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| Qatar |  Review on May 31, 2023: |
badwolfxi
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Ahh Doha embassy, it's definitely something. I'll begin this review with the point of contact in which the Doha embassy gave us the interview "letter". We received a very brief email after some time that the Doha embassy received our petition as shown below.
"Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your email.
You have been scheduled for an interview appointment on Tuesday 16-MAY-2023 at 08:00 AM
You may refer to the below link for details on how to prepare for your interview."
The provided link was just the 10-step generic guide from travel.state.gov. There weren’t any specific instructions for the Doha embassy. There weren’t any instructions on what to bring. There wasn't an actual "letter" that was official. Our next step was the medical exam so our concern was having the official appointment letter to bring to the exam. We had to ask in a response to the email. Luckily, they responded within an hour. Side note: they will respond to emails very quickly if they have an answer, if they don't, you can send the same email more than a dozen times and they won't respond. Anyway, they responded in the email saying we can print the actual email to use as an official appointment letter.
The next day she did the medical so now we just prepare documents for the interview. Another email comes out a week before the interview date that has some more generic instructions on how to prepare for the interview. Again, nothing too specific about what documents to bring. We did enough research to know what we needed to prepare, so it wasn’t a big deal. However, it is frustrating to not have a detailed checklist on what exactly they require from us.
I want to address the Aramex registration too because that was something that took us a while to figure out. Doha embassy uses ustraveldocs for applying for a visa and setting up your appointment. But for a K1 visa interview, the embassy chooses your appointment themselves. So, we filled in all the information and get to the page where we have to pay the visa fee. After the payment we cannot select an appointment because an appointment has already been made for us. But now we don’t have a confirmation page for the Aramex registration.
The embassy sends you instructions on Aramex registration but left out a step that actually brings you to the process of getting the Aramex registration confirmation. You have to go back to the new application page and choose the option “IV Address Registrationâ€. That is basically how you start the process of getting your Aramex registration confirmation. They completely left that out in their pdf instructions. I eventually found a guide here on VJ for a different embassy. But the frustration doesn’t end, they will have you pick your visa type when you start the process, and K1 is not an option. So, I emailed the embassy and they responded that it does not matter which visa type we choose for Aramex registration.
All of this confusion could have been averted if the embassy took time to provide detailed and specific information on how to prepare for the interview. So I am writing out this detailed review in the hopes that anyone else who ends up having a K1 visa at the Doha embassy can use this information to help them through the process.
We assembled a packet of documents together that included all the basics, passport photos, copy of NOA2, DS-160 confirmation, Aramex registration confirmation, police certificates, certificate of no marriage, my (US citizen) copy of birth certificate, the I-134 form with all attached evidence of financial support.
She took all these to her interview at the embassy, went through several security checkpoints through different buildings to finally get to the main building where there was a room that they were conducting the interviews. The interview is conducted by you standing at a window and being interviewed by the officer on the other side. The officer asked for the documents one by one and then proceeded to ask questions about our relationship. Basic things like how we when, where, first visit, how many visits, last visit. And a slew of other questions about our relationship. I'd imagine the kind of questions you would get asked is different from the next person so I won't go into detail.
At the end of the interview, the officer asked my fiancée if she has any photos or other evidence of us having met in the last two years. Of course the one main requirement for a K1 Visa we completely forgot about. So they gave her a "soft" 221g white slip with instructions to provide the requested evidence and drop it off at the Aramex location. We spent the next day assembling a three inch thick binder with a ton of evidence. They specifically requested photos, boarding passes and/or flight itineraries, chat logs, and call logs. Sent it on over, and in less than a week the visa was issued. And one week after that she got a call from Doha embassy to pick up her passport and a sealed, not to be opened by no one other than the immigration officer at the port of entry, packet.
And that is it, that was our experience with Doha embassy for a K1 Visa. This review is long, but there is very limited information on how it works at the Doha embassy so I wanted to be thorough and provide as much details as possible. I hope this review helps. I may create a post some time in the near future for a guide on the K1 Visa process at the Doha embassy. Until then I am open to answering any questions, just dm me.
(updated on May 31, 2023)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32119