DCF Seoul CR1/IR1 Approved! Helpful Information~

[AngelaHurry 1]

My husband and I had his interview on Friday (July 11) for his CR1 visa at the US Embassy in Seoul and were approved! We received a lot of helpful information from Visa Journey, so I wanted to write up our experience and post it here for others.

List of things we brought (underlined are the things they actually took):

*We attached all documents we could to a copy of it so they could take either the original or the copy*

Appointment confirmation

Two passport size photos of husband

South Africa Police Check with copy (took original and gave us the copy)

Marriage Certificate attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

Korea Police Check, attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

I cannot stress how important it is to have the “right” Korean police check. They detail the three things the check should cover in the packet three information so be sure to read that carefully. They mention it casually as if every police check comes with ‘expunged records’ included on it but you actually have to ask the police officer at the police station to please include this. We saw two girls get turned away because they didn’t have the right police check.

South Africa birth certificate, attached with copy

I864 with copies of my 2013 tax forms (1040 & 2555EZ), 2012 tax transcripts and copies of forms & copies of forms and 2011 tax forms

They took the I864 and the 2013 tax form copies. I was worried that they would not be enough because they specify they want your transcripts, but mine wasn’t ready yet at the IRS. They were happy just to have the 2013 tax form copies, which was a big relief.

Joint sponsorship I864 form attached to a copy of my dad’s 2013 1040, copy of his birth certificate, copy of her passport information page

They told me that if my income was good enough, that they would not need him as a joint sponsor, but they took the forms anyway. They never told me whether or not he is officially a joint sponsor.

Our Korean bank account statements from December-July

Our work contracts

Letter from our principal stating that we reside together at the residence the school pays for us

Pay slips from school for December-June

My proof of domicile. I had the papers all clipped together with a letter on top explaining that I had always intended to move back to America and the address of where we would live in America. This is what was included in my domicile:

Letter from my dad stating that we were both welcome to reside with him

Copy of the title to my car in America

Letter from family who I will be a nanny for part time

Statements from my American checking account

Emails from KEB Bank showing every time I had sent money into my American account

Credit card statements showing that my address was in America

Email notification of a course I took online to help me better understand human rights because I intend to apply for non-profit jobs

Letters from the alumni association of my high school in New Jersey thanking me for my donations the past two years

They took all of the domicile!

My husband wrote a letter detailing the steps he has taken to apply for jobs and the steps he would take upon arriving to avoid becoming financially dependent on the State. Attached to his letter:

Copy of his university degree

Copies of the email notifications from jobs he has applied for recently

Certificate for online classes he has been taking

Copy of his personal training certificate

Our experience:

They start letting people in at 7:30 and it is first come first serve because everyone has an 8am appointment time. We got there at 6:50 and were the third people in line so I would recommend coming no later than 7 because the line grew quite consistently in the time before the doors opened.

We headed to the second floor and “checked in”, which included a women checking my husband's passport and then headed to the 3^rd floor.

There is a number machine on the 3^rd floor so take one and sit down.

When your number is called they will take all of your paperwork. It’s important to have them all out of whatever binder or folders you have been using to organize them and in the order of the packet 3 checklist that they will email to you. It’s at this time that they will give back to you any forms they don’t want. They took the forms and asked us to sit down.

We waited about 30 minutes and my husband was called up to have his fingerprints scanned. Then he was given a payment paper and told to go to the cashier on the 2^nd floor to pay. The fee was $230 USD/241,000 KRW.

We then waited about a half hour more. We had read online that they try to weed out the people who don’t have the right paperwork first, so if you are not called for a while that is a good thing.

When we were called, I went up with him for the interview because we saw the people before us go up together. The woman asked us to raise our right hands and swore us in under oath. She then asked my husband when we got married and how we met and when we met. She then asked if we were both English teachers and we said yes. She then asked me what our plans were and I told her about my part time job I has set up so I could work while applying for more full time positions and how we would live with my dad. She then asked my husband about his rejected tourist visa in 2012 and he told her that he was told he didn’t have strong enough ties to South Africa or South Korea so he was denied. She then said she was sorry to hear that and told us our visa had been approved and that we would receive his passport within five days.

It all happened very fast!

In regards to the visa lawyers, we met two girls who were there applying for fiancée visas and they both were turned away because their lawyers had given them the wrong information in regards to what they had to prepare. I would suggest to do your own research in addition to using a lawyer/specialist.

Let me know if you have any questions! I would be more than happy to help!

