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| Argentina |  Review on May 15, 2017: |
cordoba2015
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We arrived at the embassy at 8:30 am. There was a very long line of people out front along Colombia street waiting to enter the embassy for tourist visas. We knew we didn't have to wait in the line, thankfully, so we figured we would try and see if they would let us in early. At the front of the embassy there are several numbered windows with embassy workers on the inside who communicate by microphone through the bulletproof glass to us people on the outside. We went directly up to window 1 (furthest to the right) and my wife stated her name and said we had an appointment at 9:00. Even though we were a half hour early, they let us in right then and there. We were given a green folder which is recognized as a VIP pass that lets you through from one station to the next without waiting in any lines.
We entered through a door to the left of the window furthest to the left, or the side opposite window 1. My wife entered, and I followed her in. A security guard outside told me to open my coat to make sure I didn't have any weapons or anything. She was not particularly pleasant, but understandably so. On the other side of the door is a small room for security screening. Inside, we had to remove everything from our pockets and go through an airport-type security scan. Everything metal (belt, glasses) and everything in our pockets, along with coats and documents had to go into a plastic bin on and placed on a conveyor belt to be scanned by security. I walked through the scanner and collected my belongings at the end of the conveyor belt. We went out another door which takes you to an outdoor hallway.
In the outdoor hallway, there are a few numbered stations. We went to station 4, which is the fingerprint scan. My wife was instructed by a woman speaking in English on a microphone through a bulletproof glass window just like the windows outside at the front of the embassy, to place her four fingers, one hand at a time, on the scanner. We were then directed to station 5, which is a large room with multiple booths with bulletproof glass windows with people on microphones, just like the others. This is the room where the interviews are held. You walk in and along the wall facing you, you see embassy workers sitting on the other side of those window booths asking questions of people who are there for tourist visas. The far left wall has a bathroom, and the door between the bathroom and the wall of glass window booths is the door to an a small, enclosed booth, with the same glass window and microphone setup. That is where we had our interview. We were seated in some plastic chairs right outside the bathroom along the left side of the room, facing the booths.
We were called into that booth shortly after entering the room and a woman looked over all of our documents very carefully, after we passed them to her under the glass. There is a plastic chair identical to the ones in the waiting room directly in front of the glass window microphone where the officer asks the questions. My wife sat there. I sat in another chair placed directly behind her. She looked over everything and checked each item off the list. She said everything looked good and that we would be called back into the room for the interview. We were told to be patient because sometimes it could take awhile for them to get ready for the interview. We waited an hour for them to call us back in, at which point we entered the same booth for the interview.
As soon as we entered, the first thing my wife was asked was to swear that everything she was to say in the interview was true. We were then asked how we met, how many trips I had made to visit my wife before we were married, when I had made those trips, and I told her I had been living in Argentina for the past year after our wedding to avoid being separated from my wife. I was asked what I had been doing with my time in Argentina this past year. My wife was asked what she would be doing in the United States. We were asked if my parents had met my wife's parents and if there were good family relations and if they approved of our marriage. They noticed we had applied for a K1 visa before and wanted to know why we had a change of plans and switched plans to getting married in Argentina and getting the CR-1 instead. She then said she had everything to approve the visa and asked if my wife was excited to go to the United States. We answered every question smoothly and the consul said the visa was approved. She proceeded to explain about the expiration date of the visa being 6 months after the medical exam and that if my wife didn't use the visa by then we would have to start all over. She gave us a piece of paper explaining that the visa had been approved and told us about paying the USCIS immigrant fee. We thanked her and walked out. We exited through a revolving door of metal bars which leads right out in front of window 1 where we started.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #21801