Interview

[Ed Hall 7]

My Fiancee had her interview today but no decision was made. Before they make a decision, they want us to send more pictures and more emails. For the interview, my Fiancee brought with her about 10 pictures with us together and about 4 emails messages. I've visited her 3 times in the past year so we have 100's of pictures so that will not be a problem. However, our email exchange has been quite sparse. We have been communicating mainly by chat and each evening by Voice over IP. Fortunately, I have saved most of our chats so I can dig those up. For the Voice over IP, there is very little evidence we can send other than the $2.99 I pay each month for this service. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

[jbmail 0]

My Fiancee had her interview today but no decision was made. Before they make a decision, they want us to send more pictures and more emails. For the interview, my Fiancee brought with her about 10 pictures with us together and about 4 emails messages. I've visited her 3 times in the past year so we have 100's of pictures so that will not be a problem. However, our email exchange has been quite sparse. We have been communicating mainly by chat and each evening by Voice over IP. Fortunately, I have saved most of our chats so I can dig those up. For the Voice over IP, there is very little evidence we can send other than the $2.99 I pay each month for this service. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

I am curious to which Embassy you are talking about: Eucador? I know Ukraine hardly EVER asks for more and this would be more than adequate

Please let us know

JB

[KimandRuss 0]

Just send absolutely everything that you have that helps to prove that you are a bonafide couple....

Send all photos,

any emails (or print sc of your inbox/sent), credit card records of payments made in that Country,

all chats (you can black out personal conversation)

cards or letters or receipts from packages you've sent each other,

letters from family members,

all proof of travel you can find,

i'm sure others can add to this...

good luck!

[Ed Hall 7]

My Fiancee had her interview today but no decision was made. Before they make a decision, they want us to send more pictures and more emails. For the interview, my Fiancee brought with her about 10 pictures with us together and about 4 emails messages. I've visited her 3 times in the past year so we have 100's of pictures so that will not be a problem. However, our email exchange has been quite sparse. We have been communicating mainly by chat and each evening by Voice over IP. Fortunately, I have saved most of our chats so I can dig those up. For the Voice over IP, there is very little evidence we can send other than the $2.99 I pay each month for this service. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

I am curious to which Embassy you are talking about: Eucador? I know Ukraine hardly EVER asks for more and this would be more than adequate

Please let us know

JB

Yes it was Ecuador (Guayaquil). How did you know? I wish I knew before hand since we could have provided many more pictures. Please let me know what I should do to get this to go through.

Edited November 12, 2008 by Ed Hall

[jbmail 0]

My Fiancee had her interview today but no decision was made. Before they make a decision, they want us to send more pictures and more emails. For the interview, my Fiancee brought with her about 10 pictures with us together and about 4 emails messages. I've visited her 3 times in the past year so we have 100's of pictures so that will not be a problem. However, our email exchange has been quite sparse. We have been communicating mainly by chat and each evening by Voice over IP. Fortunately, I have saved most of our chats so I can dig those up. For the Voice over IP, there is very little evidence we can send other than the $2.99 I pay each month for this service. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

I am curious to which Embassy you are talking about: Eucador? I know Ukraine hardly EVER asks for more and this would be more than adequate

Please let us know

JB

Yes it was Ecuador (Guayaquil). How did you know? I wish I knew before hand since we could have provided many more pictures. Please let me know what I should do to get this to go through.

I looked at your VJ Timeline to see where you were from. I was just having this discussion from my fiance' and a friend who just cleared the Ukraine Embassy and 90% of the interviews never have to show all of this, so every embassy is diferent. One of our friends was asked 30-40 questions and had all sorts of documents and they never asked for or looked at docs, just wanted to see pictures with dates from camera or printed on back, when & where. And another one had NO telephone charges and just used Skype every day 3 times and he printed out his Skype charges, so it all depends on who is asking

Good luck,

J

[Ed Hall 7]

I looked at your VJ Timeline to see where you were from. I was just having this discussion from my fiance' and a friend who just cleared the Ukraine Embassy and 90% of the interviews never have to show all of this, so every embassy is diferent. One of our friends was asked 30-40 questions and had all sorts of documents and they never asked for or looked at docs, just wanted to see pictures with dates from camera or printed on back, when & where. And another one had NO telephone charges and just used Skype every day 3 times and he printed out his Skype charges, so it all depends on who is asking

Good luck,

J

Thanks..... I thought you had some information regarding this Embassy. I am quite surprised of the outcome. I visited her 3 times in the past year and she brought my boarding passes and flight receipts to the interview. They asked very few questions but one of the questions they asked her was why we didn't just get married in Ecuador. We thought about going that route but we didn't want to get married, then live separately while waiting for the K3 visa to go through. I also didn't really want to quit my job due to the nature of our economy right now. Anyways, this has been a very lengthy process and I hope it works like it should for couples like in our case who legitimately want to get married.

