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| France |  Review on September 13, 2025: |
sadrickal
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband is a Portuguese resident and I am a US citizen, so I wanted to share our experience at the Paris embassy. Because Portugal does not process immigrant visa, we were scheduled for a Paris interview. The interview letter stated we were scheduled for August 26 at 1:30 PM. I was going to accompany my husband, and we made our travel arrangements to be there and return the next day. But just two weeks prior to the interview, we received an email that stated our screening interview would be August 26 at 1:30 PM and the interview with a counselor office would be August 27 at 8:30 AM. Thankfully we were traveling in the afternoon so we do not have to rearrange anything. Included in that email was confirmation that documents such as medical exam, civil documents and affidavit of support were all received, and that we should prepare them all for the day of the interview.
On August 26, we arrived promptly at 12:50 PM. There were a few people waiting across the street and the security tent had a timeslot that showed appointment for 11:45 AM were being accepted. We waited approximately 30 more minutes and they changed the timeslot to 1:30 PM. They stated we cannot bring in any electronics such as a laptops, and they continued with a standard security, check of our bags and metal detector. In that shack, there were also two individuals that checked the passport, interview letter, passport photos and police certificates.Once we were done, we moved on to the security shack inside where they scanned all of our belongings and took our phones. Proceeded to go inside and checked in with one of the ladies who were marking off names on her sheet and told us to wait in a line. They separated the lines by Portuguese residence and French residence. We did wait a long time, but once our turn arrived, the officer asked for passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, passport photos, and the confirmation page. She collected all of the documents and returned to us the passport and passport photos, and hand us an interview slip that indicating we should return the next day at 8:30 for the interview. That whole screening interview probably took less than 10 minutes. She just wanted to confirm phone number, address, name and collect the documents. By the time everything was complete it was approximately 3 PM.
Now for the actual counselor office interview. We were one of the first individuals to arrived probably at 7:45 AM. There were no security officers. In fact the barricades were closed. We waited some more and people started forming a line behind us as we waited for the security guard to instruct us. They first began letting people who had passport appointment go in first and then immigrant visa appointments went after. We did the same security protocol as a day before at the security tent and checked our passport and interview slip before going inside the guard shack where they took our phones. Inside we did the same thing, we checked in with an individual who cross out our names on the list and handed us a ticket number. We waited in the same line as the day before but this time the officer just took our ticket number checked our passport and passport photo and prepared the folder for the consular interview they previously had gathered yesterday and we were told to sit down in the waiting area. After a few minutes of waiting, they started calling out numbers and we were called up for the actual interview. The officer asked my husband if he wanted the interview in an English or Portuguese. He said he understood both, but would prefer Portuguese. He asked me if I was the wife, which I confirmed yes. He asked for my husbands name, what is my husband doing for work now? How did we meet? The officer did not seem to have any preference on whether my husband or myself answered the questions, which worked out great. He seemed very professional straight to the point and he continued to type some information in the computer and swiftly said our visa was approved. Shocked at the quick process I asked if there’s anything else we needed to do, he said no collected the passport handed back the police certificate, marriage certificate and birth certificate as well as the passport photos. We had prepared all of the evidence brought in financial documents, but he did not ask for any of that. By the time we left the building it was 9:10 AM. And once again, the interview itself probably took less than 10 minutes.
We left there, ecstatic, and went back home and check the status and saw that the visa was issued that same day. Because we chose to pick up the passport in Paris we just had to wait for an email confirmation and schedule an appointment. Just two days later August 29 we received the confirmation that the passport was ready for pick up and we scheduled a trip to pick up the passport September 3.
The overall process is nerve-racking in itself, but all the individuals were professional, answered our questions and made the whole process clear.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33776