Nairobi Embassy Thread!

[bethieboo 0]

Hi guys, I am brand new to this website and forum. Don't really know how all this works. Anyway, my name is Beth and I'm newly engaged to my fiance from Nairobi. I'm at the early stages of filling out the I-129F and am wondering about the address. My fiance's apartment is in Jamhuri Estate but there is no actual street name. It is a street off of a main road. Also, I don't see anywhere to input his PO Box info. I just don't want to make any mistakes this early on!! Any insight?

[katie & sifa 25]

Hi guys, I am brand new to this website and forum. Don't really know how all this works. Anyway, my name is Beth and I'm newly engaged to my fiance from Nairobi. I'm at the early stages of filling out the I-129F and am wondering about the address. My fiance's apartment is in Jamhuri Estate but there is no actual street name. It is a street off of a main road. Also, I don't see anywhere to input his PO Box info. I just don't want to make any mistakes this early on!! Any insight?

Welcome! You'll find lots of good info here...

As for your question, we just put the PO Box in the address blank. I think they are pretty understanding since I think this is how it must be in most of Africa. I never had a physical address when I lived there, just a PO Box, and I did live off of a main road!

[bethieboo 0]

Thanks!! Yeah I was wondering how anyone in Africa could fill that part in. Good to know.

[Madwoman 2]

Welcome to the Nairobi Embassy thread! I hope you will find a lot of helpful information here. It seems like the interview and medical process has changed a little since my husband (then fiance) and I went through but there are plenty of current people here to help you out! I read that you met your fiance while volunteering and then lived a year in Kenya. Sounds wonderful! Your pictures are also beautiful. Were you volunteering in Nairobi or somewhere else? What were you doing in Kenya for a year? I also met my husband while volunteering in Uganda as an expressive arts therapist in 2007. We have been married for over a year and a half and are expecting a little girl in January! I also see that you are from the Boston area? So am I! We are currently living just outside Boston.

Congratulations on your engagement and I hope it is smooth sailing for you--the hardest part for us was being apart and waiting for the K1 Visa to be processed. I realized I can be a very impatient person!

Good luck!

Madelene

Hi guys, I am brand new to this website and forum. Don't really know how all this works. Anyway, my name is Beth and I'm newly engaged to my fiance from Nairobi. I'm at the early stages of filling out the I-129F and am wondering about the address. My fiance's apartment is in Jamhuri Estate but there is no actual street name. It is a street off of a main road. Also, I don't see anywhere to input his PO Box info. I just don't want to make any mistakes this early on!! Any insight?

[Madwoman 2]

PS -- we also just put his PO Box as his address--then listed his district, zone and town/city. Just do your best to fill it in, we never had any problems.

I don't know about anyone else, but my husband didn't have a birth certificate so he paid someone to make one for him! The first time around the guy listed the wrong city as his place of birth and had to change it. I joked that he should just have him write that my husband was born in the United States....

[AnnieMugaya 3]

Hey guys- Jack and I are finally at ease. We had his interview this morning and he was approved!!! Although I wasn't allowed to stand with him, i think it really helped that I was there. The consular officer seemed new and a little unsure of the process, and she was so strict. She denied every single applicant ahead of us. She kept leaving the window to confirm details and the next steps with the other consular officers. At one point she returned and tried to give him a green slip to come back with more evidence. She said at this time, your case will be put on hold because you have failed to show evidence of support. And Jack asked her if she meant relationship support or what and she said he was lacking the affidavit, but she hadnt even asked for it! He was like no, no, I have that right here! And she intensely interrogated him for a full 25 minutes past that about absolutely everything under the sun, trying to trip him up along the way. She literally asked at least 50 questions and at one point asked if in our contract money had changed hands. He laughed and said nooo wayy. She was not amused, haha. She also told him that I wasnt supposed to be there with him, although I had confirmed ahead of time that it was ok. Overall the only pleasant part about the experience was the approval and the fact that we pick up the visa on the 18th and will be home for Thanksgiving! Anyway, she finally passed him a slip and said come back on the 18th to collect your visa, and have a good day. I walked by the window to leave and i smiled and said thank you and when we made eye contact she smiled so fast and then immediately looked backed down at her papers, as if she had remembered that smiling was against the rules So here we are. Thanks for all the support and advice. I will keep you all posted!

