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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on February 2, 2011: |
asha724
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Appointment time was 6.30am. I arrived in the Embassy at 5AM and not 5 minutes later they started calling for everyone with a 6.30AM to fall in line. The guard looked at the appointment letter and my ID card and gives a reminder that electronics and liquids are not allowed inside. At 6.05AM, applicants were asked to go in the building, passing through another security check (they scan your things to make sure no liquids and electronic gadgets are inside). Went into the Immigrant section room. Another quick queue to get a priority number (mine was #9). At this point they ask everyone for their passport, which really confused people because of course all of us had the passport submitted to St Luke's (the hospital forwards it to the Embassy themselves). I felt bad for the older applicants because when asked what does St Luke's do with the passport, they seemed clueless and had to answer with "I don't know". Clearly this seems to be a trick question, but for what purpose I have not figured out.
The numbers that are called are not in order. There were people after me that were called first for the fingerprint scan or the pre-interview screen. At first that made me very anxious but half an hour into it, I decided to just let it be. 7.10am I was called for finger print scan. 7.50am was called for the pre-interview screen. She was an engaging Filipina who seemed really interested in the conversation (not just going through the motion of it as I have noticed on the other interviewers). As far as I could recall these were her questions:
-who is the petitioner
-how did he get to the US
-when and how we met
-how many times has he visited me before the wedding
-why it took us so long before we decided to get married
(at this point she looks at my husband's income tax returns)
-if we had kids, if this was our first marriage
-she then asked if I had communication records and photos
-she asked to see the photos. Sidebar: she made some comments while looking at the photos (Oh, you had a church wedding; I see you went to Singapore and wore 'I love Cebu shirts') etc...
-aside from Singapore if I had traveled to any other country, and if it was for pleasure or for work
This took about 10 minutes. She then asked me to sit down and wait again for my number to be flashed/called.
At 8.45, the consular officers begin the final interview for applicants. I thought it was going to be another long wait (since a lot of people finished their pre-interview before me), but 5 minutes after my number flashed on the board and an embassy staff asked me to wait outside my assigned CO's cubicle, and told me as soon as the applicant before me was done, I should go in. At 9:05, it was my turn.
My consular officer was a nice African-American lady. And at first she made me a little nervous because she told me to give her a minute and she was intensely typing on her computer (I believed she was entering information in for the applicant before me). After 5 minutes, she apologized for the wait, and administered the oath to me (to promise to disclose only the truth during the interview). She then smiled at me and began the interview. I was pleasantly surprised to find out she was just as engaging as the Filipina pre-interviewer, and even nicer. She showed interest in my responses, we even laughed and joked a little bit. Her questions were:
-who is the petitioner
-where and when did we meet
-(she found out my husband is a naturalized american from some of my answers and so she scanned to see a copy of his passport)
-how long has he been in the US
-when we began to be romantically involved
-when was the first time he visited me
-when was the last time I saw him or if he is here now
-how often does he come visit me after that (in 6 years my husband has been here 9 times, so I told her at least once a year and sometimes even twice a year -- she said "Wow")
-she looked at our marriage contract and asked if it was a church wedding, I said yes
-she asked why it took us a while to decide to get married
-if he is living on his own in the US or with his family
-what are our plans when we get to the states (she found out I'm a nurse, and asked if I took the nclex and if i passed, I said yes to both she smiled and said - 'congratulations on that')
-have I been to other countries (told her the 3 other countries I went too and she asked which one is my favorite -- she laughed when I said "oh definitely Singapore)
-looked at my husband's income tax and gave a positive comment
-She then said that my visa is approved, and that I am to wait outside for my name to be called and her colleague will explain what will happen next. I told her thank you and she said "You're welcome. Good luck to you"
The interview lasted 5-6 minutes even with all the questions.
After another 5 minutes my name was called to window Y. I was given a shipping information form, was told to fill it out, submit it to the ticket booth, and then the lady at the counter said I could leave after that.
I was able to leave the Embassy grounds at 9.30AM.
Observations: They are strict with the NBI clearance. If the one they have on file is about to expire they will ask you to submit a new one. If you have different names on your records, they will want ALL of the names to be annotated on the NBI clearance.
Also I saw some senior citizen applicants that had a difficult time with the process. A few of them had to go back out to get their accompanying relative to help them with the different steps. (For this, the pre-interviewers will instruct the guards to let the accompanying individual in, but I don't know if you can arrange this beforehand)
Photos - the prescreener looks at the photos, make sure you bring a number of them with both you and the petitioner in it. I noticed some where given a hard time because they only had one or two photos with their petitioner.
Dates - remember the number of times and dates (month and year at least) the petitioner has visited you from the time he/she migrated to the US. OR for the fiances and spouses, from the time you met.
Bring a jacket or sweater, especially for the old and young ones. It was really cold in there.
God bless everyone!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7122