Interview experience in Rio

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Wednesday May 10th

We arrived at the consulate at 7am and were second in line for immigrant visas. Thank god there is a second line for immigrant visas because the other line had more then 100 people in it.

At about 7:45 the guards let you in and you go upstairs and wait. As noted previously, make sure you don't bring any electronics with you: cell phones, laptops, ipod, cd player whatever. If you do there's a guy there that will hold them for you for R$5-$R10.

At 8:15 a women came out and called everyones name (there were about 25 people in there at this point) and handed everyone a sheet of paper with the list of documents they wanted and in what order. Thanks to this post by Carol&Marc, our docs were already in order. The only change to the list is that it stated specifically in the list (number 19) that you only need your last income tax return with the I-134, in this case 2005. This only confirmed what the consulate had told me previously by phone and email. I had only brought my 2005 transcript from the IRS.

The lady then said, after you get your docs in order form a line by the TV. As our docs were already in order we were the first in line. 10 Minutes later she called us in, took our docs, made sure the docs were in order and told us to go have a seat and that we'll be called.

20 Minutes later (about 9:00) Our name was the first called. We went and sat down in the little room. We had the guy with a beard. He handed me back the proof of employment letter and copy, the 1 year banking history letter and copy and the originals of my W-2 and birth certificate saying he didn't need them. He asked us both to raise our right hands and swear that everything in the documents was true. Then he had Laura do fingerprints of her right and left index finger and sign 2 of the forms.

Then he asked me if I spoke Portuguese and I said "yes" (falo). He asked Laura if she has been to the US before she said "no". He then shuffled through the papers for about 5 minutes or so, stamped "Approved" on the folder handed us a green paper and said we could pick up the Visa on Friday the 12th at 3pm and wished us good luck. We were out the door by 9:10.

Friday the 12th:

Same deal with 2 lines at the consulate. Tourist/Student visa line insanely long, immigrant visa line had about 15 people in it when we arrived at 2:45. At 3:00 the guards let you in and you just go upstairs and wait. There's no taking numbers or anything, you just sit and wait in the same room for you name to be called. We were the 5th to be called, we went up to the window. The same lady handed over the passport and asks you to make sure the Name, date of birth, and passport number are correct on the visa. Then she hands you the sealed yellow envelope stating not to open it, that it needs to be handed over at the point of entry blah blah... This time we weren't there more then a half hour.

I had originally had us flying back to NY via Sao Paulo, but the Sao Paulo - NY flight was completely oversold and there was no chance at an upgrade. I checked online Saturday morning and saw that the Rio-Miami flight was practically empty and we could upgrade without a problem so we changed our flights. We would only be getting to NY 3 hours later then our original flight, get to leave 2 hours later, but sit in business class for the 8+hours to Miami.

When we arrived in Miami we were 3rd in line. The immigration guy did mine first, then started on hers. Fingerprint, picture... Then flipped this switch that turned on the blinking light for someone to come get us. He was very nice. He said it might be a while depending on how many people they had back there. A lady then came and got us and brought us to a room with 2 other people in it and handed Laura's passport and envelope directly to the guy sitting behind the counter. He opened it right away, flipped through the papers for a few minutes, said "Oh my god, that was fast". Turned to the guy sitting next to him and said "Look how fast this was".

We then heard 2 stamps, and he called her name. We went up to the counter and he said " This went really fast, welcome to the United States. Good luck to you both!" He was very nice. We thanked him and I told him I did it all myself - no lawyer. He said "That's the way you should do it, lawyers only screw it up and cause delays." then I asked him what was in the packet. He said, "Oh just everything you ever sent to us" and he flipped through it showing every document from the original I-129F package to what we handed over at the interview.

Immigration took about 20 minutes. No EAD (we really didn't need it anyway so no biggie).

Everything else after this is just boring connection flight stuff to NY so no need to continue.

I will however note a couple of things:

1) No proof of relationship was asked for at the interview. We had a ton of ####### with us (photos, months of phone records etc) it never left my bag. Now there's been a lot of discussion in the K-1 forum about what to send with the original petition. Specifically, the argument is that they don't ask for proof of relationship, just proof of meeting. With our original I-129F petition, I sent 3 photos and 3 months of phone records showing that we talk every day. The photos and the 3 months of phone records I sent with the original petition were in the envelope the immigration officer in Miami showed us. Draw your own conclusions from that.

2) The interview might have been so ridiculously short because I actually lived in Brazil for 3 years and we had the same address for 1 of them (although proof of this was never requested).

3) For people with visas coming up in Rio: There's no need to arrive before 7:30, especially if you use the order of docs list I have linked above. The lady calls names out to hand out the list rather randomly. You gain nothing by arriving early or being first in line. This is also the case for when you pick up your visa. Being first in line means nothing, they just call out the names. Also, Make sure your passport photos are showing ALL of your ears. I would say at least half the people in there had to leave to get new photos taken because their ears were not completely showing in the photos.

A very special thanks to all of you and the staff of visa journey for making this and unbelievably painless process. Now to AOS!

[scroll 0]

Wow! congratulations and good luck! thanks for all of your valuable information. Hope our process is half as painless.

[Craig2006 0]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm glad to hear that everything went so well.

[Ladylethal 12]

That´s wonderful. I hope my interview will be as painless as yours.

[Carol&Marc 0]

I will however note a couple of things:

1) No proof of relationship was asked for at the interview. We had a ton of ####### with us (photos, months of phone records etc) it never left my bag. Now there's been a lot of discussion in the K-1 forum about what to send with the original petition. Specifically, the argument is that they don't ask for proof of relationship, just proof of meeting. With our original I-129F petition, I sent 3 photos and 3 months of phone records showing that we talk every day. The photos and the 3 months of phone records I sent with the original petition were in the envelope the immigration officer in Miami showed us. Draw your own conclusions from that.

2) The interview might have been so ridiculously short because I actually lived in Brazil for 3 years and we had the same address for 1 of them (although proof of this was never requested).

3) For people with visas coming up in Rio: There's no need to arrive before 7:30, especially if you use the order of docs list I have linked above. The lady calls names out to hand out the list rather randomly. You gain nothing by arriving early or being first in line. This is also the case for when you pick up your visa. Being first in line means nothing, they just call out the names. Also, Make sure your passport photos are showing ALL of your ears. I would say at least half the people in there had to leave to get new photos taken because their ears were not completely showing in the photos.

A very special thanks to all of you and the staff of visa journey for making this and unbelievably painless process. Now to AOS!

Congrats Richard! Hope Laura is enjoying US!!!

You made good points in your comments:

1) We sent also with the I-129f petition: pictures and phone records and was not asked to show anything at the interview.

2) The "showing ears" is a big deal at the Rio consulate.

3) The new update about 'just the last tax return' is great too!

Good luck in your AOS process!!!

Carol

Edited May 16, 2006 by Carol&Marc