My USEM Immigrant Visa Interview Experience

[neenuh 0]

Hello, everyone! After some 500 and so days, my son and I finally got approved with our immgrant visas, and I couldn't be happier!

Here's pretty much everything that happened earlier during our interview:

5:30 am - My husband, my son and I arrived at the USEM. We were scheduled at 6:30am. There were probably about 20 or so people ahead of us who were already queud in the waiting area when we finally went through the security guard who had to verify our appointment in his list.

6:00am - The USEM employees began allowing people to enter the building. We went through the routinary inspection, walked to the immigration visa unit and were told to sit and wait to get our ticket number.

7:00am - My son and I were called to Window 16 for fingerprint scanning. I was told my son didn't have to go through it, and when I was done, we were told to sit again and wait for our number to be called for the pre-screening

7:30am - We were called to Window 19. I had a male pre-screener. He was really kind and polite. He asked me to fill out some parts in our DS-230 and to sign that portion of the DS-230 Part 2 that was left blank. He asked me if my son was born out of wedlock and if I was ever married to my son's father, and I said no. He asked if I ever submitted a CENMAR and I said no, however I told him I had one with me and he asked for it. He asked me who my husband is, where we met, when we first met, how many times he's visited, when his last visit was. He also asked what my husband did for a living, and I told him he's currently unemployed. He started going through our I-864s and he said it wasn't a problem, since we have a joint sponsor.

While the pre-screener was flipping through the I-864 we sent to the NVC, he asked me who the joint sponsor was and my relationship with them. However, my joint sponsor failed to submit a more recent income tax return. He asked me for some attachments, and I said we don't have any. I told him that we have another joint sponsor, and I then presented everything to him, together with the copies of the 2007 income tax, W2 from 2007, and the form I-864A (since taxes were filed together). He said that my second joint sponsor's documents were sufficient. He also asked if they filled out for my son, and I said yes. He went through them once again, and then told me that my second joint sponsor's stuff was what he was going to file for the final interview instead.

The whole time my son was just standing next to me. The only thing the pre-screener asked my 13 year old son was his birth date.

Finally he asked for our family photos (I gave him about 80 prints!), greeting cards, and some remittance receipts. And then he asked if we have ever been to the United States or if this was the first time for us to travel there. Then he told us to go back to our seats and to wait for the final interview with the consul officer.

8:30am - after one hour of waiting, we were finally called to Window 32 for our final interview with the consul officer. He was this middle-aged, white guy. He was wearing eyeglasses. He greeted me and my son, told us to sit, and asked me to take the oath.

He was pleasant, however, he had a terrible cough. He was coughing non-stop on his head set, and it was really loud! I could tell he was having a hard time, his nose was stuffy and he would cough like every 5-10 seconds. Poor guy. There were moments of silence as he would go through our stuff and type on his computer, and then he would cough again.

So, anyway. He asked the same things the pre-screener asked. Further, he asked about the other jobs my husband had before he became unemployed, why he's unemployed, about my husband's disability, our plans when we get to the United States, and where we plan to stay. He asked how my husband supports us if he's unemployed, and I told him through my husband's SSA payments. He asked if I knew how much he was getting and I told him.

After all that questioning, he went through our photos briefly, and began typing some more stuff on the computer. I was kind of worried because he wasn't saying anything at all. He then returned the photos, greeting cards, and remittance receipts back to me. Finally, with these two huge stamps, he stamped on our stuff and said, "This is it, ma'am. I have approved your visas." And I was like, "Really?! Thank you very much, sir!" He told us to sit again outside and to wait for further instructions for the releasing and paying for the visa delivery fee. He wished me and my son good luck on our move to the United States and with getting employed there.

I think we were in the cubicle for about 30 minutes. I bet we would have been done a lot sooner, but the consul officer's cough kept interrupting us. He had to stop a couple of times with what he was doing because he just couldn't stop coughing! I felt bad for him. And it sounded like he had asthma.

After about ten minutes, we were called to the releasing window. This lady handed me our appoinment letter and stapled two pink slips on them. She told us to pay for our visa delivery fee and to go home and wait. I asked what the pink slip meant, and she said she's not authorized to disclose that kind of information :-P

9:30am - Paid our visa delivery fees, and we were done like a champ!

So, now we wait some more. But at least the difficult part is over. I want to thank everyone here in VJ, especially edp333, ryandgracey, and pretty_wahine09, for all your help. My husband and I couldn't have done it without everyone's input and knowledge.

