment was at 6:30am. When we arrived at the embassy around 5:30am there were 2 lines, one for tourist visas and one for immigrant visas. The people near the entrance had appointments at 6:15am. There was another queue of people behind the first line for appointments at 6:30am. We waited there, and entered the building around 6:30am. Outside the embassy, To enter, show your appointment letter and passport of petitioner and beneficiary. They will give you a plastic bag where you will put your passport with ID page opened, also they will give you the 2go delivery slip. When you enter the main security entrance of the embassy, U.S. citizens have a different entrance than non-US citizens. US citizens can bring electronic devices and keep them there. My wife got a number slip from the next kiosk after the main security check. When you enter the huge embassy hall, give your appointment slip to the girl at the counter.
Now here is when the fun begins. You are given a 4 digit number, ours was 6161. Numbers started calling were around 6001, but in no specific order, because the appointment slip you give also has your number attached to it. It is divided into steps. Steps 1 and 2 are interchangeable. When your number is called it will show the window where to report.
Waiting between steps TOOK FOREVER, I would say it took an hour between each step,
1. Fingerprinting - windows 43/44. Left 4 fingers, right 4 fingers then 2 thumbs together.
2. First interview with filipino officer - goes through your documents, puts everything in order. She took all our original documents, so if you want, make copies of everything.
3. Interview with US officer. Our interviewer was so nice, since my wife is from korea, she knew some korean and we were chatting about korea for some time. She knew we had a genuine relationship and our interview was finished in less than 3 minutes. Basic questions like how did you meet, do you guys fight, how many times have you been to korea etc. We showed her pictures but she said it was ok.
After that, we waited around 1 1/2 hour for the final step.
4. Delivery final Document check. The last windows they make sure all documents are in order, and nothing is missing. If everything is ok, you can go to window 69 to give your 2go document delivery paper. We chose to do pick up in 2go makati branch. They will send you a text when it is available.
We left by 11:45am, there were only a few people left in the building by that time. The majority of people doing immigrant petitions were for children and older individuals, not many married couples, maybe I spotted a handful 10 of the 500 or so people there.
It was a great experience, now off to korea for wedding ceremony and enter the united states after 5 months.
We filed our I-130 dec 21st, visa approved 4/3. Actually we were supposed to interview march 21st, but our NBI clearance took too long, we should have done that a long time ago. Anyway, no worries.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #11757