|
|
| Guayaquil, Ecuador |  Review on June 1, 2018: |
Alqui77
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
My wife and I arrived just on time. We left the Guayaquil airport and took a taxi at about 8:30 am and it took the taxi driver about one hour to take us to the consulate (“atajoâ€).
Once at the consulate, my wife (the petitioner) was not allowed to get in. The guards told us that this is a new policy that was implemented a few weeks ago. I had read in a few reviews people recommending that the petitioner attends the interview. Don´t waste your money. They will not let the petitioner in. We argued for a little while with the guards about my wife´s right to be inside (as an American citizen) but they just ignored what we said.
Once inside (after passing the security check) I waited for about an hour to be allowed to get into the building. Once inside the building, I realized there were too many people applying for resident visas. About 100 waiting.
After about two more hours my name was called to a window. An Ecuadorian woman (dark hair, probably in her 50´s) started requesting me the same general documents already mentioned in previous posts. Suddenly, after receiving them she started to be rude. I told her that in the last email from the NVC (checklist) they mentioned that I had to take a couple of documents with me to the consulate. I tried to hand her these documents and she just ignored me (did not take the documents) and continued to ask me for some documents that had nothing to do with the process. She requested me a job offering for my wife (the petitioner!). I told her that what she was requesting was not listed anywhere in the guidelines. After my observation, she acted even ruder. She started mocking me for what I said and continued requesting me more ridiculous documents (not mentioned anywhere). I realized that she was just trying to get a bad reaction from me (maybe she was just angry that I responded to her). I was thinking to myself “this woman does not make any decision here and she is just trying to get me frustratedâ€). I stopped responding to her harsh comments and ridiculous requests. I just looked at her with a sarcastic smile without saying anything. She realized that she was not going to get me scared or angry. She stopped and just said “go take a sit and wait for your name being called for the interviewâ€. The point here is that the people who actually make decisions are the consular officers, not the Ecuadorian employees who first receive documents in the first step. I have read in previous posts that some of them are really kind. Others are not. They do not have power in the decisions made at the consulate but they try to show you that they do.
After waiting for about 40 more minutes my name was called to go to another window. The consular officer was there with my documents. He asked me only a couple of very general questions (of course he did not request any of the ridiculous things the woman mentioned) and he finally said that my visa was approved. This actual interview lasted less than 5 minutes.
I strongly suspect that the decision is already made before the interview for most of the cases. When I was waiting for the actual interview I was able to listen to many other interviews. I guess that more of 90% of the cases are approved. The few cases that were not approved had very specific conditions that made the consular officers to suspect (previous different marriages with children, deportations, etc.).
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #23927