|
|
| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on November 7, 2025: |
Twirly
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Here’s everything I learned from my fiancé about his interview at the consulate.
His appointment was for 8am on Thursday, Nov 6, 2025. He took the train (from his town near Munich) to Frankfurt the day before his appointment, as many people on VisaJourney had advised. He stayed in a nearby (overpriced) hotel and had some quality hotel sauna time to relax, and then a nice free breakfast in the morning before heading to the embassy. If you like saunas, it might be nice to make a trip of it to relax a little.
I reminded him to stay hydrated all day to keep his mind sharp for the next day!
He arrived at the embassy at 7:20am thinking he was awkwardly early (and it was cold out), but there was already a “sea” of people outside. He made it through security and to his seat in the waiting area right at 8.
He overhead someone having trouble turning off her Apple watch at security. He’d brought a nonsmart watch, as people in these reviews have advised, and was able to keep it on. They made him turn off his phone, but he could keep it. He had a backpack with only his documents and a water bottle.
He got called to the booth to present his papers quite quickly, around 8:05. They asked for all the documents that were just about him (police records, divorce certificate, etc) except his military record (of non-involvement). He asked if they wanted that, and then they took it. They also asked for my I-134 and one year of tax records. They didn’t ask for any of the NOAs or other confirmation letters.
He updated them that he'd gotten his German citizenship a few weeks ago (he had applied before our relationship got serious, thinking he would stay in Europe, and he only now got citizenship, just in time to say goodbye to Germany, oh well). They said congrats and asked if he wanted to use his German passport for the visa instead of his Russian one, and he was like, No no no… He had read online about cases getting stuck in a black hole when there was a passport change.
They said his medical results hadn’t come in yet (even though he did his medical Oct 23rd, two weeks ago). They said he was the second one that day whose results hadn’t come in, and he should call the Munich clinic to see what’s up. He did so later that day, and they said they had “internet issues” and would send his results asap.
He sat back down and waited about an hour. During that time, he could hear a lot of the conversations happening at the booths (because they used speakers) and the interview rooms (the walls were thin). He was able to refill his water and go to the bathroom while waiting.
He noticed that a lot of people hadn't followed the document instructions anal retentively (compared to our extremely perfectionistic approach throughout this whole k-1 application process). They brought some incorrect documents or were missing stuff. Yet they didn't spontaneously combust or get swallowed by a hole in the floor.
He also overheard multiple instances of interviewers loudly saying something like, “Don’t look to your husband for the answer. This is *your* interview!”
It was quite crowded in the waiting area. He felt like he was waiting longer than average because they were prioritizing families with kids first. This is kind of fair because imagine having to deal with children stuck in a waiting room for an unknown period of time.
His actual interview was more involved than most of the ones I've read about in this forum. They asked him a lot of questions about Russia and his tech background. Here are paraphrases of the questions he told me:
- What do you do for work? (function, company)
- What did you study at university?
- Why did you move to Germany?
- Have you been back to Russia since immigrating to Germany?
- Have you been in the military?
- How did you and your fiancée first meet?
- Why/when did she move back to the US? And then they calculated out loud and said, So you were long distance for 2 years?
- When did you and your fiancee last meet (he started to describe, “She visited me here….” But they said they really just wanted a date, which they typed into the computer)
- When did you get engaged? (Again, he was ready to tell a whole story about the engagement, but they just wanted a date)
They repeated a lot of the questions, going, “Wait wait--” and “Oh, right, right.” Especially for dates that they had to enter into their system, it seems ?????
I’m disappointed they didn’t ask for our updated relationship evidence, especially since they seemed to care how long we were long-distance, and we were actually together in-person more than apart after filing.
In the end, they said they would run background checks while they waited for the medical results to come in, which they said should take only a few days. They again advised him to call the clinic. They held on to his passport. They didn’t give him any papers (like a 221(g) slip, even though we're technically in 221(g) right now).
Further thoughts (FYI there’s not much factual info beyond this point, just me speculating and philosophizing and maybe some edge-case info):
He’s feeling much relieved after this long-anticipated interview despite the unknown result. Meanwhile, I had a little cry after he updated me because the “background check” comment didn't sound good.
But I did some research and learned that they do a final background check for *all* cases, and that the final approval seems to be given by a separate, senior officer. I’ve read accounts where someone even got verbally approved at the interview only to later get their passport back in the mail with no visa but a 221(g) form instead. So this last hurdle was always there, I just didn’t know about it.
I’ve also learned that, if they think his nationality or tech background might be a threat, they would do a Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) or “Mantis” check, which could take months. Or they could hold on to his case indefinitely if they don’t have enough incriminating evidence to say No but not enough confidence to say Yes.
The fact that they held on to his passport and said they would run the background check *while* waiting for the medical results (only a few days) implies that the interviewer probably didn't order these longer security checks. So that’s comforting. So now it feels like we’re in a calm before the storm, not thinking too hard about the future yet. When the passport is mailed back, with or without the visa, then we'll have enough info to know if we need to start completely revising our plans.
So I realized that, after this whole year of obsessing over all the USCIS and NVC approvals and dates, our biggest insecurities about our particular case might not even *really* get vetted until that last security check. It doesn’t make sense for us to be strung along with encouraging approvals for a year only to be rejected when they look into our case the most thoroughly at the end. But, from the government’s perspective, maybe it makes sense not to put in the effort to vet so thoroughly until the very end when they absolutely have to. To be clear, I don’t know if that’s how the process actually works, I'm just philosophizing hypothetically about how the government system has interacted with my own life system.
I hope that helped. Best of luck to everyone out there!
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33826