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| Yemen |  Review on February 6, 2014: |
H93
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Our appointment was on October 29, 2013. Got to the embassy at 6:45 a.m. and our appointment was at 7:30 a.m. Went through secuirity checks and then they called us to a window. There was a Yemeni guy there who gathered all our papers. He asked me why I've been in Yemen for so long and if I have anything tying me back to America like bills. I told him no, but I had copies of all 3 of my passports and their stamps and my MI ID.He took them and told us to sit down till the American councilor calls us. She was a white woman and looks fairly young with blunt bangs. She was very nice and most people that went before us got approved fairly easily without any tough questions being asked. She called our name and I could tell her mind was already made. There was small talk and she mostly spoke to me although my husband is the one applying for a visa. She asked me how long have we've been married and how long I've been in Yemen. She also asked how do we know our sponsor. I told her he's my brother in law. I noticed this was a question they asked everybody and they seemed to have a problem if the sponsor isn't related to the beneficiary or petitioner somehow. There were no other questions asked. She told me the only problem with our case is that I've been in Yemen for a year and 4 months and that the requirement for someone away from the U.S. for more than a year is that there needs to be something tying them to America. She told me the only solution is for me to go back to America and then send in the passport stamp to the embassy. I was crushed. Not so much for the visa but more so at the thought of leaving my husband. Then it occurred to me that I have some bills in my name in America that were being paid under my name while I've been here in Yemen. I told her this and she said it will do. She said we should send them to the embassy and then they will give my husband a date to drop off his passport to print his visa.
We sent in the papers they were looking for about a week after our appointment.
A few days after our appointment I checked our status on the DOS website and it said Administrative Processing. Although the councilor didn't mention that we were going to be put in AP.
So I wasn't really sure if we were really in AP or if they have to update every case after every interview and they just put AP for the heck of it.
Nonetheless, my husband got a call to his cell phone on December 14, 2013 to come and drop off his passport on December 17, 2013.
He went with his ID, a copy of his passport and all our papers that we took to the interview. He received a white visa pick up slip for January 26, 2014.
Then on Janruary 23, we got a call to our home phone that his pick up was delayed by one day and that he come on Janruary 27 instead of the 26th.
He went and he received his visa, Alhamdullilah.
My advice is for everyone to have their papers ready and organized. If they are, you're sure to be approved insha'Allah.
(updated on February 6, 2014)
(updated on March 1, 2015)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #13806