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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on April 25, 2011: |
crystal01
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The interview went fairly well. I wasn't nervous at all, it was all the waiting that made me anxious.  My interview schedule is at 6:25 am so I left home at about 4:45 am and I arrived at the embassy at about 5:20 am. It was still a little dark but there are already several long lines outside the gates. Inside the barricaded area, there are three lines. One for seafarers, another for B1/B2, and the one for immigrant/ fiances visas. Just ask around to see if you are in the right line. There are several people offering help from ballpens, to ID photos, to holding your phones and other gadgets/ liquids for safekeeping. Keep in mind that you only need 2 photos (attach it to your 2 copies of DS156) some might trick you into thinking you need 4 copies for the K1 visa. My mom went with me so I left all my electronic gadgets with her.
The guard started asking people to go inside the premises at about 7:30 am. There is a heavy metal door you have to push really hard to get in. There are several guards manning the Luggage Metal Detector conveyor belt and they will provide you with trays to put all your stuff in. Once you are cleared, you will then go through another door to enter the embassy grounds.
There are several window booths just across the doors and there is a guide who will instruct the immigrants/ k1 applicants to go fall in line there.
Here they will get from you your appointment letter, DS 157, 2 copies of DS 156 and DS 156K, and the BPI receipt. The lady arranged my papers and stapled it together. She returned it and instructed me to drop my papers at window 39. I then proceeded to the main embassy building to drop my papers. Took a seat at the waiting area and waited for my number to be flashed on the boards scattered around the premises. I then saw fellow VJ members Cherry and J'lyn. J'lyn was just behind me and Cherry was ahead of us by a few numbers.
The lay out of the building is fairly simple. There are several window booths for each process (prescreener, fingerscanning, consul, and the 2go delivery form)
Seats are arranged in front of the windows and there are several boards where the numbers flash so you can see it wherever you are seated. You have to be really attentive because the numbers flash at random.
My number was called at around 8:30 am and I went to the designated window booth for the prescreening interview. It was a nice motherly lady who asked me questions. She asked for my NBI, Cenomar, and BC. My I134 and supporting documents, and some photos.
Questions asked are:
1. My full name, fiance's full name
2. Our birthdays
3. Fiance's work: I said "He's a Marine" and she said "wow" lol
4. Are you single? "Yes", do you have kids? "No". Is he single? "Yes", does he have kids? "No" . She said "Wow swerte mo" I just smiled but in my mind I said "Sya swerte sa kin" lol
5. How many ex bfs have you had? "None" Oh, sya pala first mo. I said "Opo"
6. How many times has he been here? "Twice but we've seen each other thrice, one is outside the country"
7. When did you meet him?
8. How did you meet him?
9. When did he propose? She said "Ang bilis naman" I said "ayaw na po nya ko pakawalan"
10. Where are you working? Turns out her son worked for the same company
11. Other countries visited and for how long. She then said everything looks okay and I was asked to return to my seat and wait for my number to flash again.
After about 30 minutes, I went to window 40 for fingerprint scanning. It was a Chinese looking lady who assisted me.
Waiting for the final interview was the longest part! I was sitting with other VJ girls so we chatted around to pass the time. We were just in front of the consul windows and we noticed that the black lady consul really takes her time asking questions but she seem nice and friendly and even speaks tagalog once in a while. The other consuls are way faster than her so I prayed I wont get her.
Alas, my number was called at about 11:20 am and I got the black lady consul! Haha!
She is really pleasant and has a smiling face. I was smiling and laughing all throughout the interview. It was just like chatting with a friend. She asked me for my full name and birthday, my fiance's name and how we met. I told her we became friends on a site called Mingle2.com and she said she haven't heard of that before. I told her it isn't really popular. I then told her we decided to meet up in Taipei as travel buddies and we became a couple after meeting in person when we got back to our respective countries. She then checked my photos and said "Oh so he has met your family" I said "Yes, and the whole extended family too". Looks like you two have been every where and have seen each other several times. She asked me for the dates when we have seen each other. She saw the underwater diving photo so she just said "Oh you two dive". I smiled and said yes. She asked for other countries I've been too and how many days was the longest visit.
I got nervous when she looked at the affidavit of support because I don't have tax returns. I only have the W2 and recent paystubs. She asked " Has your fiance filed taxes for this year?" I said "Yeah, but he said the military does it for him so he doesn't have a copy..." She said "Yeah, he should have a copy for the previous year". I said I don't have that. I was waiting for her reaction but she just proceeded to look at his paystubs. After a few seconds, she asked me for his age. I said "22" with a big smile. "Oh you're older than him". I said "Yes, by 4 years. Hehe". She also asked about my work so I told her all about it. She seems happy with my answers and said "Congratulations, your visa is approved. Wait for your number to be called for the courier forms" Whew! I said "Thank you!" and she replied "Your welcome!" The interview lasted for about 10 minutes. I waited for a few minutes before I was called at the window where a Filipina lady double checks all the papers and gives out the 2go delivery form. After filling this out, I gave it to another window and the process is done. I got out of the embassy at about noon time
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7508