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| Nicaragua |  Review on May 7, 2007: |
Justo/Sheyla
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
After NVC sent our case to the Managua Consulate, I begun to make contact to the consular section by e-mail. They replied promptly to my questions. Blanca Perez is the Consular Officer whom I kept contact with. Her e-mail is consularmanagua@state.gov, or PerezBR@state.gov. Remember to always give your case number when you make your inquiry.
When your case gets to Managua, they send Instruction Packet to the beneficiary by Correos de Nicaragua. It can take a week, two, or a month. Don´t let this happen. As soon as you find out that your case has been received in Managua, ask the beneficiary to go to the US Embassy and pick the packet. They know that the Post Service in Nicaragua is slow or inefficient. So they will give you the instructions and answer any question on your case. This is what my wife did and we saved ourselves three weeks.
In the instruction packet there is a list of all documents the Embassy needs from the beneficiary. It´s usually the same documents for all visa types, but this may vary and they should let you know about.
-Birth certificates
-Police record
-Medical Exams
-Marriage certificate.
Beneficiary has to go to Registro Nacional, where they will produce all this documents for you. Pay extra so you can get them faster.
Call a doctor from the list to set up the appoinment. My wife had his medical results in three hours. Expect up to 4 vaccines to be given by the doctor, no matter if beneficiary has records of them. Have $200.00 ready for the medical examination.
My wife didn´t have to present I-864 because I had submitted it to NVC.
In K-visas you will need I-134 and they will take a look at it. Include a letter from your employer, letter from your bank, copy of your last income tax return, and last three payment receipts from your work. I didn´t have to go through this since I had sent it to NVC already.
After you gather all the documents from the checklist in Instructions Packet, you have to fax the Consulate letting them know you have everything with you.
They will call back with the date and time of the interview.
They call cell phones, so if this is more convinient to the beneficiary, give the cell number.
My wife was scheduled at 8:00 am. She got there half hour before. At 8:00 she headed to a waiting area for Inmigrant and Non-Inmigrant Visa applicants. An Consular Officer asked for her documents, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Police records, etc.
I sent my wife a file folder with copies of all documents I had sent to USCIS and NVC. Organize every piece of document you need for the interview and keep copies to yourself. The purpose of this is that when they ask for a particular document, you would have them handy. I strongly suggest this, so your interview will no be delayed.
Half hour later they called my wife and she was taken to the Consul.
Here, my wife spent 5 or 6 minutes. The Consul took a glance at the binder I had made with e-mails, phone bills, money wires receipts, photos, etc. She didn´t spent much time on it and then asked my wife where do I live, what do I do for a living, how long have we been married and who prepared the file folder and binder. She was impressed with the way we organized everything. It made things easier. The Consul then congratulated my wife and told her to go the Post Office in a week to pick up her passport.
The whole thing took approximateley 45 minutes. They didn´t ask about I-864 or my current financial information.
Overall, my wife experience was very good, considering she had stressed out too much the days before the interview.
My advice is to have all required documents on hand and organized. Have anything that will proof your relationship and organize them too. Even if they don´t go through it, just do it to be safe. Be natural and patient... and confident.
Don´t hesitate to write or call the embassy. They will answer all your doubts or give you information before the interview.
Also, I forgot to mention that after my wife sent the fax, she was notified of the time and date of the interview the next day, and the interview took place ten days later.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1572