Visa Approved

[Loida and Ed 11]

Visa's Approved... thank god :)

03 Oct Interview... went very well at the embassy :)

We give special thanks to all of you for your continued support and guidance throughout our journey. Without VJ (and its active members) it would have been such a difficult journey to do alone...

About the interview day :)

We stayed at the Paragon Hotel ( its nice and the Jr suite can accommodate up to 4 but really can hold 20 if needed, its that big)..

Our alarm went off at 3:30 am yesterday.... We were up and at the embassy at 5:40 am ( fo our 7:30 am appointment). For the record, we wernt the first there, as their were maybe 100 others there already.

Of note, the embassy schedules non-immigrant visa interviews at 6:30 am so the majority (85%) of the people in line were there for non-immigrant visas.

We really got lucky hetting there early because we were in line underneath a protected area. Others who que'd up after us were left in the rain with umbrellas.

The whol;e package ( folder I put together to havd to the interviewer had to get opened and items pulled before we even got in the door (DS-156, 156k, 157). for sure have your photos attached to the DS156's... we used elmers glue the night before...

We needed to have our letter with the MNL number in hand along with some paperwork provided by St Lukes and the passport just to start the process.

We all got inside the embassy and after a hour or so they called for the biometrics ( finger scan, etc). It seemed like a hurry up and wait kind of thing. Loida and the kids got that done, and we then went and sat down to wait...

We were finally called by a filipina whom asked for the cenomar, nbi, birth certificates, etc and again these were pulled from my folder and given to her ( so much for me handing a nicely packaged folder to someone). She asked Loida and the children some questions and smiled and talked to me briefly too. The questions were pretty simple... like have u been married before, were u out of country before, do the kids find me pleasant ... things like that...

Again,,, we sat and waited, but it didnt seem tooo long. Our number got called up and we wll proceeded to an interviewers window where we raised our hands and swore to tell the truth... This time it was am anerican guy, who seemed real pleasant. No one was uptight and we all made it a happy time kind of interview with some small smiles and small laugh's He asked similiar questions to Loida and the kids, talked about their schools, grades, etc and asked myself some questions like how many times weve met , etc... It was all very casual.

We did get asked when we got Officially engaged... and Loida and I both turned to the other for the answer, and i think in unison we both said " i dont know, it just happened" ... He thought it amusing...

Once the questions were done, he said "Have a nice day".... then a few moments later he said to us "Congratulations, your visas approved, and safe journey " "with a real nice smile.

We were out of the embassy by 9:15 am....

If I had to do ANYTHING over.. It would be to have had each document (form) separate, labeled and stapled together...

Will log off for now... need coffee ( morning time here ) I hope this helps some !

Ed & Loida

[Tintin and Mike 127]

That's awesome, congrats!! :dance:

[wilfon 30]

Visa's Approved... thank god :)

03 Oct Interview... went very well at the embassy :)

We give special thanks to all of you for your continued support and guidance throughout our journey. Without VJ (and its active members) it would have been such a difficult journey to do alone...

About the interview day :)

We stayed at the Paragon Hotel ( its nice and the Jr suite can accommodate up to 4 but really can hold 20 if needed, its that big)..

Our alarm went off at 3:30 am yesterday.... We were up and at the embassy at 5:40 am ( fo our 7:30 am appointment). For the record, we wernt the first there, as their were maybe 100 others there already.

Of note, the embassy schedules non-immigrant visa interviews at 6:30 am so the majority (85%) of the people in line were there for non-immigrant visas.

We really got lucky hetting there early because we were in line underneath a protected area. Others who que'd up after us were left in the rain with umbrellas.

The whol;e package ( folder I put together to havd to the interviewer had to get opened and items pulled before we even got in the door (DS-156, 156k, 157). for sure have your photos attached to the DS156's... we used elmers glue the night before...

We needed to have our letter with the MNL number in hand along with some paperwork provided by St Lukes and the passport just to start the process.

We all got inside the embassy and after a hour or so they called for the biometrics ( finger scan, etc). It seemed like a hurry up and wait kind of thing. Loida and the kids got that done, and we then went and sat down to wait...

We were finally called by a filipina whom asked for the cenomar, nbi, birth certificates, etc and again these were pulled from my folder and given to her ( so much for me handing a nicely packaged folder to someone). She asked Loida and the children some questions and smiled and talked to me briefly too. The questions were pretty simple... like have u been married before, were u out of country before, do the kids find me pleasant ... things like that...

Again,,, we sat and waited, but it didnt seem tooo long. Our number got called up and we wll proceeded to an interviewers window where we raised our hands and swore to tell the truth... This time it was am anerican guy, who seemed real pleasant. No one was uptight and we all made it a happy time kind of interview with some small smiles and small laugh's He asked similiar questions to Loida and the kids, talked about their schools, grades, etc and asked myself some questions like how many times weve met , etc... It was all very casual.

We did get asked when we got Officially engaged... and Loida and I both turned to the other for the answer, and i think in unison we both said " i dont know, it just happened" ... He thought it amusing...

Once the questions were done, he said "Have a nice day".... then a few moments later he said to us "Congratulations, your visas approved, and safe journey " "with a real nice smile.

We were out of the embassy by 9:15 am....

If I had to do ANYTHING over.. It would be to have had each document (form) separate, labeled and stapled together...

Will log off for now... need coffee ( morning time here ) I hope this helps some !

Ed & Loida

Thanks for the letting us know how your interview went and CONGRATULATIONS! BEST WISHES.

[Pinkrlion 2,724]

Congrats Edited October 4, 2012 by Pinkrlion

[lkjj30 1]

Congratulations...

[jkelly07 120]

congratulations,

[velrich 50]

best wishes.