Chennai CR1 Interview Review

[Sean John 0]

Hello folks,

My wife interviewed at the Chennai Consulate in India on June 9th 2010 at 9:00AM.

Since I was'nt there at the interview, these events are presented as told to me.

She arrived in Chennai the night before and stayed at the Crystal Residency Hotel right across from the Consulate and practicaly walked there the morning of the interview. The security people were arranging people to let them in based on the time of their interview. So she was sent in at 8:45AM for her 9:00AM interview. The security people checked all her papers and envelopes and let her through.

Once in, she was called by an Indian lady who asked her a few basic questions like when we got married and whether we had met before the wedding. She had her sign the DS-230 and asked her for the 2009 tax returns. She gave them to her and then she looked them over and asked her where the W2s were. My wife wasnt aware of their existence since I had forgotten to send them over with the taxes. She told her she didnt have them. The lady then asked her for my employment letter and a copy of her Birth Certificate and gave her the originals back. She also asked her for a copy of my US Passport, which luckily I had sent at the last moment.

She was then given a number to go and get her fingerprints done and then wait for the CO to call her.

The CO called her after about 2 hours. He was apparently a nice white guy.

These were the questions she was asked as far as she can remember:

1)When and how did you guys get married?

2)Who petitioned you for the CR1 visa?

3)How long has your husband been in the US?

4)How did he get there? (I cam on an immigrant visa myself)

5)Who sponsored his immigrant visa?

6)How many days did he stay when you two got married?

7)Has he visited since then? (I havent,but he didnt ask why)

8)How do you communicate with him? She replied through phone and handed her the more than 40 pages of phone records from my Calling Card and Vonage accounts. She said he looked a little dumbfounded at that many calls

9)How else do you communicate besides phone calls? This is where she handed him the huge stacks of emails and chats. He looked at them and laughed saying, "You are well prepared, arent you?"

10)Where does your husband work?

11)What's his job title?

12)What are your qualifications and educational achievements?

13)Will you work when you get there? What work? Will your husband agree to it?

14)How many siblings does your husband have?

15)Do you have any pictures of you two together? She handed him the Wedding and Reception albums. He asked her if she had any other pictures besides those. She then handed him two other albums of when we went to the mall and some other places when I was there.

He looked at one and said, "You said he has 3 sisters?".She said "No, 2".

"Who's this third female here?". "That's his sister-in-law".

"Do they all live together?"."No, the sisters live with him, but the sister-in-law is in Canada".

He then told her everything was ok except for the W2s. He gave her some kind of a checklist of questions that he had which had their email address on it and highlighted the W2s and asked her to email them. He told her the Passport will arrive in 7 days of them receiving the email. He kept her passport too, so I guess that's a good sign.

My wife seemed happy even though I was a little grumpy at having made such a stupid mistake.

She said the checklist he gave her was very elaborate and she thinks it will definitely help everyone who will be interviewing. I asked her to scan it and email it to me so I can post it here on VJ.

That's it. She got home and I had the email all typed out with attachments and all for her to just forward to them.

She sent it to them at 12am IST.

We hope she gets everything back soon so I can paying through my nose for these in-season-outrageously-priced-airline-tickets.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Sean John

[TheMatrix 6]

Thanks SeanJohn, for the detailed report. We would await the checklist as it sounds really interesting.

Was the copy of your passport notarized, or was it just a regular photocopy?

Also, did you send an employment letter along with your AOS package to NVC? I sent them one. I do have copies of it.

Did your wife provide the pre-screener an original, or a copy?

Edited June 9, 2010 by TheMatrix

[Sean John 0]

Thanks SeanJohn, for the detailed report. We would await the checklist as it sounds really interesting.

Was the copy of your passport notarized, or was it just a regular photocopy?

Yes, I had notarized the copy of my US passport before I sent it to her.

[TheMatrix 6]

Notarization is usually for a signature, isn't it? Would a regular notary notarize a copy? Did you have to sign it or something?

Also, please see my question on letter of employment that I added by editing my previous comment.

Thanks in advance, and congratulations!

[Sean John 0]

Notarization is usually for a signature, isn't it? Would a regular notary notarize a copy? Did you have to sign it or something?

Also, please see my question on letter of employment that I added by editing my previous comment.

Thanks in advance, and congratulations!

Yes, I did have to sign it for her to notarize it since they only notarize the signature as you said.

My wife submitted copies since I had submitted the originals to the NVC.

[RyannTanya 2]

Just a quick question. Didn't you include your W-2s with I-864??? Or did they ask for it again?

[Amit-N-Melody 11]

Congrats!! Seems like you had a pretty easy interview!! Sucks that she didnt have the W-2's but I pray you get your visa soon

[R.&S. 2]

Congrats for your interview..

I just wanted to know few things.. we are K-1 applicant.

What is W-2's? Does it need to be submit for K-1 too?

Would I also need to take my Income tax return for the last financial year? Is it necessary?

Thanks.

[sachinky 465]

K-1s require the I-134 for financial support. One to three year of tax transcripts are recommended. If you're not using the IRS tax transcript, then you need your 1040/W2/1099.

Btw, SJ's visa got approved after he sent his 2009 W2 in. So yay for him!

[Sean John 0]

Thank you everyone for all the responses. My wife did send in the W2s via email and she got a reponse back today saying We Have Been Approved!!!!

So early response and a good one.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Sean John

[LoveRani 1]

SeanJohn, Did you include your copy of your W2's when you sent the I-864 package or not??

I am just about ready to send everything to the wife. I did include a photo copy of it when I sent my package. I am just wondering will I have to send the original?? Thanks in advance

[vivekjay 1]

Congrats SJ. Glad you were able to overcome the W-2 hick-up very quickly.

[LoveRani 1]

SeanJohn, Did you include your copy of your W2's when you sent the I-864 package or not??

I am just about ready to send everything to the wife. I did include a photo copy of it when I sent my package. I am just wondering will I have to send the original?? Thanks in advance

Can anyone give me an answer about this please?? Thanks

[Sean John 0]

Can anyone give me an answer about this please?? Thanks

No need to send originals. Just make sure she has a copy of everything though, including the 2009 tax returns and W2s.

Good luck!

[Kraj.d 1]

Congrats on ur approval