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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on July 11, 2012: |
Swingman_Tomoyo
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
First of all, to God be the glory for the visa approval! (IR1 and IR2)... :-)
Our interview schedule was at 6:30am on July 10 but we got there 30 mins early and a lot of people were already lined up according to their visa categories. I met a K1 visa applicant whose appointment was supposed to be at 7:30am but the guard didn't allow her to line up yet because he said that line was for 6:30am appointments only.
The Filipino pre-screener was nice and asked me about some basic personal questions like my name, date of birth, who the petitioner is and his name, his job, if I have traveled to other countries before, how and when did my husband and I meet and when did my husband arrive (I said, "Sunday, July 8".
He said (in tagalog) "I can see that your birth certificate was registered late..do you happen to have your baptismal certificate with you now?"
Let's backtrack less than 2 weeks ago... I was reading a lot here on VisaJourney about common reasons for 221g and so on...and stumbled upon this thread talking about late-registered birth certificates. At that time I thought I was already 100% ready for the interview but I guess I was wrong. Three days before the interview I made it a goal to get a baptismal certificate and I'm thankful I got one despite of some mishaps. I never thought I could ever get it because the first day I tried to get one, something happened and I thought I might as well leave it that way and go to the embassy without it. Second day, I planned to go early to the church (just to try my luck again) to get it but to my surprise, my father already got one for me!!! Yeyyy!!! :-)
Am I glad I had it with me at the interview! So I reached out for my "luggage" to get it and happily handed it over to the Filipino pre-screener. He asked me if I have pictures, remittances, chat logs and so on and I said yes to all of it. I was bending over to reach out for my bag again when he stopped me and said "No need, just show it to the Consul just in case he asks for it."
Interview with the consul was easy too. He asked for my name and how long have my husband and I been together as boyfriend and girlfriend and I said "since 2003". He did a lot of typing...I guess it's common... He asked for our wedding date and my husband quickly answered and I kind of slapped him on his arm and said "Babe! ako dapat ata sasagot!" then turned to the officer again and asked "I'm the one who's supposed to answer, right?" the officer said "Yes. But it's OK if both of you answer" with a bit of smile on his face. I guess he wanted to give my husband a chance to answer too so he asked him one question "Are you here for a vacation?" and my husband said yes. The consular said "Let me see the face of the boy" then we showed our toddler to him and he said hi to our child with a smile.
The consular did a lot of typing again...while he's busy, I was looking at all our documents in his hand. I saw all the documents we sent to the USCIS and NVC. Then he said "Ok, I've just issued you a visa!" My husband and I stared at one another and asked him "ano daw?" then my husband told the consular "I'm sorry?"
Then the consular said again "I've issued you a visa. Go get some breakfast I think both of you are nervous." and he was smiling a bit. We were surprised all we managed to say was "is it ok now?" and he said "Yes! Just wait for your names to be called" (thats for the visa delivery), and we said "thanks!!!"
I don't think I was nervous at all because I didn't feel my heart beat fast and I wasn't feeling cold too. The ambiance was nice and both the filipino pre-screener and consul were friendly. It's just that I was expecting him to say the word "APPROVED" somewhere between his sentences.
Thank you so much VisaJourney community for all the help!!! :-)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9973