[katie & sifa 25]

Congrats Annie!!! Sounds like the interview experience is getting a lot more intense. I read another VJ member's review in another thread and sounds like you maybe had the same CO! Crazy. I'm really happy for you guys though that it was approved!! :D

[taatabunny 1]

Congrats to you guys!!!

[Madwoman 2]

COngratulations Annie! I am so happy for you! It does sound like they have changed up the CO's at the embassy--our experience 2 years ago was SOOOOOOO different. But in the end you got approved which is all that matters!

Madelene

Hey guys- Jack and I are finally at ease. We had his interview this morning and he was approved!!! Although I wasn't allowed to stand with him, i think it really helped that I was there. The consular officer seemed new and a little unsure of the process, and she was so strict. She denied every single applicant ahead of us. She kept leaving the window to confirm details and the next steps with the other consular officers. At one point she returned and tried to give him a green slip to come back with more evidence. She said at this time, your case will be put on hold because you have failed to show evidence of support. And Jack asked her if she meant relationship support or what and she said he was lacking the affidavit, but she hadnt even asked for it! He was like no, no, I have that right here! And she intensely interrogated him for a full 25 minutes past that about absolutely everything under the sun, trying to trip him up along the way. She literally asked at least 50 questions and at one point asked if in our contract money had changed hands. He laughed and said nooo wayy. She was not amused, haha. She also told him that I wasnt supposed to be there with him, although I had confirmed ahead of time that it was ok. Overall the only pleasant part about the experience was the approval and the fact that we pick up the visa on the 18th and will be home for Thanksgiving! Anyway, she finally passed him a slip and said come back on the 18th to collect your visa, and have a good day. I walked by the window to leave and i smiled and said thank you and when we made eye contact she smiled so fast and then immediately looked backed down at her papers, as if she had remembered that smiling was against the rules So here we are. Thanks for all the support and advice. I will keep you all posted!

[patient2010 93]

Hey guys- Jack and I are finally at ease. We had his interview this morning and he was approved!!! Although I wasn't allowed to stand with him, i think it really helped that I was there. The consular officer seemed new and a little unsure of the process, and she was so strict. She denied every single applicant ahead of us. She kept leaving the window to confirm details and the next steps with the other consular officers. At one point she returned and tried to give him a green slip to come back with more evidence. She said at this time, your case will be put on hold because you have failed to show evidence of support. And Jack asked her if she meant relationship support or what and she said he was lacking the affidavit, but she hadnt even asked for it! He was like no, no, I have that right here! And she intensely interrogated him for a full 25 minutes past that about absolutely everything under the sun, trying to trip him up along the way. She literally asked at least 50 questions and at one point asked if in our contract money had changed hands. He laughed and said nooo wayy. She was not amused, haha. She also told him that I wasnt supposed to be there with him, although I had confirmed ahead of time that it was ok. Overall the only pleasant part about the experience was the approval and the fact that we pick up the visa on the 18th and will be home for Thanksgiving! Anyway, she finally passed him a slip and said come back on the 18th to collect your visa, and have a good day. I walked by the window to leave and i smiled and said thank you and when we made eye contact she smiled so fast and then immediately looked backed down at her papers, as if she had remembered that smiling was against the rules So here we are. Thanks for all the support and advice. I will keep you all posted!

CONGRATS ON YOUR APPROVAL!!!!

