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| Costa Rica |  Review on May 23, 2012: |
virola
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Everything went very smoothly! Thank heavens for Costa Rica being such an "easy" country. We arrived around 11:30 for our 12:00 interview and only one person was in front of us in the visa cateory we are in (I believe for immigration, ahhh K-1 visa, you wonderfully ambiguous immigration status you). Contrary to other reviews of the San Jose consulate, we were not brought directly inside, but waited outside for a bit (even though I, the USC, was with my fiancé). After waiting maybe 15 minutes we were brought inside to wait another half an hour or 45 minutes or so (bring a sweater, brrrrr!). While we were waiting, we got to hear all these beachy "gringos" complaining about losing their passports while drunk, trying to get residency, etc. The scene in the consulate is not unlike a public health clinic in San Jose (crying children and all!). Finally, we were called up to present our paperwork and evidence, which we had brought organized in a binder and immediately had to un-organize to hand to the senorita behind the counter. She asked a few questions, but nothing not expected (how we kept the relationship going, etc.). The one thing that made us nervous at this time was that the woman told us that Daniel had, based on passport stamps, visited the US more than the 3 times we had indicated on the forms. The additional two entries were from when he visited Europe: REMEMBER THAT IN-TRANSIT STAMPS COUNT AS AN ENTRY TO THE US. It turned out not matter in the end, but made us temporarily nervous. We were then asked to pay at another counter and wait until we were called up again. (Waiting in the line was a DMV-esque experience, but I wasn't about to complain.) During this time, the consular officer looked over our paperwork. Finally, we were called back up to another window! We had an approximately 5 minute long interview with a charming and sweet Asian lady (no older than 25, I swear), the opposite of intimidating. She told us she'd looked over our story and that it was very cute! She chatted with us about our relationship and our plans for the US in a mixture of English and Spanish. Finally, she took Daniel's fingerprints and had him take an oath (in Spanish). She told us we had been approved (!!!!) and to come back in a week to pick up his passport with K1 visa (and his old passport with his toursit visa). San Jose seems to be infamous for delays --- like many on this website, we recieved a call letting us know our visa would be available in two weeks, not one. We were in no rush-- no worries! We now have our visa in hand, and our port-of-entry in exactly one week!
One quick note: ahead of us was a family trying to immigrate on one of the spousal visas. The wife did not bring all her old passports, and tried to tell the consulate officer that expired passports are trash so she through them away (eeeeek!!!!). It seemed like this complicated their process quite a bit. Just remember to bring all old passports, por favorrr!
Another quick note: there's a Pops on the other side of the road from the consulate! Celebratory sundae!!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9718