May 2010 Interviews

[TatyanaR 6]

Alicia was approved!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!! CONGRADS GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO HAPPY FOR YOU & HUBBY!!!!!

[Sean John 0]

Thankyou all so much for all the well wishes. I still havn't been able to get a full picture of the interview yet. Wife has been busy going to VFS, hotel check outs, train ride back home etc. Plus her cell phone signal is not that great on the train so the call kept dropping off. So will try to put together a brief review based on the bits and pieces that I picked up.

She reached the cosulate around 7.50AM for her 8AM interview. She was called to the first interview window around 9.30AM. She said the Indian lady at her window was really sweet. There was another man at a different window who appeared to be rude and the whole time she was waiting, she was praying not to get him for the prescreen. The lady asked for our interview letter, passport, wedding photos and wedding invitation cards. There were some basic queestions like how did we meet, when did we get married etc.

She was not called in for the interview untill around 11.30 so it was kind of a long wait. She was interviewed by a woman of East Asian decent. She was very polite and friendly. The whole interview lasted 10-15 minutes. Again it was all basic questions like. When did we meet, who made the first contact, How often does your husband visit, have we travelled together. What she plans to do once in US. I will post the exact questions later. They did not ask for any additional proof of relationship or a single document that we carried. The consular never asked about the 2009 tax returns. Wife was out of the cosulate by around 12PM.

Wife was not able to pick up the passport from VFS the same day so it will be mailed to her. All in all I think except for the long wait time it was pretty straightforward and an easy interview.

Thank you again all............. Let the good news keep rolling.

Congratulations Vivek!!

Sounds like everything went smoothly, good for her/you!

Exciting stuff!

I think I had too much coffee...

[vivekjay 1]

Alicia was approved!!!!!

Ohhhhh Yeah...............

[TatyanaR 6]

His heart stopped when he called the number and turned out it was the embassy... even better when he called back he was told that they are closed for lunch and to call back after to find out what they are calling about.... so for an hour he was going crazy...I am soooo glad I was sleeping while all of this was happening....

Good thing you wore sleeping or else you be updating us from the ER

[vivekjay 1]

I have updated my interview details in the embassy review section. Hope you find it useful for your interview.

Edited May 5, 2010 by vivekjay

[hobokenworkingman 4]

Reading all that got me paronoid

Hubby & I just got married at court on a Monday. Only witness there was my sister & a friend. Afterwords we went to my sisters house because they wore having a BBQ, no it wasent a party for us or anything.

That day did not really feel like our wedding day because I am still planning on having one in the future. We did all that so we can file K3 but not K1. My mom did want to plan a wedding for us but I didn't want to plan something last minute as I want the wedding day to be perfect.

So I have nothing other then the wedding certificate, ring receipts and pictures. Should I worry?

Wow Tats first of all, great story, since its sort of similar to mine, in a way. we may sort of be in the same boat here, but perhaps not. i think you may actually be ok, since you got married in court in front of a judge (and that too in the US, correct?). also, you have a daughter! your little bundle of joy is also going to be your big savior, since if you didnt have her, then it could be seen as a quickie marriage just to get the visa. i think other than your daughter, if you have enough evidence of your ONGOING marital rel'n (phone calls, cards, etc etc) then you should be fine. your daughter is truly your lifesaver, for many reasons other than this! Thank God for her

[TatyanaR 6]

Wow Tats first of all, great story, since its sort of similar to mine, in a way. we may sort of be in the same boat here, but perhaps not. i think you may actually be ok, since you got married in court in front of a judge (and that too in the US, correct?). also, you have a daughter! your little bundle of joy is also going to be your big savior, since if you didnt have her, then it could be seen as a quickie marriage just to get the visa. i think other than your daughter, if you have enough evidence of your ONGOING marital rel'n (phone calls, cards, etc etc) then you should be fine. your daughter is truly your lifesaver, for many reasons other than this! Thank God for her

Believe me, our stories are very similar! Hubby & I got married after knowing each other for only 6mo! As crazy as it sounds, sometimes you just know after knowing someone that this is who you are meant to be with! A lot has happened since then to prove that he is my soulmate starting with my family totally accepting him & his family accepting me since we are from 2 different cultures that are somewhat strict on who you marry & sticking with the same culture. I could not picture myself with anyone else other then him even though before we got married I questioned weather he was the one for me & without a doubt he is. He is truly the love of my life & I thank God for sending him into my life.