[Sukie 1,464]

Thank you for the detailed account of your interview! Congratulations!

Sukie

[rok1213 1]

My husband and I had his interview on Friday (July 11) for his CR1 visa at the US Embassy in Seoul and were approved! We received a lot of helpful information from Visa Journey, so I wanted to write up our experience and post it here for others.

List of things we brought (underlined are the things they actually took):

*We attached all documents we could to a copy of it so they could take either the original or the copy*

Appointment confirmation

Two passport size photos of husband

South Africa Police Check with copy (took original and gave us the copy)

Marriage Certificate attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

Korea Police Check, attached to copy, translation, and letter from translator

I cannot stress how important it is to have the “right” Korean police check. They detail the three things the check should cover in the packet three information so be sure to read that carefully. They mention it casually as if every police check comes with ‘expunged records’ included on it but you actually have to ask the police officer at the police station to please include this. We saw two girls get turned away because they didn’t have the right police check.

South Africa birth certificate, attached with copy

I864 with copies of my 2013 tax forms (1040 & 2555EZ), 2012 tax transcripts and copies of forms & copies of forms and 2011 tax forms

They took the I864 and the 2013 tax form copies. I was worried that they would not be enough because they specify they want your transcripts, but mine wasn’t ready yet at the IRS. They were happy just to have the 2013 tax form copies, which was a big relief.

Joint sponsorship I864 form attached to a copy of my dad’s 2013 1040, copy of his birth certificate, copy of her passport information page

They told me that if my income was good enough, that they would not need him as a joint sponsor, but they took the forms anyway. They never told me whether or not he is officially a joint sponsor.

Our Korean bank account statements from December-July

Our work contracts

Letter from our principal stating that we reside together at the residence the school pays for us

Pay slips from school for December-June

My proof of domicile. I had the papers all clipped together with a letter on top explaining that I had always intended to move back to America and the address of where we would live in America. This is what was included in my domicile:

Letter from my dad stating that we were both welcome to reside with him

Copy of the title to my car in America

Letter from family who I will be a nanny for part time

Statements from my American checking account

Emails from KEB Bank showing every time I had sent money into my American account

Credit card statements showing that my address was in America

Email notification of a course I took online to help me better understand human rights because I intend to apply for non-profit jobs

Letters from the alumni association of my high school in New Jersey thanking me for my donations the past two years

They took all of the domicile!

My husband wrote a letter detailing the steps he has taken to apply for jobs and the steps he would take upon arriving to avoid becoming financially dependent on the State. Attached to his letter:

Copy of his university degree

Copies of the email notifications from jobs he has applied for recently

Certificate for online classes he has been taking

Copy of his personal training certificate

Our experience:

They start letting people in at 7:30 and it is first come first serve because everyone has an 8am appointment time. We got there at 6:50 and were the third people in line so I would recommend coming no later than 7 because the line grew quite consistently in the time before the doors opened.

We headed to the second floor and “checked in”, which included a women checking my husband's passport and then headed to the 3^rd floor.

There is a number machine on the 3^rd floor so take one and sit down.

When your number is called they will take all of your paperwork. It’s important to have them all out of whatever binder or folders you have been using to organize them and in the order of the packet 3 checklist that they will email to you. It’s at this time that they will give back to you any forms they don’t want. They took the forms and asked us to sit down.

We waited about 30 minutes and my husband was called up to have his fingerprints scanned. Then he was given a payment paper and told to go to the cashier on the 2^nd floor to pay. The fee was $230 USD/241,000 KRW.

We then waited about a half hour more. We had read online that they try to weed out the people who don’t have the right paperwork first, so if you are not called for a while that is a good thing.

When we were called, I went up with him for the interview because we saw the people before us go up together. The woman asked us to raise our right hands and swore us in under oath. She then asked my husband when we got married and how we met and when we met. She then asked if we were both English teachers and we said yes. She then asked me what our plans were and I told her about my part time job I has set up so I could work while applying for more full time positions and how we would live with my dad. She then asked my husband about his rejected tourist visa in 2012 and he told her that he was told he didn’t have strong enough ties to South Africa or South Korea so he was denied. She then said she was sorry to hear that and told us our visa had been approved and that we would receive his passport within five days.

It all happened very fast!

In regards to the visa lawyers, we met two girls who were there applying for fiancée visas and they both were turned away because their lawyers had given them the wrong information in regards to what they had to prepare. I would suggest to do your own research in addition to using a lawyer/specialist.