Btw, goodluck to pretty_wahine09 on your interview tomorrow :-)

Edited March 5, 2009 by neenuh

[YuAndDan 153]

You may want to post this here: http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/dos_review.php

[Carlos and Jocel 2]

Hello, everyone! After some 500 and so days, my son and I finally got approved with our immgrant visas, and I couldn't be happier!

Here's pretty much everything that happened earlier during our interview:

5:30 am - My husband, my son and I arrived at the USEM. We were scheduled at 6:30am. There were probably about 20 or so people ahead of us who were already queud in the waiting area when we finally went through the security guard who had to verify our appointment in his list.

6:00am - The USEM employees began allowing people to enter the building. We went through the routinary inspection, walked to the immigration visa unit and were told to sit and wait to get our ticket number.

7:00am - My son and I were called to Window 16 for fingerprint scanning. I was told my son didn't have to go through it, and when I was done, we were told to sit again and wait for our number to be called for the pre-screening

7:30am - We were called to Window 19. I had a male pre-screener. He was really kind and polite. He asked me to fill out some parts in our DS-230 and to sign that portion of the DS-230 Part 2 that was left blank. He asked me if my son was born out of wedlock and if I was ever married to my son's father, and I said no. He asked if I ever submitted a CENMAR and I said no, however I told him I had one with me and he asked for it. He asked me who my husband is, where we met, when we first met, how many times he's visited, when his last visit was. He also asked what my husband did for a living, and I told him he's currently unemployed. He started going through our I-864s and he said it wasn't a problem, since we have a joint sponsor.

While the pre-screener was flipping through the I-864 we sent to the NVC, he asked me who the joint sponsor was and my relationship with them. However, my joint sponsor failed to submit a more recent income tax return. He asked me for some attachments, and I said we don't have any. I told him that we have another joint sponsor, and I then presented everything to him, together with the copies of the 2007 income tax, W2 from 2007, and the form I-864A (since taxes were filed together). He said that my second joint sponsor's documents were sufficient. He also asked if they filled out for my son, and I said yes. He went through them once again, and then told me that my second joint sponsor's stuff was what he was going to file for the final interview instead.

The whole time my son was just standing next to me. The only thing the pre-screener asked my 13 year old son was his birth date.

Finally he asked for our family photos (I gave him about 80 prints!), greeting cards, and some remittance receipts. And then he asked if we have ever been to the United States or if this was the first time for us to travel there. Then he told us to go back to our seats and to wait for the final interview with the consul officer.

8:30am - after one hour of waiting, we were finally called to Window 32 for our final interview with the consul officer. He was this middle-aged, white guy. He was wearing eyeglasses. He greeted me and my son, told us to sit, and asked me to take the oath.

He was pleasant, however, he had a terrible cough. He was coughing non-stop on his head set, and it was really loud! I could tell he was having a hard time, his nose was stuffy and he would cough like every 5-10 seconds. Poor guy. There were moments of silence as he would go through our stuff and type on his computer, and then he would cough again.

So, anyway. He asked the same things the pre-screener asked. Further, he asked about the other jobs my husband had before he became unemployed, why he's unemployed, about my husband's disability, our plans when we get to the United States, and where we plan to stay. He asked how my husband supports us if he's unemployed, and I told him through my husband's SSA payments. He asked if I knew how much he was getting and I told him.

After all that questioning, he went through our photos briefly, and began typing some more stuff on the computer. I was kind of worried because he wasn't saying anything at all. He then returned the photos, greeting cards, and remittance receipts back to me. Finally, with these two huge stamps, he stamped on our stuff and said, "This is it, ma'am. I have approved your visas." And I was like, "Really?! Thank you very much, sir!" He told us to sit again outside and to wait for further instructions for the releasing and paying for the visa delivery fee. He wished me and my son good luck on our move to the United States and with getting employed there.

I think we were in the cubicle for about 30 minutes. I bet we would have been done a lot sooner, but the consul officer's cough kept interrupting us. He had to stop a couple of times with what he was doing because he just couldn't stop coughing! I felt bad for him. And it sounded like he had asthma.

After about ten minutes, we were called to the releasing window. This lady handed me our appoinment letter and stapled two pink slips on them. She told us to pay for our visa delivery fee and to go home and wait. I asked what the pink slip meant, and she said she's not authorized to disclose that kind of information :-P

9:30am - Paid our visa delivery fees, and we were done like a champ!

So, now we wait some more. But at least the difficult part is over. I want to thank everyone here in VJ, especially edp333, ryandgracey, and pretty_wahine09, for all your help. My husband and I couldn't have done it without everyone's input and knowledge.

Btw, goodluck to pretty_wahine09 on your interview tomorrow :-)

Pink slip means APPROVED- CONGRATS!!!