Juarez Consulate

[nm123 0]

HI EVERYONE!!!

Well, it's been about a week since we came back from Ciudad Juarez!!! And THANK GOD my husband's visa was approved and issued on the same day of our appointment 03.03.08. And we are finally TOGETHER. I just want to share a few things from our experience.

Medical exam-My husband decided to chose the smaller clinic next to the consulate. It appeared to be the best choice. He arrived at the clinic at 6:00 am, and he was out of there by 11:00 am. He was then scheduled to pick up his results at 4:00 p.m. on the same day. I think this clinic was the best choice because it went a little faster than the large clinic which was across the street from the consulate (they were givinig the medical results after 5:00 p.m.).

Interview-My husband had the interview on a Monday and was scheduled at 7:30 am. We got there at 6 am and there was already a biiig line. However, the security guards from the consulate were telling people to GET OUT (and wait across the street) of the line if they had their appointment scheduled after 7:45 am. So if you have a 9 am interview, there is no point in getting there super early, cause they will tell you to get out and they will not let you inside the consulate until your interview time.

So it was around 7:15 am when my husband entered the consulate...I waited for a few minutes outside of the consulate (with two other VJ members who I met thorugh VJ, in Juarez, Song kim and Liz Leija, very cool people...and their spouses also got their K-3 visas...yeahh) just to make sure that everything went ok. There were a lot of people outside of the consulate waiting. I must say that it was REALLY cold, people were waiting in line with blankets, and while we were there it even started to snow...just for a little bit.

So I went back to the hotel to wait for my husband, and to my surprise he came back at 12 pm. YEP, I thought that was early, but thank god everything went well and he had his visa in hand. He said that when he was interviewed they did not ask to see anything of evidence...they did not request evidence of our marriage (just the marriage certificate), they did not see pictures, emails, letters, or evidence to bonafide our marriage. NOTHING. All they asked him was when he met me, how he met me, how long we had dated and if he had ever been in the U.S. Oohh and they also asked him if we were also married religiously, to what he answered yes, we are also married by the Catholic church. Then the lady said, congratulations, your visa has been approved. Then he waited for a little longer then he got his visa and the yellow envelope (with all your forms) that tells you what crossing(port of entry) you must go through. There are five crossing points in Ciudad Juarez. Our envelope said we had to go to the Fabens, Texas POE to give the yellow envelope to the immigration officer. There you get your I-94 and a stamp (and pay $6) . Fabens is the farthest crossing point and the cab ride from Ciudad Juarez to Fabens, Texas and then to El Paso was $140 dollars. So be prepared.

Hotel-I would recommend the Holiday Inn Lincoln, which is about 65-70 dollars per night (book it online). It's about a 5 minute walk to the consulate, and they have internet which you can use. It is safe and clean.

Taxis-They are very expensive in Juarez, so be careful and be prepared to pay a lot.

Food-Food at the holiday inn was also expensive, it was even more than the US. We also went to restaurants around the area and paid about $30 dollars for both of us. I think this is expensive for Mexico. If you eat in the mall, it's not too bad.

Taxi from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez-the cab ride from El paso airport to ciudad juarez was $45 dollars.

Mall-We went to Las Misiones mall which was nice, big and have a nice movie theater. This mall is far from the holiday inn and consulate area...about a $16 dollar cab ride. Ohh by the way, the new consulate is being built just across the street from this mall.

El Centro- We decided to go to church on Sunday, to the Cathedral. The mass was nice but I would not recommend going to el centro (down town Ciudad Juarez). It did not look safe at all. People looked kind of evil and the men there stared at you...it was not cool. My husband decided we should head back to the hotel and not look around, cause it did not look like a safe place to be. We didn't go out at night, just during day time.

If any of you have any questions let me know. I will gladly answer your questions and concerns.

Best of luck to all of you.

Congratulations to both of you! I am so glad it all went very well.

[sanfranguy 0]

congrats:)

[caityrose 0]

Congratulations

[sanfranguy 0]

i got a question about this point of entry stamp. i read some reviews that people have to go a few miles out of juarez to get this stamp after they get the visa. does anyone know if this is required even though you wont be leaving mexico that day. btw, my fiance and her daughter will be leaving 2 months after they get the visa.