[patient2010 93]

Hi guys, I am brand new to this website and forum. Don't really know how all this works. Anyway, my name is Beth and I'm newly engaged to my fiance from Nairobi. I'm at the early stages of filling out the I-129F and am wondering about the address. My fiance's apartment is in Jamhuri Estate but there is no actual street name. It is a street off of a main road. Also, I don't see anywhere to input his PO Box info. I just don't want to make any mistakes this early on!! Any insight?

Welcome to VJ I read your story in your profile and you mentioned that you married your fiance in sept 2010. If that is the case you dont want to file a fiance visa you need to file Cr-1 visa a spousal visa not a k-1 which is Fiance visa.... Good luck to you on your journey

[shefellfromheaven 18]

Congrats Annie !! The Lord is faithful!!

KAribu Bethieboo to VJ!

[bethieboo 0]

Hi! Oh I think I should have been more clear. I meant that we decided to be engaged. We are not married yet. Thanks everyone for the welcome! I am still figuring this out and didn't realize all of you had wrote back! Thanks.

Sounds kind of scary about the interview! I know it's a long way off for us, but I am sort of dreading it.

Welcome to VJ I read your story in your profile and you mentioned that you married your fiance in sept 2010. If that is the case you dont want to file a fiance visa you need to file Cr-1 visa a spousal visa not a k-1 which is Fiance visa.... Good luck to you on your journey

[bethieboo 0]

Hi!! Yeah we met while I was volunteering in Nairobi at a home for HIV+ children.

Very interesting about the birth certificate. The same thing happened to Pascal when he was getting his passport. He was born in Nairobi but the person who did his passport wrote that he was from Siaya because he is a Luo. Anyway, it ended up being easier to just have the place of birth changed on his birth certificate. So now he officially was born in Siaya, even though he was actually born in Nairobi. Ohhh you've got to love Africa...

PS -- we also just put his PO Box as his address--then listed his district, zone and town/city. Just do your best to fill it in, we never had any problems.

I don't know about anyone else, but my husband didn't have a birth certificate so he paid someone to make one for him! The first time around the guy listed the wrong city as his place of birth and had to change it. I joked that he should just have him write that my husband was born in the United States....

[AnnieMugaya 3]

Thanks everyone for the congratulations!! Jack and I arrived home on Nov 23rd. The POE was sooo smooth. We went through the USC line together and the guy was super friendly and chatty. We had to go back to the immigration office which I'm assuming is pretty normal. They just logged in all the paperwork and checked a few databases and were cracking jokes the whole time. As we were walking out they all said in unison "Welcome to the United States!!" it was so nice!!

Katie-- I also read that thread about the rude CO in Nairobi. It probably was the same one. The other ladies there were super bubbly and cheery with everyone. All of us waiting in the waiting area were praying to go anywhere except window 10....it didn't work! Haha

Madelene-- I just wanted to say CONGRATS! I was excited to hear that you are expecting!

Beth-- Welcome to the thread! I was the newbie a couple months ago and flew through the process with the help of these fine ladies can't wait to hear all about your process along the way. Just an advanced heads up: According to the guards at the Embassy, I was the very last USC to be allowed to attend the interview with their fiancé. I'm guessing that the CO who interviewed Jack (and also told him I wasn't allowed to be there) had something to do with this. They are not permitting ANY Americans to enter the gate without their own appointment letter. They wouldn't let me pass through to pick up the visa, which is when they explained the new rules. If you want to attend, I would suggest sending them an email and asking them to reply with a confirmed appointment with both of your names on it. Would hate for you to make the trip and then be left waiting outside!

Well guys, we have been here a week-- and so far Jack loves it! We have gotten our first snow which was exciting for him and he is like a celebrity everywhere he goes. We were invited to be the guests of honor at our local rotary club's Christmas party last night. They didn't give a damn about me, as you can imagine, but he was bombarded by tons of intrigued people. It has been so nice for him to experience so many new things. All of you can relate I'm sure. It's so fun! Onto getting his SSN and vaccinations-- oh, and planning our little wedding...

Talk to you soon!