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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on February 23, 2018: |
MsRL825
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
K1/K2s (K1 with 2 derivatives)
Just outside the cordoned area outside the Embassy, you will find people selling black pens, people asking if you have DS 260 or Ds 160, people who will keep your gadgets for a certain fee, who will do the printing of your DS 160/DS260.
Call time: 6:40am
Arrival at the waiting area: 5:00 am (Security Guards check the appointment letter. There are 3 lines just outside the main hall of the US Embassy. All visa types applying for visa are in one line. The 6:40 applicants stand side by side with the 7:10, and the 8 (something)
Entry to the DS 160 and Passport Screening: 6:00 am, The Filipina lady asks all the applicants to show their bio/with photo page of their passport and the first page of DS 160, gives a ziplock and you put ONLY YOUR PASSPORT with your PHOTO PAGE. She sticks a small sheet with the barcode to your DS 160/DS 260, and mine starts with LETTER A. Then you will now enter the Interview Area. Here, the guards will do security checks, body search, check your bags, and everything in your pocket has to be placed in a tray.
PRE- SCREENING: 6:12, ours start a few minutes early, the lady asks us to sit down first and get ready with our documents. There are at least 6 PRE SCREENING WINDOWS and they are all Filipinos. They speak in Filipino or Tagalog. They ask you to submit your DS and the passport, scan the barcode in your DS, check your data on the screen just above their head. they type details and info as they ask you questions, and ask you to submit all your civil documents, sealed brown envelope from your medical (no cd, no vaccination sheet to be submitted, no photos to be submitted). Once they have your documents, they will ask questions to do background checks starting with your name, bdate, age, anything about your relationship, your petitioner. In this step, the ones in the PRE SCREENING COULD be TOUGH, HARSH, IMPATIENT, STRAIGHTFORWARD, NICE, just a sheer luck to have a pretty nice Filipina Screener of our THICK FILES. I offered to give her my PETITIONER'S Civil Docs, our MRV fees, and Police Clearances. Everyone waiting for their turns could pretty much hear everything. If you miss any of the documents asked, they write notes on your folder. If you can't answer their questions, they write notes, This is the longest step of all the interview process.
FINGER SCANNING: 6:22 American - he smiles and greets the applicant, instructs the applicant to do the finger scanning. WE ARE K1 and 2 K2s
WAITING for the FINAL INTERVIEW
FINAL INTERVIEW: 7:30 ON THE DOT, The CONSULAR OFFICERS start rolling up their blinds, most of them are YOUNG CONSULAR OFFICERS with age that could be mid 20's to early 30's. He scans your DS.
The CO assigned to us is a very positive, young Consular, he had our FILE - grayish brown color), and it's the same file that came from the Pre - Screening. I didn't see anything about our I129 F File.
OATH TAKING
QUESTIONS: 1. BENEFICIARY'S NAME, BDATE 2. K2s NAME and BDATE Only, Age, and the Countries they Traveled - Checks the contents of our FILE.
2. Question about the Petitioner: Name, age, bdate, OCCUPATION (he asked this twice), from which state ( he didn't ask his address)
When was the last time the Petitioner visited us? He asked how did the previous husband die ( I am a widower, the father of my kids died in Dubai, UAE, so his DEATH CERTIFICATE was a REPORT OF DEATH from The PHIL CONSULATE in UAE, and was forwarded to the DFA because his body was repatriated). He said, 'sorry to hear about your Dad (to my kids), must be tough days then.'
He asked where did we Travel ( We ( I and my kids) love to travel, so my kids had to answer that, and I also answered, He asked where did I and my Petitioner travel.
He closed our File,wrote a NOTE, and and said, OK, I am happy to APPROVE You all. Congratulations, and you can go home, then he gave us the IMBRA Pamphlet and small slip of paper to register for the delivery of our passports.
The whole process took about one hour.
A few notes: You really have to listen well, pay attention since you could hear pretty much everything that is being asked and answered, and even side comments. There microphones and loud speakers in the interview area. You may be next to a very old applicant who could not hear well. The CO has assigned translator whenever you need. At 7:30 and thereafter, will be the busiest hours ahead since the pre-screening applicants are standing side by side with the applicants having the final interview. Be prepared even if more than prepared as this pays off!!! They only asked for expired passports for those who had previous US Visa's stamped on the passports. Be prepared with all documents to support your previous US Trips. Know your I129 F packet, and details about your Petitioner. The toughest step I saw during this interview was the Pre-Screening of fellow Filipinos to their very own countrymen!!! Don't be intimated, stay focused, be confident.
I highly recommend choosing the earliest interview time slot which is 6:40am.
(updated on February 23, 2018)
(updated on February 26, 2018)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #23304