MEXICO, CIUDAD JUAREZ K-1 VISA - medical exam, interview & approval

[jessekins09 3]

so my fiance is telling me now that she is being told that she has to go to the medical exam without eating (en ayuanas) and i am telling her that it's not true and that if it were that it would say so in the instructions. do you know anything about this?!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Have not heard that it is required to fast for the medical. Who told her that? Hearsay is not always factual. She can fast if she likes, and grab something to eat after the exam, but I really do not think it is necessary. My husband did not eat before his medical, but that is only because you have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and he is not hungry that early in the morning, just sleepy

[JohnE 57]

No fasting needed. Elizabeth had her medical a month ago. She got up early that morning, got something to eat and got on the hotel shuttle and went to medical. No problem.

[jessekins09 3]

Well here we are in Juarez. We arrived in Juarez on Monday at 8am and went to the hotel (la quinta) and from there went to the clinic the medical exam. We arrived at 9:30am and she was out at 11am. I left her at the gate and went to the waiting area under the tent (i personally dont recommend waiting there. I went back to the hotel and returned an hour later and when I got back she was already out). At the gate they asked for her name and 2 contact phone numbers (I'm not exactly sure what for). She had to take her passport, invitation letter and vaccination record sheet. She went in. They took her picture and then went straight to the lab for blood test. After, you go to the xray area and they give you a gown. You take off you shirt (and bra for women) and put the gown on. They take the chest xray and your done. You then go to another area to wait (women with women and men with men) and you wait there in you gown (naked) and then the doctor will call you in. They asked her if she smokes, drinks, does drugs, has tattoos, has heart problems, any diseases etc. Afterwards they listened to her heart and that was it! She got dressed and went to the vaccination area where she simply said she was peitioning the K visa and they gave her a ticket and sent her to the window to pay. And that was it. Didnt take too long and was easy.

On Tuesday morning she had her ASC appointment. Her appointment was at 7:10am and we got there at 7:15 (the hotel shuttle SUCKS. They say they leave every 30 minutes but we waited and it never showed up so we walked). When we showed up they had just called for those with an appointment at 7:20 so she just got in line and they let her in. Once inside they check you to make sure you don't have anything you shouldn't. They took her picture, fingerprints, gave a paper with information to pick up her visa at the DHL office in Mexico City and told her what she would need for the interview and to arrive 30 minutes before her appointment. She was in and out in 20 minutes. I waited outside the Oxxo for her.

Today she has her interview. We arrived at the Sala de Espera at 6:15am. You wait in line and they check and stamp your papers (you need your invitation letter with the sticker for the ASC appt, medical results, DS260 confirmation page). The applicant sits at the front of the room and anyone waiting sits at the back. At 6:30am they took the group of people to the consulate. I am here waiting now. I will post the results later! Its hard waiting though. If you are going to be waiting take your phone, mp3 player or something to do to kill time. Oh and by the way, in some places you can get US cell service. I have tmobile and get tmobile service in my hotel room and happen to have service here in the waiting room.

[vicmar 0]

Well here we are in Juarez. We arrived in Juarez on Monday at 8am and went to the hotel (la quinta) and from there went to the clinic the medical exam. We arrived at 9:30am and she was out at 11am. I left her at the gate and went to the waiting area under the tent (i personally dont recommend waiting there. I went back to the hotel and returned an hour later and when I got back she was already out). At the gate they asked for her name and 2 contact phone numbers (I'm not exactly sure what for). She had to take her passport, invitation letter and vaccination record sheet. She went in. They took her picture and then went straight to the lab for blood test. After, you go to the xray area and they give you a gown. You take off you shirt (and bra for women) and put the gown on. They take the chest xray and your done. You then go to another area to wait (women with women and men with men) and you wait there in you gown (naked) and then the doctor will call you in. They asked her if she smokes, drinks, does drugs, has tattoos, has heart problems, any diseases etc. Afterwards they listened to her heart and that was it! She got dressed and went to the vaccination area where she simply said she was peitioning the K visa and they gave her a ticket and sent her to the window to pay. And that was it. Didnt take too long and was easy.

