Our frusterating interview day today in Dublin

[Irishlover 2]

We just had our interview at the Dublin embassy. The ONLY two good things I can think of about the day there, was the fact that the security guards were friendly and we met some fellow VJers there! Besides that..... well not so good.

Our interview was supposed to be at 1pm, we were told not to get there to early so we arrived at 12:45. There was a line and we got into the building a little after 1. There were HUNDREDS of people there trying to get J1 visas. We were finally called, around 1:45, to submit our initial documents (envelope, medical) and answer a few questions, by a very rude lady who informed us that we were not going to be approved today because we needed to turn in an I864A for our joint sponsor, and get his birth cert. What I wanted to ask was..... why were we not informed of this two months ago when we got our interview date?!?!?!!! Had we known about this we would have gotten it and brought it with us!

So, I was livid and we were told to go wait again. At this point we had been standing the entire time because the room was so crowded. About 2:30 we were called again and they took half our number which we got when we entered the embassy and then were told to go wait again. Fortunately we had a couple very nice people to talk to and keep us company, but we were all getting very impatient. The room started to filter out and eventually it was 4pm, closing time. The only people left were those with immigrant visas who needed their interview. I went up to the security guard to find out what was going on, since there was no one else around, and he said not to worry, that we will all be interviewed today.

So around 5pm (4 hours later) we were called for our interview (they did it in no particular order). They proceeded to interview us in the room with everyone else, I was shocked by this as I was told we would be interviewed in private rooms, as we are talking about personal things and everyone can hear your conversation!

The interviewer was pretty nice. He swore John in and looked through our file. He asked about the I864A, which the lady spoke to us about earlier and then went to talk to her about it. I could hear him say something like "oh come on, they obviously make well enough to sponsor him, it's just a technicality. But she said she didn't care, that we would have to turn it in ;( So then he asked John when/where we met, how long we were in Australia for, when he proposed, if he had the intention of marrying me before we went back to America, and if we had been living together for most of the time. He was friendly enough, then gave us a paper stating what we had to send in and that once it was in we would have our visa!

So, after a looooonnggggg day, we were sorta approved and I hate the process even more.

[Harsh_77 718]

From your account it sounds like you have joint sponsor and you only had one I-864 and you did not have someone birth cert (cant make out whose birth certificate).

To me you should have known you do need the financial documents with you at time of interview – so you cannot blame consulate for it.

The time, that is the part and parcel of the ways embassy works. Some places for immigration interview they do have private room or more like standing space with door, some places don’t.

In Mumbai consulate they have both, but you could be called on any window one with cube or just a normal window based on their work load on that particular day.

Sometimes local staff who work for American embassy think they are the most important ppl on planet and they do act rude and notorious, yet most of them would have never even stepped into US.

But since overall your interview was good, so after waiting all these months waiting few more hrs… who cares…. Lol

[Carol & Tim 4]

I am sorry to hear that, but you will be approved!

Thanks for this post, I have a joint sponsor as well and I have not sent any proof of his citizen. I will get it before the interview!

Good luck!

[pushbrk 13,167]

We just had our interview at the Dublin embassy. The ONLY two good things I can think of about the day there, was the fact that the security guards were friendly and we met some fellow VJers there! Besides that..... well not so good.

Our interview was supposed to be at 1pm, we were told not to get there to early so we arrived at 12:45. There was a line and we got into the building a little after 1. There were HUNDREDS of people there trying to get J1 visas. We were finally called, around 1:45, to submit our initial documents (envelope, medical) and answer a few questions, by a very rude lady who informed us that we were not going to be approved today because we needed to turn in an I864A for our joint sponsor, and get his birth cert. What I wanted to ask was..... why were we not informed of this two months ago when we got our interview date?!?!?!!! Had we known about this we would have gotten it and brought it with us!

So, I was livid and we were told to go wait again. At this point we had been standing the entire time because the room was so crowded. About 2:30 we were called again and they took half our number which we got when we entered the embassy and then were told to go wait again. Fortunately we had a couple very nice people to talk to and keep us company, but we were all getting very impatient. The room started to filter out and eventually it was 4pm, closing time. The only people left were those with immigrant visas who needed their interview. I went up to the security guard to find out what was going on, since there was no one else around, and he said not to worry, that we will all be interviewed today.

So around 5pm (4 hours later) we were called for our interview (they did it in no particular order). They proceeded to interview us in the room with everyone else, I was shocked by this as I was told we would be interviewed in private rooms, as we are talking about personal things and everyone can hear your conversation!

The interviewer was pretty nice. He swore John in and looked through our file. He asked about the I864A, which the lady spoke to us about earlier and then went to talk to her about it. I could hear him say something like "oh come on, they obviously make well enough to sponsor him, it's just a technicality. But she said she didn't care, that we would have to turn it in ;( So then he asked John when/where we met, how long we were in Australia for, when he proposed, if he had the intention of marrying me before we went back to America, and if we had been living together for most of the time. He was friendly enough, then gave us a paper stating what we had to send in and that once it was in we would have our visa!

So, after a looooonnggggg day, we were sorta approved and I hate the process even more.

NVC would have informed you of any potential problems with sponsorship prior to scheduling the interview. That evidence of citizenship or resident status is needed for any joint sponsor is clearly stated in the I-864 and I-864a instructions. Sounds like you'll have the visa within days of submitting the required documents.

[Ironman140 45]

Sorry to hear about the embassy staff being rude.. The better half was there applying for a 6 month in February the day after superbowl and was denied. They treated her very rudely . I later seen pictures on web-site of the superbowl party.. Embassy staff attended they had been up all night drinking and pittsburg lost.. The ambassador to Ireland is the owner of the Steelers. Maybe if they had won she would not have been denied.. Always liked the steelers not anymore

[CaliforniaGuy 2]

Wow thats NVC's fault for not seeing it. Sorry about your long day.

[Irishlover 2]

Thanks for the replys. we have had no RFEs or any problems up until this and I know it's not a huge deal, but it still sucks when you think everything is fine. The specific problem is, I sent in the joint sponsor form I864 in with all the information, but I did not know that because her and her husband filed their taxes jointly that I would have to have him fill out the I864A and get his birth cert. I was very meticulous through every step and I think considering the little amount of help that the NVC, embassy or anyone else (besides VJ) gives us, we did ok. I was just frustrated that I didn't know it before hand (when it was at NVC) or I would have already had it done.

Thank you all for your help