[Ed Hall 7]

Another question......

Luckily, I am able to retrieve all the Instant Messages. I have over 100 IM's saved and I'm busy copying each one and printing them out. How many of them should I print out? The Embassy is asking specifically for emails so would IM's be an appropriate substitute?

[KimandRuss 0]

I think you pic a handful from different points in time.

Just to add to the conversation... the US Embassy stage of this process can be very different depending on the Consulate you are going through. Some are a breeze and hardly ask or check out anything and at some, higher fraud Consulates, it is the norm to ask for more information / proof of bonafide before issuing a visa.

In order to learn from others who have had experience with the Consulate you are going through you can click on the portals link, the embassy info page, embassy reviews... etc.

again.. good luck

[gensdad515 2]

I looked at your VJ Timeline to see where you were from. I was just having this discussion from my fiance' and a friend who just cleared the Ukraine Embassy and 90% of the interviews never have to show all of this, so every embassy is diferent. One of our friends was asked 30-40 questions and had all sorts of documents and they never asked for or looked at docs, just wanted to see pictures with dates from camera or printed on back, when & where. And another one had NO telephone charges and just used Skype every day 3 times and he printed out his Skype charges, so it all depends on who is asking

Good luck,

J

Thanks..... I thought you had some information regarding this Embassy. I am quite surprised of the outcome. I visited her 3 times in the past year and she brought my boarding passes and flight receipts to the interview. They asked very few questions but one of the questions they asked her was why we didn't just get married in Ecuador. We thought about going that route but we didn't want to get married, then live separately while waiting for the K3 visa to go through. I also didn't really want to quit my job due to the nature of our economy right now. Anyways, this has been a very lengthy process and I hope it works like it should for couples like in our case who legitimately want to get married.

By what I've seen so far I think each interviewer has their own version of what should be enough proof. I would have thought that 10 pictures would have been enough. I agree with K&R, get whatever communication you had with each other to present to them. Use all you have from the trip, hotel receipts if any, airline tickets, etc. I even have movie tickets from Ecuador that I've kept. ( Don't know if they will accept them). If you sent any cards/ letters/ packages to each other take proof of that as well.

Wish you the best of luck, Jorge

[Ed Hall 7]

I think what messed us up was the interview. I don't know if it is alright to talk on this forum about interview questions. When she answered no, they should have asked the question differently to get her to talk.

Should we send them all receipts of gifts I gave her for example a laptop, wedding ring and an airplane ticket to Guayaquil for the interview?

One document they're asking for is proof of having a joint bank account. Can I put her name on my bank account?

Unfortunately, most of our recent mode of communication has been VOIP so there is little evidence.

How many of the 700 pages of IM's should I send. Should I send all?

We have over 500 pictures taken over the 3 times I visited her. Would a Picasa CD with all the pictures be good evidence?

[TBoneTX 45,329]

You will not get the true picture of the Guayaquil consulate by reading any of the embassy reviews posted here on VJ. The vast majority of K-1 applicants there were hosed and will never post here again. I myself am champing at the bit to tell the true and full story, but I must restrain myself until my now-wife's relatives apply for their (ha! fat chance!) B-2 visitors' visas (guffaw, snort, chortle) to attend our delayed wedding celebration (dream on! what's being smoked here? who's abusing his day-pass from the insane asylum?).

Bluntly put, Guayaquil is a rogue consulate that asks illegal questions and makes up its own rules. The poorly hidden goal is to make the process so difficult and traumatic for interviewees that most will give up, and that Ecuador will remain below a certain benchmark percentage for K-1 (and other family-based) visas issued.

Their infernal bedbug sheet of requirements -- is it a 221(g) letter? is it not a 221(g) letter? only God knows, and even that's doubtful -- asks for things that engaged couples could not possibly be expected to provide (joint bank account? give me a break). Ignore that item. They're too cheap, arrogant, and disorganized to provide separate sheets for separate visa categories.