[tijuanahilton 0]

i got a question about this point of entry stamp. i read some reviews that people have to go a few miles out of juarez to get this stamp after they get the visa. does anyone know if this is required even though you wont be leaving mexico that day. btw, my fiance and her daughter will be leaving 2 months after they get the visa.

I don't know what that's all about. My husband left out of Mexico City a few months after he went to Juarez and didn't go in search of any stamp while he was there.

[웃 910]

Will my fiancee have any problems going to Juarez by herself? She is scared but the flight for me to accompany her to Juarez would cost something like 6 to 800 dollars and we want to save that for AOS. Our plan is for her to fly to Juarez on a Monday and get situated and pay the Banamex visa fee the first day. Second day, Tuesday, handle the medical procedure and pick up the results. Wednesday, day three, have the visa appointment and hopefully pass. Then either fly to Michigan the same night or wait until Thursday, which would be the fourth day. Do you think she can handle everything by herself?

[tijuanahilton 0]

Will my fiancee have any problems going to Juarez by herself? She is scared but the flight for me to accompany her to Juarez would cost something like 6 to 800 dollars and we want to save that for AOS. Our plan is for her to fly to Juarez on a Monday and get situated and pay the Banamex visa fee the first day. Second day, Tuesday, handle the medical procedure and pick up the results. Wednesday, day three, have the visa appointment and hopefully pass. Then either fly to Michigan the same night or wait until Thursday, which would be the fourth day. Do you think she can handle everything by herself?

There's no reason she shouldn't be able to. Just tell her to be careful and not wander at night by herself. She doesn't need you there for anything, and they won't let you into the embassy or the medical, no matter what. You'll just be sitting around going crazy for two days.

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

You only have to do this if El Paso will be your POE. It does say on the packet from the consulate which bridge to go to but again it is only if El Paso will be your POE.

[sanfranguy 0]

You only have to do this if El Paso will be your POE. It does say on the packet from the consulate which bridge to go to but again it is only if El Paso will be your POE.

thanks for clearing that up gaby and talber. i was a lil confused on that. was getting worried bout one more thing i wasn't gonna be prepared for. 3 more weeks and were off to juarez!!

[웃 910]

I plan to fly my fiancee from Acapulco to Juarez on Monday, the 31st of March. That is two weeks from this Monday. But I still haven't gotten packet 3 so hopefully it comes soon.

[sanfranguy 0]

I plan to fly my fiancee from Acapulco to Juarez on Monday, the 31st of March. That is two weeks from this Monday. But I still haven't gotten packet 3 so hopefully it comes soon.

gate..dont forget to send her the invitation that you will recieve in the packet. she will need to show that when she gets there.

[ucla_cutie26 0]

thegreatgate,

When your fiance goes to Juarez, you may want to send a letter with her. When Juan went to Juarez, I was unable to attend the interview with him. I followed the advice of kitkat (boy, do we miss her) and sent him with a letter explaining that financial and work obligations did not permit me to make the trip to Juarez. I also added that this should not be misinterpreted as a lack of support for my fiance and that we planned on marrying within 90 days entry to the U.S. This was a good idea because Juan was asked if I was there during his interview and he showed the CO the letter I sent him.

sanfranguy,

The bridge crossing is put on there to avoid all visas issued in Juarez to be going into the U.S. from the same port of entry. If everyone granted visas in Juarez were to enter thru the same place, there would be too many people. So they do this to even out the flow of ppl.

[웃 910]

Can you pay the visa fee at any Banamex bank at anytime? Or does it have to be in Juarez?

[웃 910]

Just getting the Juarez thread at the front of the pack, I dislike when it is on the third page. (Ignore this post.)

[caityrose 0]

Hey greatgate- I agree, I dislike it when this thread isn't at the beginning!

Anyway, I posted a question in the K-1 Forum, but it seems that no one wants to answer my question, so here it is, hope you guys can help!!

Hey everyone,

I have a question about Part A, Question 10 of the I-129F. My citizenship was acquired through birth in the U.S. The next part says "Give number of certificate, date and place it was issued." Now- I know on the example form here it says just to include that if your citizenship was acquired through naturalization, but is that correct? I feel like I should put a number of my certificate (although it has a million numbers on it so I'm not really sure what number I woudl use anyway...) I just want to make sure that if I leave it blank, that won't cause an RFE. What did you do?? Thanks in advance for your help!

Thank you