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| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |  Review on June 17, 2009: |
Seph
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My K1 visa journey at Rio:
- I stayed at Hotel Formule 1 (R$ 99 daily, about U$ 50), the room is really small and there is no room service, but it works if you just want a place to sleep, it is like 10 minutes from the consulate in a cab and it costs about R$ 7 (U$ 3.50) to get there. Don't expect too much from this part of the city, it is on the center of the downtown, and it is *dirty*. And at night it is really scary, lots of bums getting food from trash on the streets.
- When you get at the consulate, there will be a huge line, don't go there! Ask the consulate people about immigration visa, there will be a person there helping people, and she will tell you to go upstairs, to the immigration department. If she is not there (she is the one helping upstairs too), you will have to wait in line.
- To get there, you will need to leave all the electronic stuff on the reception, go on the xray, then ask for the immigration room, or just follow the signs.
- Upstairs, she will be helping people with the papers, she will give two sheets to everybody, one is a form to fill your name and contact info and the other one is the document order (the same one on the document list of the website, be aware that the website has a link called "IMPORTANT: Order of the documents" that is outdated, look at the "Documents required for visa", i've made all the forms on both of the links tho, just to be sure)
- ATTENTION!!! Main problems I saw with other applicants:
- Photo not showing ears!
- Missing forms
- Just one copy of DS-156 (you need two)
- Form DS-156 printed from somewhere else. The DS-156 *MUST* be filled online and the result printed, and doing a mistake on this one is a big no, because you can't file it by hand, and your appointment will be rescheduled.
* Besides that, the attendant is very nice and allow people to go out to take new photos, copies or get help from relatives (in case they are not there with you already)
- Then she will call each person to check if everything is filled and in order and helping (actually she will put it in order for you in case you didn't do it correctly).
- After that, each applicant is called in a cabin, but it is not the interview yet, you will get your documents reviewed again by another person, that will take them to prepare for the interview with the consul later.
- And the waiting for the interview starts  ! If you are nervous, it is a nice time to talk to the other applicants, or to help people that don't know vj and are having trouble preparing the forms 
- Then after one hour or two, I was called to the consul's cabin. My interview was really fast, it took less than 10 minutes:
- First I had to swear I was saying the truth and that everything on the documents were true, then sign the sworn statements on the forms (I think there are two, read the forms so you don't sign the ones you have to sign with the consul).
- After the sworn statement, he started with the questions, that in my case, were just a few: he asked how and when I've met my fiancee in person, the dates we've met, when we decided to marry, how much time we've spent together already and when our son was born.
- A hint is to stay calm and answer the questions without thinking too much, i was a bit nervous and answered some dates wrong, but I corrected it later and it was OK. Remember it is normal to make confusion with dates, specially if you are a man (LOL  ), the most important is to stay calm, tell the truth and act naturally.
- Even though he didn't ask for any proof or evidence of my relationship, it is highly recommended to bring proof for the interview, cause the consul usually looks at them.
- Then out of the blue, he said "ok, your visa will be approved"  , gave me a green paper and told me to talk to the girl outside to finish the process.
- With the paper, I just needed to talk to the girl again, go downstairs and pay to get it shipped to my house (it was R$ 39, about U$ 20), I think it depends on where you live, so be sure you have more money with you, because there is no pick up option, you have to pay to get it delivered.
- They said it takes between 3-5 business days to have the visa done, and up to 7 business days to get it after it is shipped, this part was kind of scary, I didn't feel too confident in the person saying that, so I don't know, I am waiting to see when it gets here. So be sure you don't go crazy and buy a ticket for the next day, because you will still need to get the visa in hands!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4593