Still looking for Santiago info

[Delicia 1]

Do no Chilenos immigrate to the U.S.?

The VJ timelines only show 5 total and the most recent is from 2006. I am sponsoring my husband who is a Chilean citizen but currently residing in Canada to the U.S. I have attempted to email the U.S. Embassy in Santiago unsuccessfully and I am just trying to determine if Santiago interview scheduling is faster than Montreal (which is 4-6 months now).

Anyone else have any ideas?

[123456789 0]

I still can't believe that my visa petition was processed so fast. I submitted it in October 2007 and in January 2008 the US Embassy in Santiago had received it. My fiance never received his packet from the embassy because he had moved to a different home during the process. In early March he went to the embassy in person to inquire about it and they said that they had sent him his packet in February. They allowed him to schedule his interview at that time, so it seems that the embassy took less than 2 months to process the application.

[Mo_Mati 2]

I am so happy to see this thread! I have seen so few Chileans on the boards and have wondered where to go to get info about the Santiago Embassy. Especially now that we are dealing stricktly with the embassy!

So our deal is that we sent in packet 3 two weeks ago tomorrow and are waiting for packet 4 to arrive in the mail. We are holding our breaths that it shows up. But I really have no idea how long it "should" take. Any ideas??? Sounds like it did not make it to your fiance solamanecer. We have been discussing how long to wait before calling/emailing, whatever. I have now heard a couple different stories of people having to wait a long time for packet 4 and things going wrong. Any ideas??

How far out did they schedule his interview Solamancer??

I will definitely keep you guys updated on how it goes

Mo

[Delicia 1]

Do either of you have any email addresses for the Santiago Embassy? I am just trying to figure out if Santiago has a long waiting list for IR-1 interviews or if I should stick with Montreal, which has a 6 month wait time.

Thanks.

[Mo_Mati 2]

Do either of you have any email addresses for the Santiago Embassy? I am just trying to figure out if Santiago has a long waiting list for IR-1 interviews or if I should stick with Montreal, which has a 6 month wait time.

Thanks.

This is the one on the embassy website and that I know another petitioner used to get ahold of the embassy. SantiagoImmigration@state.gov On the website they state that it might be two weeks before they reply due to high volume. Let us know what you find out!

[Delicia 1]

I sent 2 emails to that address. One in December 2007 and one in January 2008. No reply.

[Mo_Mati 2]

Yeah, I have heard that they are bad about responding, but that is the correct email address as far as I know. It might be time to pay the money and start making some phone calls. Or, bombard them with emails. Hope it works out

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I sent 2 emails to that address. One in December 2007 and one in January 2008. No reply.

Delicia, shoot them another email sister.

[Mo_Mati 2]

I am so excited, we just found out that our interview is scheduled for April 30!! We still haven't received packet 4 in the mail, but the embassy did respond to an email that was sent on Monday to let us know. So...I guess that email address does work!!

WOOHOO!

[Delicia 1]

Ok, let me understand... you have an interview scheduled even prior to being approved at NVC?

[Mo_Mati 2]

My timeline was up to date but not the signature. Thanks for catching it.

My understanding from friends who have processes DFC and K-1 in Chile (though I do not know anyone who has done your exact visa) is that they have had no real troubles. The embassy seems to be pretty reliable and I am pretty sure it will be much quicker than Montreal, if you are able to figure everything out. There only complaint is that communication is difficult with the embassy, though my personal expereince is that they responded to our email within 2 days. So that seems pretty good to me.

Good . Keep us posted on what you find out.

[Delicia 1]

I emailed the embassy again regarding switching Consulates from Montreal to Santiago for an IR-1. Santiago got back to me with this response:

As your spouse is a Chilean National, we would be able to process him in Chile. In order to do that, we need to receive his approved petition. If the petition is at the NVC, you need to contact them in order to request them to send the file to us for processing. We do not have the exact information regarding the time processing since the NVC completes its part, and the final interview is scheduled in Santiago. The NVC is scheduling final interviews.

So, the option is available. I then followed up with questions regarding the medical exam and tried to pin them down to the wait time for an interview and received this response not 24 hours later:

The medical examination done in Canada would not be acceptable. Once the file is received, if a Chilean address is included, we will contact the applicant by sending by mail instructions along with medical examinations. We will give him enough time to be ready with the medical exams.

We are not able to estimate, how long will NVC to schedule his final interview, once they are notified about the file transfer request. After the final interview, immigrant visas (if everything is ok) are sent within a week to his Chilean local address.

Before traveling to Chile, the best thing to do is to make sure that we have received the file; otherwise, your husband could be stuck here waiting for the file to be received.

It looks like we are heading to Santiago! I am very excited about that prospect. Now, if anyone can forward me the list of approved physicians in Santiago to perform the medical exam, I am all set. We plan on asking for a change of venue when we submit the DS-320 to NVC and can use my husband's grandmother's address in Santiago after that. Since I will be agent of choice, I should get copies of everything anyway. My husband is planning on spending 3-4 weeks in Chile, a couple weeks prior to the interview to ensure enough time for the medical and at least 1 week after the interview to get the visa in hand from the embassy. I will just travel down a couple days prior to the interview and hang out a couple days after then return home so I don't burn all of my vacation time. He then can fly directly back to the U.S. and do the POE thing.

Anything I am missing?

[Mo_Mati 2]

The only two approved physicians are the two listed under Embassy Info.

Congrats on the decision and good luck!

[123456789 0]

I haven't gotten onto this site for some time- I am also happy to see some others out there concerning visas in Santiago. My fiance has his medical interview set up next week and his interview on May 7th.

As for communication with the embassy, they have at times answered my e-mails very quickly and at other times taken a couple of weeks. I know that the embassy is trying to encourage people to call their hotline now instead of sending e-mails, so maybe that is why they are taking so long.

[Craig & Julia 0]