On Tuesday morning she had her ASC appointment. Her appointment was at 7:10am and we got there at 7:15 (the hotel shuttle SUCKS. They say they leave every 30 minutes but we waited and it never showed up so we walked). When we showed up they had just called for those with an appointment at 7:20 so she just got in line and they let her in. Once inside they check you to make sure you don't have anything you shouldn't. They took her picture, fingerprints, gave a paper with information to pick up her visa at the DHL office in Mexico City and told her what she would need for the interview and to arrive 30 minutes before her appointment. She was in and out in 20 minutes. I waited outside the Oxxo for her.

Today she has her interview. We arrived at the Sala de Espera at 6:15am. You wait in line and they check and stamp your papers (you need your invitation letter with the sticker for the ASC appt, medical results, DS260 confirmation page). The applicant sits at the front of the room and anyone waiting sits at the back. At 6:30am they took the group of people to the consulate. I am here waiting now. I will post the results later! Its hard waiting though. If you are going to be waiting take your phone, mp3 player or something to do to kill time. Oh and by the way, in some places you can get US cell service. I have tmobile and get tmobile service in my hotel room and happen to have service here in the waiting room.

So you didn't have to wake up super early to get in line for the Medical Exam? Every where I read it says people have to go super early around 4am to make line for the Medical Exam at the clinic. My husband has his appointment on a Friday and we are not sure how many days before his appointment we should leave to get his Medical Exam and Fingerprints done. My fear is not having enough time getting the Medical Exam done because of big line from what I have read. Is the hotel la Quinta far from the Clinic and Consulate? I would like a walking distance hotel incase shuttles don't arrive on time. Any feedback from you will help, since you where just there. My husbands interview is in October 11 and the Monday after that is a holiday so consulate would be closed for 3 days so Visa might get delay if one is granted. Did you wait for visa in Juarez in DHL and how many days did it take to get visa after interview?

[jessekins09 3]

Every where I read said that same thing but we didn't want to be there more days because of costs. I flew down to Mexico City to be with my fiance on Saturday (August 24) and on Monday morning we got up early and flew to Ciudad Juarez (left at 6:14AM and arrived at 8AM in Ciudad Juarez). When we arrived we had to pay 240 pesos to take a taxi to the hotel (the hotel didn't provide transportation FROM the airport, only TO the airport). We arrived at the hotel (La Quinta) around 9:00AM and they gave us a room. We left our suitcase etc and took the hotel shuttle to the medical offices. The hotel shuttle leaves every 30 minutes but to tell you the truth we hated the shuttle service because they never left every 30 minutes and we gave up on waiting and walked to the consulate etc. It isn't every far to walk....it only took us about 15 minutes but there are hotels closer. I do not remember the names, I'm sorry. There is one directly across the street and all you have to do is cross a bridge to arrive at the consulate, medical offices, etc. It's called Junior something and they were advertising $49 USD per night. (We paid $58 per night at La Quinta). There is also a Quality Inn or something like that on the same side of the street as the consulate like a 2 minute walk away.

We arrived at the medical offices and security had her take out the invitation letter, passport and vaccination card (you will not need any vaccinations or anything but security asks for it anyways so just have it). My finace went in around 9:30AM and was out at 11AM. It didn't take long at all. I wrote about the medical previously.

So to answer your questions, really, I do not know. We got there at 9:30AM and my fiance had no problems whatsoever with the medical and it didn't take long at all. And don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people. It's fast for K1 Visa applicants because there are no vaccinations needed and so when you get sent to that area you just tell them that you are applying for the K1 visa and they will give you a ticket that you take to the register and pay and you're done.

You can do everything in 3 days. I have heard of people who do everything in 2 days.
We did everything in 3 days. She had the medical on Monday, ASC appt on Tuesday and her interview on Wednesday and on Wednesday evening at 6PM we flew back to Mexico City.
You can schedule the ASC appointment in the morning (the earlier the better) and then go to the medical offices (a couple buildings down) for the physical and then on the 2nd day go to the interview and you're all done. We didn't do it that way because my fiance was too worried that she would need more time for the results of the physical (due to other people telling her things) but if we had to do it again we would have done the ASC and medical on the same day. We were so bored on the day of the ASC appt because it seriously took 20 minutes and she was all done.