Were you, by unhappy chance, interviewed by the intelligent, congenial Vice-Consul whom we (We Who Have Been Hosed) so affectionately call "Mr. Silver"? In not just MY observation, he is half as bright as a dead firefly, and he possesses the judgment abilities of a retarded blowfish.

You say that they told you to "send" more information. It's exceptionally surprising that you were not ordered to attend a second interview (of course, at your expense, and after paying $12 for PINs for multiple calls to the Ecuadorian appointment-setting babes who either don't speak comprehensible English or who are paid commissions to see how many times they can blow you off and make you call back for another $12 PIN).

There is no advice that can be given to you regarding this consulate. Print every last item of communication that you possibly can, and "send" (they will want you to BRING) it to them. They play cruel games, so don't expect this to be the last requirement. Also, expect to never hear back, then call and e-mail and call and e-mail and call and e-mail and never get to speak with an American unless you pull rank.

One of my attorneys (with the largest Immigration law firm in Houston, who himself has 5 recent years as a vice-consul in Venezuela) recommends to me without hesitation that I need to send an after-visa complaint to the Department of State and NOT to merely the Section Chief (whose name and professional history I know, and to whom I've spoken, and whose head is clearly up his #######), but to the Consul General himself. I look forward to spending $76 by UPS International or $88 by DHL to tell the CG exactly what the deuce is going on at that hellhole while the CG merrily performs public-relations appearances at schools and functions and plasters photos of himself all over the consulate's website.

But this is just me. You can hear the same and more from two other couples, and sadly not from any of the dozens of others who also got hosed and simply dropped from VJ. I guarantee you that I remain 100% livid these many months later. The only bright spot is that the Hellhole is apparently not organized enough to find ways to hose their K-1 recipients at POE... but if they could, they doubtlessly would.

Leave nothing to chance, beware, and I'm so very sorry.

[TBoneTX 45,329]

I must add that even if you have not been ordered to appear at a second "interview," you should set an appointment and appear in person with your evidence and your fiancee. If you have been ordered to appear, it will not be the "joint" or "marriage" interview that they so cheerily advertise. You will undergo a full Stokes interrogation, replete with questions that are illegal in government and in the private sector, and you will not receive an answer about your visa even after that, or even get to speak with an American.

Also, do not bother with a CD of photos. Print and bring every last one of them. Cram them under the window at the Foreign Service National (remember that you will not get to speak with any American) and insist that they be looked at. You are being videotaped, so state loudly and repeatedly exactly what evidence you have brought, and insist that the FSN acknowledge it. Also, do not allow your fiancee to be interrogated separately -- as a U.S. citizen, you are staying by her side to ensure that evidence BROUGHT is evidence ACKNOWLEDGED, and that no illegal questions will be asked.

[e-migra 4]

GOD, all this is really fascist and absolutely pathetic and unfair!!!!!

I'm really sorry, but I'm sure you'll be fine, just take everything you have.

Good luck!

e-migra

[gensdad515 2]

I must add that even if you have not been ordered to appear at a second "interview," you should set an appointment and appear in person with your evidence and your fiancee. If you have been ordered to appear, it will not be the "joint" or "marriage" interview that they so cheerily advertise. You will undergo a full Stokes interrogation, replete with questions that are illegal in government and in the private sector, and you will not receive an answer about your visa even after that, or even get to speak with an American.

Also, do not bother with a CD of photos. Print and bring every last one of them. Cram them under the window at the Foreign Service National (remember that you will not get to speak with any American) and insist that they be looked at. You are being videotaped, so state loudly and repeatedly exactly what evidence you have brought, and insist that the FSN acknowledge it. Also, do not allow your fiancee to be interrogated separately -- as a U.S. citizen, you are staying by her side to ensure that evidence BROUGHT is evidence ACKNOWLEDGED, and that no illegal questions will be asked.

TBone with all the insight you provided, would their be anyway to request the interviews be done in Quito instead of Guayaquil ? Or are we stuck with just having to deal with the runarounds ?

Thanks!! Jorge

[TBoneTX 45,329]

TBone with all the insight you provided, would their be anyway to request the interviews be done in Quito instead of Guayaquil ? Or are we stuck with just having to deal with the runarounds ?

Thanks!! Jorge

Sadly, dude, there's no way to request Quito. Guayaquil is the arm that handles the family-based visas.