DCF El Salvador payment and when to go

[NYN 0]

So I am doing Direct Consular Filing in El Salvador and have been trying to find out how to pay for the I-130, and after much looking around have finally succeeded. Here is my odyssey:

Looked at form I-130 which says to inquire at the Embassy nearest you for payment types outside the U.S.

I tried to contact the U.S. embassy via phone but it is an automated telephone answering service, and my inquiry would be answered only it seems by calling the VISA USA place.

Tried to ask directly and went to Embassy in El Salvador to the DHS section (which is by the way not labeled in any way, it just so happens to be the first entrance you come across). There was no line, and the guard there told me such inquiries were not answered there at the embassy, even after I explained the form and website said I should come to the embassy to inquire. The guard said I was to buy that VISA USA card (more on that later) and call. Not even a chance to get in, and no way to ask.

I bought the card, which like others have said is $15 and 8 minutes, (The card starts running and about a minute of your precious card is lost while they explain in English and Spanish who they are..) I pressed 1 for English option and it was a bad idea because they put me on hold, and there is no going back button, because I pressed pound, and star and nothing. So I hung up instead of waiting for my money to run out. So I called again and pressed 2 for Spanish this time, I spoke to some lady who wasted time asking my name and repeating it and I explained my case. She told me the help they provided was just for people filing in the USA, not my case since I was filing directly with the embassy. More time wasted on card as she thanks you for calling so and so from so and so, blah blah blah, so waste of time, money...

So went back to the Embassy to the U.S. citizen services and after waiting in line for about 20 minutes finally got in. Went to window four (like bank tellers) and was told that where I actually wanted to go was next door, (where I had just been) at the DHS on Mondays and Wednesday 7-9 am.

So I went outside to the other entrance to ask the guard and said perhaps he had sent me to buy that Visa USA card and he said he was. I explained what I had been told and asked if it was the DHS there, and he said it was there. He was very kind this time and asked if I was traveling from far, I said not very far, but he said if I waited I could find someone to talk and I would not have to return the next day. It was lunch time and so the lady I was supposed to ask, the Promotor, was out. I think she is the one who handles all the people waiting for interviews in a pen-like waiting area next to that entrance.

He told me they don’t tell the guards anything and they have no info except to direct people to call that VISA USA number. So I went and waited for the Promotor but I had a job interview to go to, and could not wait more than 20 minutes. I went back to the guard and he said I should wait just a little more, but I said I could not, and he said to come back the next day 7 -9 am.

So I went back to Embassy on Wednesday at 7 am, waited in line outside, meanwhile my husband went to talk to the Promotor lady just in case my line was not the line and just in case she knew something. He came back and told me that the Promotor said that yes I was at the right place and I could submit and pay the form inside. And she said I could pay with a credit card, even a debit card, but not cash. (This later turned out to be wrong).

And so I waited outside, and then waited inside some more in a little room with chairs, and finally got to see a lady at a window, like a bank teller around 9:30 am. My form was examined and was told all was in order, but I needed to provide proof of residency. Being an idiot, it had not occurred my residency was to be proved, because I had been living in El Salvador since the end of 2006. So I was asked to get a ‘movimiento migratorio’ or something from the University I attended to prove I had been here for at least the past six months. I got a little worried since I had been to visit my family for New Year’s and technically I had been out of the country for a couple of months, and since we just got married that did not add up to six months. But she said to get the Movimiento Migratorio and that would be enough to show where I had been. As for the accepted forms of payments she said they were a Credit Card, but not a Debit Card, or Cash.

Unfortunately this service, DCF and similar questions is only offered Mondays and Wednesdays, and so I must return on Monday of next week. The Website says 7:30-9:30am, but I was told 7-9 by the Promotor lady and by the guard. To make matters more confusing I went today to finally turn in the application and I was told they only attended 7:30-9:30…