He could go on Wednesday and do the medical, ASC on thursday and interview on Friday. (I will make another post about how my fiances interview went)

We did not stay to wait for the visa. We got approved and we are back in Mexico City waiting for it to arrive at the DHL office here close to my fiances' home. It should arrive this week and I will make a post later about it.

I hope this helps. If you need anything just let me know. I will be glad to help because I know that I most certainly wanted help and there is no better help than someone who has done it so recently.

[jessekins09 3]

MY FIANCES VISA WAS APPROVED!!!!!

We arrived at 6:15am at the Salsa de Espera and the group she was with was usher to the Consulate at 6:30am.
She did not come out of the Consulate until 10:15am.

For those of you who will be waiting for the fiance, I recommended taking something to do. You can wait in the waiting room OR you can stand outside of the Consulate at the exit and wait there. (I stood at the exit because I couldn't stand sitting in the waiting room and hearing the some recorded voice over and over and over again. After 1 hour I got sick of it and left to wait outside.) If you wait outside the Consulate at the exit, I guess you're not allowed to use your cell phone (honestly I do not know but security got mad at me and told me that I couldn't be on my phone and made me put it away).

THE INTERVIEW....

When you enter the Waiting Room they check your documents and give you a number.
Once inside the Consulate you sit down and wait until your number appears on the screen. You then go to the window it tells you to and they check all of your documents and verify your information. Afterwards you sit back down and wait until your number appears again. When it appears, you go to the window it tells you and this time it is for your actual interview.
My fiance was lucky and got an American and well he greeted her in English and she responded to him and he was like "oh, you speak English?!" and she responded "a little bit." She did the interview in Spanish. He asked her how old he is, how we met, how long we have been together, if she is in love, if she had any pictures of me, how old I am. More than anything he asked about how we met and she told him all of the details, showed him pictures of us that she had taken with her and then he looked at some stuff on the computer (we don't know what) and then said "OK! YOU'RE APPROVED!" and gave her a green piece of paper that gives the information to track the visa when it arrives at the DHL office etc.

That's about it. You really don't know how long the interview will take. I saw people go in AND come out with the approval paper because my fiance ever came out. Afterwards she told me that it just took forever for her number to appear on the screen again but really we have no idea why. She was called up the first time within 15 minutes of entering the Consulate.

It took awhile and it seemed like I was waiting FOREVER but the good news is that her visa was approved!!!!
Our plan is to leave on Saturday September 7 to California. We haven't purchased plane tickets still because nothing has been posted as to whether or not the visa has been sent to the DHL office yet or not. We are waiting and getting everything ready in the meantime.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Congrats! Hope you get the visa in hand soon!

She wasn't 'lucky' to get a USC though. They are Americans that conduct the interviews and are also fluent in Spanish. My husband said his CO spoke Spanish well enough, but his accent was distinctly one of someone that was not a native Spanish speaker. Foreign Service Officers for the DoS > http://careers.state.gov/officer/who-we-look-for

[jessekins09 3]

We were told that she was lucky because not all of the interviewers are white and we were told that the Mexican interviewers are harder on the people applying for visas (which I thought was weird) but that is what everyone at the Consulate told us. I talked with several people who have gone through the visa process several times with different family members as well as for themselves and that is just what they told us so they said "she's lucky she had a (white) american."

thank you. we hope to have it soon too. we keep checking the website to see when it arrives

[vicmar 0]

Every where I read said that same thing but we didn't want to be there more days because of costs. I flew down to Mexico City to be with my fiance on Saturday (August 24) and on Monday morning we got up early and flew to Ciudad Juarez (left at 6:14AM and arrived at 8AM in Ciudad Juarez). When we arrived we had to pay 240 pesos to take a taxi to the hotel (the hotel didn't provide transportation FROM the airport, only TO the airport). We arrived at the hotel (La Quinta) around 9:00AM and they gave us a room. We left our suitcase etc and took the hotel shuttle to the medical offices. The hotel shuttle leaves every 30 minutes but to tell you the truth we hated the shuttle service because they never left every 30 minutes and we gave up on waiting and walked to the consulate etc. It isn't every far to walk....it only took us about 15 minutes but there are hotels closer. I do not remember the names, I'm sorry. There is one directly across the street and all you have to do is cross a bridge to arrive at the consulate, medical offices, etc. It's called Junior something and they were advertising $49 USD per night. (We paid $58 per night at La Quinta). There is also a Quality Inn or something like that on the same side of the street as the consulate like a 2 minute walk away.

