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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on November 18, 2011: |
Tahoma
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My interview experience
My Interview Experience
February 23, 2009 – Monday at 5:45 a.m. -- I arrived at the Embassy and waited for my turn to fall in line. While I was waiting, I saw some Filipino World War II veterans in front of the Embassy registering for their long-overdue benefits. Some of them were proudly dressed in their old military uniforms. The guard finally told everyone to fall in the correct line.
The K1 beneficiaries and the K3 beneficiaries were in the same immigrant visa line. The guard checked my appointment letter and my ID.
Inside the Embassy, there was an usherette to assist you in checking the DS forms. After I finished checking my forms, I then proceeded to get my number. Pay attention to the monitor because the numbers are flashed randomly.
After they took my fingerprints, the Filipino pre-screener interviewed me. She just asked me some basic questions:
- My name and my fiancé’s name.
- Whether I had traveled before. If so, where, when, and for how long.
- Our age difference. (She said the wrong number for our age difference and I corrected her).
- When was my fiance’s last visit and for how long.
- She asked for my birth certificate, NBI and CENOMAR.
- She asked for the I-134 and its supporting documents. I gave her the 2008 income tax return, the 2008 income tax transcript, the 2008 W-2 form, five months of current paycheck stubs, and the employer's letter.
- She also asked for photos, emails, and remittances.
The pre-screener jotted down all of my answers.
The consul officer asked me several questions and I answered all of them well. She asked me the following:
- My name and my fiance’s name.
- My age and his age.
- My work and his work.
- Whether I had traveled before. If so, where, when and for how long.
- How long my fiancé stayed in the Philippines and how many times he visited me.
She also leafed through our documents at the same time. I saw her looking closely at our financial documents and the photos I submitted.
Then she told me that everything looked great, but there was one question on our I-129F form that my fiancé didn't answer. She told me that my fiancé needed to answer that question and he could fax another I-129 to the Embassy. But she also told me that the lady at the releasing window would explain it to me further. She was a very nice consular officer. She made it sound like it wasn't a major issue.
I went to the releasing window and the lady gave me the third page of our I-129F. She also gave me two other forms. One form was a 221g which included information about which document they needed me to submit. The other form contained the consular officer's signature. She explained everything to me very fast, so I decided to sit down and carefully read both of the forms. Then I went back to her and clarified some confusing instructions.
February 26, 2009 -- Thursday at 12:20 p.m. -- I received via Fed Ex from my fiancé the corrected third page of the I-129F.
At 1:00 p.m., I went to the Embassy and I submitted the third page of the I-129F together with the 221g form. The lady who received my documents asked me why I hadn't had it notarized. I told her that they didn’t specifically instruct me to have it notarized and she said ok.
February 27, 2009 -- Friday at 8:30 a.m. -- I was awakened by a call from Embassy caseworker #1 asking me for another copy of our I-134 Affidavit of Support and its supporting documents. According to the caseworker, they had not "lost" our documents, they had simply "misplaced" them. The caseworker wanted us to submit another original I-134 and also the income tax return, the W-2, the paycheck stubs, and the employer's letter.
When I called my fiancé and told him what happened, he called the Embassy and talked with Grace and with caseworker #2, the caseworker who was actually handling our case. At first, caseworker #2 told my fiancé that we could simply submit a copy of the I-134 rather than an original, and we could submit copies of everything else. By the end of the conversation, the caseworker told my fiancé that we did not have to submit anything at all.
February 27, 2009 -- Friday at 9:30 a.m. – I received a phone call from caseworker #2. I explained to him that I had submitted all of our financial documents already at my interview. He changed his story again. Now he said that I could submit whatever copies of documents I had. They didn't have to be originals. Then he said, "Why did you call your fiancé? Why couldn't you keep this between us Filipinos?" Hmmm...
February 27, 2009 -- Friday at 1:00 p.m. – I decided to play it safe and submit copies of everything that had been "misplaced." Thank goodness I had copies of everything. I also decided that I would submit the documents in person since I was still nearby at the CityState Tower Hotel.
So, I went to the Embassy and told the guard that I needed to submit some documents that the caseworker asked for. The guard told me that they don’t accept submission of documents on Fridays. One lady who was in line gave me an insulting laugh as if to tell me that I was foolish to try doing this on a Friday. I ignored the lady and firmly told the guard that I needed to go inside to submit my documents and told him the complete names of the persons who I talked to on the phone that morning. He let me in and told me to proceed to the Information counter.
The information officer told me the same thing: that Window 17 is closed on Friday. I explained to him the same thing I had told the guard, and I told him that I will submit the documents at Window X. He asked to see my documents and looked at my ID. Then he told me I could go inside.
The receiving lady also told me that submission of documents is only from Monday through Thursday. I was getting tired of explaining my situation to each one of them, but I just had to be assertive. So, I explained the situation to her. She accepted my documents and stamped them. Then I just went back to the hotel and called my fiancé.
It was a challenging and difficult week for both of us but we found strength in each other. I'm proud of how we handled those challenges.
March 4, 2009 -- in the morning -- I received a text from Air21 that my visa was going to be delivered. Since they don't deliver to my area until late in the afternoon, I immediately called their local office and asked them to hold my visa at their office. Then I jumped in a taxi and went there to pick it up. When I picked up my visa, the workers at the office serenaded me with the song about Filipinos going abroad and returning some day..."babalik ka rin." lol
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8725