& yes our beautiful daughter is trully a blessing! I think I fall in love more & more with my hubby everytime I look at Gisele. She is a smaller version of hubby!

[sachinky 464]

Hobo--You're overthinking it. Just explain what you did and why and you should be set.

We had a civil ceremony as we got married under The Special Marriage Act, 1954--signing the marriage certificate in front of the marriage registrar and about 30 witnesses. Then we exchanged flower garlands and gold wedding bands. My father did the blessings. All this took place at our home. Then we had a dinner reception for about 150 people at the wedding venue. Neither me nor my husband are big fans of rituals or traditions and frankly, I couldn't be bothered to deal with a full-blown, eight hour Bengali wedding hoopla in the blistering August heat. I have pictures, video, affidavits, receipts, wedding invitation, congratulations cards etc. for proof of bonafide marriage.

When I return to the States we plan to have another similar ceremony for my husband's family and our college friends who couldn't be here for our wedding. This excites me because I've always wanted to wear a white dress.

Edited May 5, 2010 by sachinky

[yohino 22]

Yules, I would have freaked out if the Embassy had called me, be proud of your hubby for handling it so good! It's cool they called him though,so there won't be any delays after the interview!

Congrats to Alicia!!

[TatyanaR 6]

When I return to the States we plan to have another similar ceremony for my husband's family and our college friends who couldn't be here for our wedding. This excites me because I've always wanted to wear a white dress.

I know me too!! But also would love the wear the Indian wedding sari too! Hopefully next time we go to India, it will all happen.

Do they make saris for kids?

[sachinky 464]

Great news about Alicia! Congratulations!

Do they make saris for kids?

I'm pretty sure they do. You might have to hunt for them though. I remember wearing a couple when I was a kid during festivals and such.

[TatyanaR 6]

I'm pretty sure they do. You might have to hunt for them though. I remember wearing a couple when I was a kid during festivals and such.

Aww, how cute!

[hobokenworkingman 4]

Hobo--You're overthinking it. Just explain what you did and why and you should be set.

We had a civil ceremony as we got married under The Special Marriage Act, 1954--signing the marriage certificate in front of the marriage registrar and about 30 witnesses. Then we exchanged flower garlands and gold wedding bands. My father did the blessings. All this took place at our home. Then we had a dinner reception for about 150 people at the wedding venue. Neither me nor my husband are big fans of rituals or traditions and frankly, I couldn't be bothered to deal with a full-blown, eight hour Bengali wedding hoopla in the blistering August heat. I have pictures, video, affidavits, receipts, wedding invitation, congratulations cards etc. for proof of bonafide marriage.

When I return to the States we plan to have another similar ceremony for my husband's family and our college friends who couldn't be here for our wedding. This excites me because I've always wanted to wear a white dress.

Awesome! thanks sach!!! that makes me and wifey feel muuuuuch better. ours was totally a very similar thing, except we got married with very basic rituals in front of ~ 40 ppl in a restaurant (a very nice one with great food) where we booked it for the night. exchanged rings, garlands etc. then we got the marriage registered the next day or so (2-3 days later, i think) at the local marriage registrar's office. actually there was good reason for not having the full-blown hindu wedding (which both of us did want) at that time other than the time constraints - astrologically (yup, her and my folks were very particular about that), the stars were not aligned properly and thus the time was not "ideal", AND there were 2 deaths in my wife's side of the family just a week before. so we decided to have a more expanded hindu wedding with all the bells and whistles in december 2nd.

given the fact that i spent all of december with her, visited her in april AND plan to be with her WITH my parents during the interview should prove our bonafides. i do think i'm overthinking this!

[hobokenworkingman 4]

I know me too!! But also would love the wear the Indian wedding sari too! Hopefully next time we go to India, it will all happen.

Do they make saris for kids?

Tats and sach, funny my wife also talked about that at one point - wanting to have a church wedding (even tho we're not christian), altho we're obviously totally cool w/ other faiths. of course, we do plan to have a US wedding reception in NYC...maybe she'll choose to dress in white then...

[yulechka42 2]

Good thing you wore sleeping or else you be updating us from the ER

Yules, I would have freaked out if the Embassy had called me, be proud of your hubby for handling it so good! It's cool they called him though,so there won't be any delays after the interview!

Congrats to Alicia!!

He did freak out but came around and took care of everything I am very proud of him.

10 hours 12 minutes to go....

Can this day be any longer?