Consulate Review: Manila, Philippines
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
May 17, 2019 |
| Embassy Review : |
My wife's interview for IR-1 was scheduled for 6:45am on May 14. We live on Leyte, so we flew in to Manila on May 8 for a week -- with our 1 1/2 year-old daughter. It was a fun "vacation", and all went well! All told, it took 3 half-days of "visa business", and the rest of the time was pure adventure.
If you plan to bring a small child to the interview, see below for our experience. We didn't know what to expect -- if we could bring water, bottles, snacks.... More on that below.
My wife went to St. Luke's Medical Center at 6am on May 9; she was finished at 11:30. We had both read on VisaJourney that St. Luke's doesn't allow backpacks, phones, food, etc. to be brought in, but that wasn't true (at least with the guards on that day) -- she said there were about 15 people in line at 6am, and more than 30 going through the medical exam process in the next 3 hours. Some of the others had backpacks, phones, taking photos, etc. There were a couple of women with small children, although I stayed "home" with our daughter. My wife had no health problems, although she said a few applicants were screened out for medical reasons (e.g., heart problem) and had to go back the next day for further exams.
The next day, Friday May 10, my wife went back to St. Lukes at about 9am to get her vaccinations and pick up her exam results. She was done at 11am, and came back with the sealed envelope and a disc of X-rays.
There was one small problem with her records at St. Lukes: apparently almost all the applicants for US visa are K-1s, and arrive with a different Embassy appointment letter than an IR-1. She had the original confirmation letters (DS-260, Embassy interview, St. Luke's registration), but the guard told her the Embassy confirmation wasn't the right one ("missing the NVC Case number", the guard said). Our confirmation letter didn't show that. I (and our daughter) went with her on the second day to talk to the receptionist and show the case number on the DS-260 confirmation, and the receptionist said AOK. (Make sure you bring something showing NVC Case number.)
For the day of the Embassy interview at 6:45, all three of us arrived at the embassy at 6:15. By 6:25 we were inside. There were only 3 other applicants at the IV section, but only one embassy staff (at the "Releasing" window where they go over all the papers), so it took almost 1/2 hour till it was our turn. I (with daughter) went to the window with my wife; the staff person asked for about 10 originals (same as other reviews on VisaJourney), and handed them all back except for the I-864 and 2018 tax transcript (transcript hadn't been available when I submitted to CEAC a few months ago). Those two documents went to the CO, who handed them back to my wife in the interview.
The interview itself was about 6 minutes. I (with daughter) went up to the CO window, where he asked if I was the petitioner, if our daughter already had a US passport; then he asked me to sit and wait while he talked to my wife. I have to believe that all 3 of us appearing at the interview window added a little weight to his decision. Approved! We were out by 8am.
The CO asked only 5 or 6 questions, same as other reviewers have said: Where did you meet? When did your husband arrive in Philippines this trip? Where in the US will you live? Nothing difficult.
My wife was carrying a packet of every single document submitted to CEAC -- almost 3 inches thick, separated by category. One envelope was the "critical" stuff (CEMAR, birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.), and sure enough, that was the only one that they asked to see documents from. But being prepared with everything was extra insurance, just in case.
St. Luke's asks for 4 passport photographs, which my wife submitted. St. Luke's website says that these will be passed on to the embassy -- but the embassy asked for one more photograph. So be prepared with at least 5 photos for the whole process.
Our 1 1/2 year-old daughter took the whole thing as an adventure. We woke her up about 5:30 so we were risking a bad morning, but she was happy to meet the guards, other people, and other little kids. In the whole 2 hours, there were about 10 IV applicants and dozens of K-1 and NIV applicants, and about 10 young children. There is a "playground" area in the waiting section, our daughter spent most of her time there. No toys, though, just a video screen and pint-sized chairs. For a kid, that's enough.
I carried in a "baby bag", including a bottle, water, snacks. The guards had no problem with any of that at the inspection station, but they told me sternly "NO eating or drinking inside, even for baby". So although I had enough to keep a baby happy, we couldn't really use it. On the other hand, nobody was actually watching so we mixed up a bottle about halfway through. So our experience: bring a bottle and minimal snacks, but don't expect to feed your child except in an "emergency". Luckily the whole thing took less than 2 hours for us.
The next step is to get her passport by courier; living in a village on Leyte, this will be nerve-wracking, as 2Go delivers here reluctantly. We're looking to fly to the US in August, 3 months to wrap up with family here. Nothing in the process was "difficult", except -- for my wife -- the waiting.... The Embassy, NVC, and CEAC could be clearer on some of the instructions (like how to reschedule an interview, or what to do if CEAC website doesn't work), but luckily the Embassy is pretty flexible. |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0