We arrived at the medical offices and security had her take out the invitation letter, passport and vaccination card (you will not need any vaccinations or anything but security asks for it anyways so just have it). My finace went in around 9:30AM and was out at 11AM. It didn't take long at all. I wrote about the medical previously.

So to answer your questions, really, I do not know. We got there at 9:30AM and my fiance had no problems whatsoever with the medical and it didn't take long at all. And don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people. It's fast for K1 Visa applicants because there are no vaccinations needed and so when you get sent to that area you just tell them that you are applying for the K1 visa and they will give you a ticket that you take to the register and pay and you're done.

You can do everything in 3 days. I have heard of people who do everything in 2 days.

We did everything in 3 days. She had the medical on Monday, ASC appt on Tuesday and her interview on Wednesday and on Wednesday evening at 6PM we flew back to Mexico City.

You can schedule the ASC appointment in the morning (the earlier the better) and then go to the medical offices (a couple buildings down) for the physical and then on the 2nd day go to the interview and you're all done. We didn't do it that way because my fiance was too worried that she would need more time for the results of the physical (due to other people telling her things) but if we had to do it again we would have done the ASC and medical on the same day. We were so bored on the day of the ASC appt because it seriously took 20 minutes and she was all done.

He could go on Wednesday and do the medical, ASC on thursday and interview on Friday. (I will make another post about how my fiances interview went)

We did not stay to wait for the visa. We got approved and we are back in Mexico City waiting for it to arrive at the DHL office here close to my fiances' home. It should arrive this week and I will make a post later about it.

I hope this helps. If you need anything just let me know. I will be glad to help because I know that I most certainly wanted help and there is no better help than someone who has done it so recently.

Thank you so much for your reply. Any info is very helpful since you been there already. Congrats on the visa hopefully my hubby gets approved as well. I wonder how many days after interview you can have visa in hand, hope is soon.

[vicmar 0]

Every where I read said that same thing but we didn't want to be there more days because of costs. I flew down to Mexico City to be with my fiance on Saturday (August 24) and on Monday morning we got up early and flew to Ciudad Juarez (left at 6:14AM and arrived at 8AM in Ciudad Juarez). When we arrived we had to pay 240 pesos to take a taxi to the hotel (the hotel didn't provide transportation FROM the airport, only TO the airport). We arrived at the hotel (La Quinta) around 9:00AM and they gave us a room. We left our suitcase etc and took the hotel shuttle to the medical offices. The hotel shuttle leaves every 30 minutes but to tell you the truth we hated the shuttle service because they never left every 30 minutes and we gave up on waiting and walked to the consulate etc. It isn't every far to walk....it only took us about 15 minutes but there are hotels closer. I do not remember the names, I'm sorry. There is one directly across the street and all you have to do is cross a bridge to arrive at the consulate, medical offices, etc. It's called Junior something and they were advertising $49 USD per night. (We paid $58 per night at La Quinta). There is also a Quality Inn or something like that on the same side of the street as the consulate like a 2 minute walk away.

We arrived at the medical offices and security had her take out the invitation letter, passport and vaccination card (you will not need any vaccinations or anything but security asks for it anyways so just have it). My finace went in around 9:30AM and was out at 11AM. It didn't take long at all. I wrote about the medical previously.

So to answer your questions, really, I do not know. We got there at 9:30AM and my fiance had no problems whatsoever with the medical and it didn't take long at all. And don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people. It's fast for K1 Visa applicants because there are no vaccinations needed and so when you get sent to that area you just tell them that you are applying for the K1 visa and they will give you a ticket that you take to the register and pay and you're done.

You can do everything in 3 days. I have heard of people who do everything in 2 days.

