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| Naples, Italy |  Review on May 16, 2018: |
federicorinaldo
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The process takes two days. Day 1 is the medical and day 2 is when the actual consular interview takes place.
For the medical examination, I cannot stress enough how important it is to arrive early. On paper, you’re supposed to get there by 8am but I highly recommend you arrive way earlier than that. I got to Istituto Varelli at 6:30am and was the first in line. By 7am, at least twenty people were in line behind me. They began the whole process at 7:10am and being the first in line, I got done by 8:40am. Everyone was really friendly, precise and informative.
The day after, I showed up to the consulate at 8:15am (my appointment was at 8:45am). I was only let in 15-20 minutes before my appointment. After leaving our phones at the security checks, my fiancé and I got in. Though they have appointment times, they really just call your number when they’re ready (which in our case was much later than 8:45am). The first part of the interview consisted of a few general questions and a review of all our paperwork. Something we didn’t expect is they wanted a copy of the sponsor’s passport as proof of their American citizenship. I honestly wish they’d been more clear about it. After reviewing our documents, we went back to the waiting room where we patiently waited our turn. That took a really long time and they weren’t necessarily going in order of appointment time, either. The officer was super nice and friendly and while her questions were specific, she made us feel very comfortable. We got done by 11am.
Altogether, the whole process was definitely not as intimidating as I thought it would be. I was definitely overly prepared as a lot of the documents I had were not really needed and a lot of the anxiety was just in my head. If you’re well prepared and patient, it’ll be very doable.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #23807