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| Islamabad, Pakistan |  Review on April 12, 2025: |
steveblue
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
First a man called us to take paperwork. He was Pakistani. We were a gay couple which may have confused him a bit, as he asked why we were not married or something like that.
Then we sat and waited. Some very anxious people around us, waiting quietly and praying.
They finally called us after waiting nervously for about 1.5 hours. They had been warned we were a gay couple after I contacted the State Dept. in Washington, DC, and they were prepped for that and treated us very well. They called us to a far window away from crowds and asked us if we wanted to be interviewed in a private room (for added security and privacy) which we declined.
The IO interviewer was a male 30s, very smart and well dressed, very polite, who asked us many questions. He got confused about fiancé's work history so we said, "We brought a resume, would that help?" He said "Yes," which sped things up. He asked questions, typed for a long time, asked questions, typed for a long time, etc. We had lots of documents and photos with us just in case. More than half the time we waited while he typed answers.
He was watched over by a supervisor, a smart woman in her later 30s, who intervened with questions from time to time and guided the younger employee on the computer; even when not active, she listened from the sidelines to the whole interview.
On one or two occasions the US citizen intervened to use alternate words when fiancé wasn't sure of the vocabulary. The interview was in English and they had clearly had looked at our file beforehand. They asked to keep both previous passports and implied an approval would be forthcoming. We hugged in joy and two Pakistani young women in the waiting area gave us a thumbs up.
Unfortunately though the case went into Administrative Processing after a few weeks; it took about 6 months more for final approval. Fiancé arrived in the US just days before COVID lockdowns which would have delayed things much much longer. So we are grateful to have escaped that ordeal.
We were impressed by how polite, friendly, and thorough the immigration officers were, as well as sensitive to our issues as a gay couple. They were both likable and competent people.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33629