Waiting for visa (split topic)

[nmvm 1]

I have a problem similar to mhubbard. My husband went for an IR-1 immigrant visa interview in the Kinshasa embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 7 2014. He had a receipt and proof of medical exam but not the results. He passed the visa interview and was told by the consular officer that he needed to return to the embassy the following Thursday at 1pm to submit the exam results. At the end of this interview his passport was retained by the consular officer.

He submitted his medical exam results on Thursday, April 10th 2014 and at this time was provided with a document that had the date April 24, 2014 stamped on it and a paragraph that basically said, "The embassy acknowledges the submission of supporting documents you will be called by the embassy when your visa is ready". It also stated that, "if you are not contacted by April 24, 2014 you must either submit additional required documents or follow the instructions provided to you at the time of the visa interview".

My husband is not required to submit any other documents nor was he given any instructions during the interview. I have called and e-mailed the embassy and he has gone back to the embassy to follow up. We were both told that his case was in administrative processing. He was told by an embassy employee that he would receive a call before April 24, 2014. Tomorrow is April 24th and I am a ball of nerves over this.

I must say I am really concerned because the embassy responds to e-mails a month after they have been sent to their consular e-mail address in many cases. I asked on March 12 via e-mail about the specific police clearance required for the city of Kinshasa and the medical exam packet so that my husband could be prepared for his interview and just today I received a response [16 days AFTER his interview]. My husband's interview was on April 7th! Furthermore, there are designated times for calling to ask questions about immigrant visas. The embassy workers never answer and it automatically goes to a busy signal after you select the route that you would like your call to take.

I am really worried that his case could be under someones coffee cup somewhere in that embassy based on this pattern that I have noticed.

My husband is not from Kinshasa he is from Lubumbashi, he has no one in Kinshasa and we are paying for a hotel for the waiting period. To make matters worse if you did not know, the only way possible to commute between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi is via airplane. So the cost of a ticket kills you on top of the hotel stay. In Kinshasa the only way to receive moneygram and western union is through a drivers license or passport. My husband does not have a drivers license and the embassy has his passport. The embassy just tells us to wait for the visa. This is insane!

Does any one have experience with this? Especially in terms of receiving a documented/form letter that indicates a date from the embassy that they claim you should hear from them by to collect the visa? Do they normally honor the date or is this just appeasement on paper? I am a wreck these days! Excuse the rant.

[sirius 32]

I would grill the medical doctor in this case, grill him hard. They charge an exorbitant fee for performing a nothing-medical exam (trust me, I know, Im an MD). And for him to forget to sign your papers or put them in order is highly unprofessional. I would definitely confront him & ask for a refund for such poor service. If he/she doesn't comply, I would write a strongly worded letter to the Embassy complaining about the hardship faced in an already tiring and frustrating immigration process because of this physician. CC it to the physician also. Of course, I would do all this after my visa is approved.

I don't mean to sound curt in my above post, but when you are paying good money for a service, you deserve better than what you got. Much better.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Posts split into separate thread for the following two reasons:

• Poster is asking about their own case and not replying to the OP of the other thread.
• Other thread is over 1 year old.