Accra interview a semi-success

[a&o 4]

Hi!

First, thanks for all the good wishes and good vibes here on the forum. It really helps.

O's interview went well and he was approved pending a new police clearance certificate. The one he had had been corrected with correction fluid (the police people misspelled his name), but the consulate wouldn't accept an altered certificate. But at the time the police wouldn't give us a new certificate and told us that one would be fine. I thought this might be a problem but I ignored my instincts to just go in and do a new one (never ignore instincts!). So we had to go to the police headquarters and beg and plead with them to just redo the certificate rather than making us re-apply for it and wait the usual 5 working days. The police guy said he will do it. We'll see. We're supposed to go on Monday. (We'll bring another fat dash.) He has an appointment at the consulate to turn it in on Wednesday and then they will be able to issue the visa by Friday, they say.

The good thing is that O had a good experience with the American consular officer. He was kind and friendly. Here's how it went down:

- Arrived 7:00 for 7:30 a.m. appointment.

- Let in at 7:30. Sat for about 30 minutes.

- A Ghanaian woman then called his name and asked for O's papers. O asked which papers she wanted. She would not tell him. She was not friendly and didn't want to help. Finally O just gave her everything and she picked through it and tossed back the rest in a messy pile. She took the evidence of relationship photos, the I-134s, the DS-156, DS-156k, DS-230 part II, passport photos, birth cert, and police cert. She didn't accept the letter from my employer, my statement about finances, the extra stuff attached to the I-134 for me and for co-sponsor. (Which pissed me off because I carefully put it together to paint a better picture of the financial situation than just my tax return from last year shows!) She also gave him a DS-157 to fill out, but we had already filled it out, which was good, so O noticed that and turned it in. She then asked him if that was all he had. He asked her if there was somethign else he needed to give her but she just remained silent in a crabby manner. She just ignored him and drank her tea, then got up and left him at the desk.

- Ghanaian lady gave O a form to go and pay visa fee in cedis (950,000 cedis is supposedly the equivalent of US$100 in the consulate's warped exchange rate, I guess). He did have to pay in cedis.

- O brought receipt back to Ghanaian lady, who then told him "Sit down!"

- Then an American man consular officer called him to the window. He was very nice, friendly, patient. O was asked to swear to tell the truth, then he was fingerprinted (two index fingers).

- Questions asked were:

Tell me about your fiancee.

When did she come to Ghana?

Where did you meet her?

How does your family feel about your fiancee?

Was your fiancee married before?

Who is (my co-sponsor's name)?

Who is (my brother's name)?

Have you ever been married?

Do you have children?

What kind of work does your fiancee's parents do?

Where are you going to live in the U.S.?

How do your fiancee's parents feel about you?

Where does your fiance work?

What does she do for a living?

Why aren't your fiancee's parents the co-sponsor?

Are you going to miss Ghana?

Then he told O that everything was perfect except that the police report needs to be re-issued because it can't be altered in any way. O told him that they wouldn't give him a new one, but the consular officer said he should go and tell them he lost it so he needs a new one. The consular officer asked how fast O can get a new one. O then told him that we have tickets for 12 Dec. So the consular officer consulted with his colleague and gave him a date to come back (Dec 6) if we can possibly bring the new police report then. O has a yellow sheet asking for that police report. He said at that time he will be able to give him the blue paper that will be the visa issuance paper and then get the visa on 8 Dec.

So it's all good and at the same time when you're at the mercy of the Ghana police you can't really feel carefree! Pretty tight timing we have.... I'll keep you posted.

I plan to tell the police guy that we're going to come to his house to celebrate the holidays with him and his family if he doesn't get the certificate reissued.

Forgot to add that he got out by 11:00 a.m. I brought lunch and so did I but we didn't even need it!

Edited November 30, 2006 by a&o

[S&S 1]

congratulations

[akatagirl 0]

Congrats A and O! I was thinking about you both this morning and hoping everything went well....Am sorry to hear about having to resubmit another police report but once you guys put more dash on it I am sure it will go thru faster! Am glad that you were able to encounter a nice american consular office with the exception of that unfriendly ghanaian lady!

