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| Israel |  Review on November 5, 2013: |
aCm
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The staff at the Consulate were very nice and helpful. They consistently returned our e-mails and even allowed us to be re-scheduled for an earlier interview date due to the issues we had with the CSC office mishandling our case.
We arrived very early, 6:30 and were able to get parking although it seemed parking wasn't much of an issue as there is ample ability to park on the street below the Consulate. I am the petitioner and was allowed into the building because I e-mailed the consulate beforehand for permisson and printed out the e-mail from the Consulate which stated I could go with my Fiance into the building. However, they stated it would be up to the Consular officer if I would be allowed into the actual interview, which I wasn't allowed but its all one big room so I was basically right there anyway. If you want to go with your fiance to the interview, I would suggest e-mailing the Consulate because the guards aren't allowed to let you in unless you have an e-mail from the Consulate stating otherwise.
Once we entered the building, we were the first ones called up to give in our forms which included the financial support forms, the print off of the DS-160, his military papers and birth certificate, his medical excluding the x-ray pictures, and the DS-230. We also paid the Consular fees there in cash- $240.00 payable wither in shekels or dollars. We weren't asked for any ongoing relationship proof such as new photos etc to add the case. However, other people also interviewing were asked for this type of evidence so best to have it just in case. Once he handed in his forms we were told to wait and I was told not to go with him for the actual interview.
After about 30 minutes my fiance was called up for the interview, he took an oath and the all-in-all the interview was around 10-15 minutes. They asked him, how, where and when we met, how he proposed, where I was from, if he had met my parents or spoke to them, if he had visited my hometown or home state (the interviewer was also from Alabama) where we want to live in the States and why, what he plans to do in the states, what I want to do in the states, how long he had been to the states for college, if he finished his college program in California, the last time he saw me, when he was planning to leave for the states, where he works now, where the wedding will be, he asked about the other people in our photos that were in our original case, and what we have in common. My fiance said that the interviewer was very friendly. After the interview, he was told that he was approved and it would take 3-4 weeks to process the visa. That was it! In total, we were there around 1 1/2 hours.My fiance had been so worried because he had had previous tourist visa interviews at the Tel-Aviv Embassey and they, the interviewers had been rude, aggressive and were digging for problems. My recommendation is to get to the Jeruslaem consulate early, and wait in line at the area marked "visa" so that you are one of the first in the door, that way you will be the first served and one of the first out. The staff were lovely and the experience was much easier than the previous steps in our K-1 process.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #13183