We did everything in 3 days. She had the medical on Monday, ASC appt on Tuesday and her interview on Wednesday and on Wednesday evening at 6PM we flew back to Mexico City.

You can schedule the ASC appointment in the morning (the earlier the better) and then go to the medical offices (a couple buildings down) for the physical and then on the 2nd day go to the interview and you're all done. We didn't do it that way because my fiance was too worried that she would need more time for the results of the physical (due to other people telling her things) but if we had to do it again we would have done the ASC and medical on the same day. We were so bored on the day of the ASC appt because it seriously took 20 minutes and she was all done.

He could go on Wednesday and do the medical, ASC on thursday and interview on Friday. (I will make another post about how my fiances interview went)

We did not stay to wait for the visa. We got approved and we are back in Mexico City waiting for it to arrive at the DHL office here close to my fiances' home. It should arrive this week and I will make a post later about it.

I hope this helps. If you need anything just let me know. I will be glad to help because I know that I most certainly wanted help and there is no better help than someone who has done it so recently.

I also think we would stay in a Hotel closer to the consulate and the one closer that I have seen and done research on is Microtel Inn. Just to be safe in case the shuttles don't arrive in time we could just walk. Every hotel has good and bad reviews so is just a matter of not knowing how it truly is until you get there.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

We were told that she was lucky because not all of the interviewers are white and we were told that the Mexican interviewers are harder on the people applying for visas (which I thought was weird) but that is what everyone at the Consulate told us. I talked with several people who have gone through the visa process several times with different family members as well as for themselves and that is just what they told us so they said "she's lucky she had a (white) american."

thank you. we hope to have it soon too. we keep checking the website to see when it arrives

Interesting. I have not heard that before. The guy that interviewed my husband was a USC and he was hard on him, so not really believing these rumors hold much weight.

Since it is a holiday weekend, do not know if that adds time to the wait or not, but usually takes 2-5 days. My husband got his in 3, and someone that interviewed on the same day he did got his in 4.

Not much longer for you guys! I know it seems time slows down towards the end when you are so close, but you will get there very soon!

[jessekins09 3]

THE VISA ARRIVED THIS MORNING AND WE ARE GOING TO PICK IT UP SHORTLY!!!!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Congrats!

[jessekins09 3]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to make a post and say that my fiance is now here in the United States with me!!! We arrived on Saturday September 7 in the evening.

The process through immigration was easy and went fairly quickly. We flew first class....we didn't buy first class tickets but, well, with a little luck and communication we got upgraded and it was nice to be the first ones off the plane and follow the worker to the immigration area. We got called right up the booth/window and I gave the lady my passport and everything first and then explained to her that I was bringing my fiance from Mexico with a K1 visa and we gave her my fiances' passport, immigration paper, and the sealed packet that came with her visa. She asked my fiance if she had anything to declare and she said no....

She asked where she would be living and I gave the lady my address....
and she asked some other questions but she didn't need to, she just wasn't very familiar with the visa and didn't know where to find the information and asked another immigration officer for help HAHA!
After that, we went to get her suitcases (we had 5 suitcases in total. 1 for me and 4 for her. 2 carry on and 3 checked bags. YEAH GUYS, WATCH OUT!!! GIRLS HAVE LOTS OF CLOTHES AND SHOES ) And I couldn't convince her to leave more stuff behind than she had :/ haha I was worried about paying taxes etc...
On her immigration card that we filled out in the plane they just told us to put $0 because it was a special case and I don't know what. Haha so that's what we did and we asked the immigration officer about it because we didn't want to get in trouble for anything and she said it was fine. So we didn't have to pay any taxes or anything.

We picked up her suitcases, turned in the customs paper and left the airport. It was super easy.

Now, just so you all know, we flew into the airport here close to my house because it's not super big and customs is SUPER easy. If I were to fly into LAX it would have been a different story. So, well, this is how it worked out for us but I can't promise you that it will be the same everywhere because airports are different. Also, we both just look so innocent hahaha

We are getting married on October 4, 2013 and well I do not know exactly what follows once we get married so now I need to research all of that. Good luck to all of you out there!! And if you have any questions I am glad to answer them as best I can.