[Kanyiri 0]

Congratulations! Hopefully the police certificate will come on time as promised.

You're almost there!

[forchika 4]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! This should be over in no time almost to the finish line. Wishing you well that things go as you have planned and you will make your flight as scheduled. Thanks for keeping us posted on the outcome of interview.

Robin

[akim oda 0]

Congrats, I was praying for you guys. I hope you get the new police report soon. They'll do anything for a fat dash, right? You have me laughing about telling the man you'll be spending the holidays with his family. They asked O a lot of ?'s. Wouldn't the police know not to use white out? Shame on them.

I was reading an old post of yours advising someone to have 3 years of income tax returns, is this really so? Cos, I thought it was just 1 year. Also, I make about $21,000.00 a year, and I own a house with a value of about 140,000. I was told by someone that I will not need a co sponsor, to add, I have 2 sons (twins), as dependents, so that would be a total of 4 dependents, counting myself. Anyway, was just wondering if you had any information about this.

I am wishing you and O the best of luck dealing with the police, have faith and you'll soon be on your way to the US. Safe journey flighing home. You'll be in my prayers.

[sercontigo 1]

I am so happy for the two of you! Have a safe flight home!

[a&o 4]

Yaalisa,

I don't know where I read to have three years' worth of tax returns. I looked through the instructions and don't see it but I know it was somewhere.... Anyway, they took all three years' copies with the I-134 for both myself and my co-sponsor.

I think for a family of four you need to make at least $25k to meet 125% of the federal poverty level. Check the foreign embassy forum for threads on that. If your house is mortgaged I don't think the entire value would count as $140k in assets, but I am not too clear on this stuff. I think that if it's not too hard for you to get a co-sponsor, it would be better to be safe than sorry. Since you have kids they might scrutinize the financial situation a bit more.

Best wishes!

[zetku 0]

peace A&O,

congrads on the successful interview. i'm sure all will go well with the Ghana police, just remain humble with dash in hand. then enjoy the last days of hot weather in Accra!

safe travels and give thanks for filling us in on the details.

Edited December 1, 2006 by zetku

[LovinLiberia 0]

Even though we won't be going through Accra, it was a very nice and thorough read. I'm excited for you two and I wish you luck in getting the police report issue straightened in a timely manner. Congratulations to you and your fiance and have a safe trip home.

[masterpiece 2]

Congrats!!!!!!! Remember to go RED when u embark on the shopping spree........

Edited December 2, 2006 by masterpiece

[a&o 4]

We were able to get the new police report this morning...so now we'll be able to keep the appointment on Wednesday to submit it and O will have the visa on Friday, if the consulate sticks to their word.

We did dash, but the police guy actually tried to refuse the dash. Wow. The first time I actively and willingly dash and I didn't even need to do it. B)

[akatagirl 0]

Thats great A&O!!! Wow, they didnt accept a dash...must the spirit of the good will !!!! HOHOHo heeee heee!

Hope alll goes well with ur case on wednesday so you both can set foot on american soil and celebrate over here!!!! I am trying to work my magic thru connections and see if i can get my husband's interview date moved up! Wish me luck!

[a&o 4]

Akatagirl, I will be hoping and praying for you that you can get an earlier date!

Good news: we were able to pick up the blue paper (which is the slip that has the visa pick up date on it) on Wednesday and then on Friday were able to pick up the visa. O said several people who were assigned Friday as a pick up date were sent away and asked to come next week because the machine that puts the visa into the passports was not working properly. And one guy had been coming back for a month because his wasn't ready. This is also the point at which if you have to do the full fingerprints, they will tell you. So I guess we were lucky that none of this happened. I can imagine people would think they can make travel plans because they have the blue paper. (Like we did.) But nope...the wait can continue.

Whew! Glad this part is over. On to AOS.... But first we're going to relax, celebrate, and forget about paperwork for a few weeks!

[Kanyiri 0]

Yay! Congratulations! It's such a relief once the visa is in the passport!