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| Bogota, Colombia |  Review on September 14, 2025: |
Maitremathieu
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My wife had her CR-1 interview last week along with her 5 year old daughter, and I was allowed to enter the embassy and attend with them. For context, my wife had previously entered on a K1 visa last year but sadly had to return to Colombia due to the death of her grandmother. We decided to postpone our wedding, marry abroad and start the process again for the CR1 visa.
The process was very well organized. Entering the embassy I just explained I was their petitioner but nobody asked to verify this or checked my passport. We first lined up at a desk where their documents were checked and placed in the correct order, then lined up at the windows to hand them over to an officer. Previously we had received an email saying our file was incomplete because it was missing our divorce records, however neither of us had been married previously. The officer checked the documents and asked if either of us had been married previously, we said no and it was no problem. Since our marriage certificate was from Aruba, the officer asked my wife is she had previously lived in Aruba and she explained no, we just visited for our wedding. My wife was given the domestic violence pamphlet and we took a seat.
After that we waited for at least 3 hours before being called up for the interview. The officer was very polite. He spoke to me in English and to my wife in Spanish, and seemed to be a native Spanish speaker which made my wife comfortable. He asked my wife if she had read the domestic violence pamphlet and if she understood it. He then asked her a few basic questions which I can't remember. He then spoke to me, asked to see my passport and where I live in the US. He asked my wife if she currently had a valid visa to the US, which is when we explained no but what had happened with the previous K1. The officer was interested in this but understood and said he would put it in his notes. All of this was explained in the I-130 process and also on the DS-260 form about previous visas and US stays, but it appeared that the officer did not have any of this information available to him.
After clearing up the previous visa question, he asked about the number of times we had seen each other and then asked for photos of our time together. My wife handed him a stack of photos. He just looked at the first one and said in English "honestly I'm good with just this, this says a lot, and you guys previously had a K1 so you're fine." He approved the visas, and they were delivered to the FedEx store in Medellín 4 days later. My stepdaughter was with us the whole time at the window but he never acknowledged her or asked her any questions. Very nice and professional experience!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33777