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| Cambodia |  Review on May 11, 2017: |
hectorkhuon
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The interview was scheduled at 8:30 AM on May 11, 2017. I flew in the day before to attend the interview with my fiancée. We practiced all the questions we could find and memorized all the important dates. We chose to wear business casual clothes to look professional, but not be too formal. I believe the way we looked played a big part in the interview. We arrived at 6 AM to be first in line. The window opened at 7 AM. They informed us that we would have to wait until 15 minutes before our scheduled time to be allowed in. There were a few other people waiting in line behind us with earlier appointments that were let in. Finally, at 8:15 AM, we were asked to present our passports at the window and went through security. Security asked for our driver's licenses, but I did not bring mine. They informed me that I should have, but let me pass through. They gave us badges and we went through metal detectors and they collected our personal belongings. We walked to the next building where we had to present our security badges to Window 7 in order to get a ticket number. We sat down and after a few minutes, our number was called to go to Window 6. We had to submit our documents (Passports, Birth Certificate, Letters of Intent to Marry, Cambodian ID Card, 2 Passport-sized Photos, ACLEDA Payment Receipt, Medical Exam Results, Police Certificate, Single Certificate, I-134 Affidavit of Support, and Evidence of Relationship) to the officer. We had everything translated that was in Khmer originally. For our Affidavit of Support, they only needed the Tax Return Transcripts from the most recent year from the IRS and W-2s from the employer. I was self-employed, so I included my Form 1099-MISC, which they did collect. I also had a co-sponsor which they accepted with no issues. They did not take our 1040 Tax Returns or our bank account statements. I also did not bring any letters from our employers or pay stubs. For our Evidence of Relationship, we included excerpts from our LINE chats and screenshots of our FaceTime call history over the past 6-8 months. We also submitted about 13 photos accumulated over the past few years (selfies together, group photos with family, and a few photos of our engagement ceremony). Also, we submitted our engagement invitation card and ring receipt. We were told to take a seat and wait for our number to be called again. We were called to Window 10 for fingerprinting. They used a digital scanner. We then took a seat again. We waited for awhile this time. We could overhear other interviews and my fiancée tried to remember some of the questions. After about 20 minutes, they called us to Window 2 to conduct the interview. We greeted the interviewer and he was accompanied by a translator. He first asked my fiancée if she spoke English, she said yes, so the translator politely left.
Then he started asking us these questions:
For my fiancée...
1. Have you ever been married before?
2. Do you have any siblings?
3. Do you have any relatives in the U.S.? - She did not.
4. What does your father do for a living?
5. What do you do for a living? - She was a student.
6. What are you studying?
For me...
1. Have you ever been married before?
2. What is your job? - There was a mix up and he thought my job was the job of our co-sponsor. I corrected him and stated my job.
3. What company do you work for?
4. How much do you earn annually? - I get paid hourly, so I stated my wage.
5. How much did you make last year? - I did not work a lot last year and was well below the poverty guidelines.
6. You made almost nothing last year, how do you expect to support your fiancée? - I explained why I didn't work that much last year due to school, but I was working more hours now.
7. What is the name of your school?
8. What are you studying?
9. Do you have any siblings?
10. What does your father do for a living? - My father is a retired police officer.
11. What department did he work for?
That took about 2 minutes. He then started typing on his computer for what felt like forever. Then he pulled out a blue slip and wrote on it and told us that we passed and we could pick up the visa on the written date, which was a week later. We were very happy, I thanked him and he wished us luck. Are interview was very easy. I was surprised that he did not ask us any questions at all about our relationship. This was our first interview by the way. I think being present with my fiancée played a big part since he could see were genuine. We also met 3 times prior, so that was not a red flag. Another couple that came together also passed. I did see another girl who came alone fail, who could not speak English at all. Also, I believe our evidence was solid and we did not raise any red flags, so they felt the relationship was genuine prior to even interviewing us. I believe a combination of good evidence, meeting at least two or three times, and being present together for the interview will raise your chances of passing. One more thing, if you can speak English well enough, I would do the interview in English considering they are trying to marry an American citizen. Our plan was to do it in Khmer, since my fiancée felt more comfortable, but she knew she could do it in English if need be. The interviewer kept commenting on how she spoke English very well. I hope this helps, I tried to remember everything that happened and be as detailed as I could. Be prepared, dress nicely, and stay calm. Good luck!
(updated on August 28, 2018)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #21792