Let me know if you have any questions! I would be more than happy to help!

This will be VERY helpful when we get to this stage - thank you!!

We're still yet to start the whole process (filing of the I-130).... are there any specifics we should take note in doing this? Or any advice .

Any pointers/advice are welcome! ^^.

[tealsky 0]

Thank you so much for this! We applied with our attorney (regrettably so as I'm pretty sure she has caused us more delays than helped) and our interview is at the US embassy in Seoul in April. It says on the letter only my husband's name for applicants eligible fto attend the interview, I'm not sure if that means only he's allowed in the embassy, but I'm going to try to go and take our 2 month old son.

Did you apply directly to Seoul? As it seems the documents you provided are a little different., I haven't seen anywhere about poof of domicile. Should I prepare it just in case?

[SDinKorea 1]

Hello AngelaHurry.

I read your very informative post here a couple of years ago and now we are finally doing our direct consular filing for my Korean spouse now.

I-130 approved

DS-260 completed, signed and submitted.

My question for you is this:

Did you have to send any of the supporting documents to the NVC in the US OR did you make a visa interview appointment at the embassy and then bring the documents with you?

I'm suspecting the latter but some of the language from the embassy and state dept. has me confused.

It says from the packet that is may take 6-10 weeks (after applying for an interview) to be notified if she is eligible to schedule an interview appointment.

How did you schedule the appointment? By phone or internet?

I understand it has been 2 years and perhaps things have changed. Just curious to hear what your experience was regarding scheduling the interview.

Many thanks!

[OuseyB 1]

Hi All,

 

I found the OP's contribution really useful when going through the process for my own CR1 application. I wanted to share my experience as an update for 2017 Seoul DCF!

 

Our situation

• I am a UK Citizen married to a USC
• We married in Seoul in Feb 2016. We started the visa process in October 2016
• Both of us resided in South Korea
• Neither of us speak Korean

Responsiveness/key times:

• I-130 submission (in person) to Packet 3 receipt (via e-mail) was 2 days
• Interview slots were available after 3-4 weeks
• Passport with visa arrived the afternoon after the interview. 1 day!

Interview Procedure at the Embassy

• Enter before your interview (at least 15 minutes) and go to the second floor. There are two embassy staff members who you sign in with and provide passport photographs to. Take your appointment confirmation (which you need to enter the embassy) and packet 3 letter.
• You then move to the third floor which is a waiting room with windows.
• Interview took place about 1.5 hours after appointment (9:00am). They seem pretty relaxed about who gets seen when. It did not seem like a first come first serve process. In fact there seemed to be a process where certain categories of visas were dealt with in a block.
• There is a ticket machine but this is not used. Wait for your name to be called which will happen because you registered downstairs.
• The first step is to approach the booth and provide your documents. You will be given instructions to pay at a counter on the second floor. Card or cash.
• Return to the third floor with payment receipt and approach the window instructed. Somebody will arrive to take your payment confirmation and then you sit back down for the next time your name gets called. This will be the interview.
• My interview was simple. Questions were:
  - How did you meet your spouse?
  - Where will you live when in the US?
  - What am I doing in Korea?
  Then a joke and smiles about my wife taking me to Disneyland (which was in our 'story') and done!
• There is no interview room! It takes place at the window.
• Water available while waiting but consider taking coffee or snacks!
• I attended alone because my wife was at work. The packet 3 letter also did not stipulate she should be there. This posed no problem whatsoever! In fact if the beneficiary speaks good English or Korean (my interviewer was bilingual) I recommend they attend alone. It seemed simpler.
• Remember, only take a mobile phone and no other electronics! I forgot I had a Kindle in my bag and they wouldn't let me take it in or put it in a locker. I had to place it on a wall across the street. It was still there when I got back a couple of hours later....Korea

Observations

• Many people were turned away for the following:
  - Not having the correct police report (details below)
  - Not having W-2 attachments to the tax return. I took IRS transcripts and I recommend these (they are so easy for the sponsor to get). This is particularly important if your sponsor files jointly as the consular officer needs to split the income. Otherwise you will need a i-864 from each of the people named on the joint tax return.

Medical

• This was the hardest thing for me to do due to the language barrier. Not much English was spoken.
• I attended Gangnam Severance (one of 4 hospitals permitted in the packet 3 instructions (Packet IV))
• These instructions give a price range, 278,350-370,000 KRW but mine was the max. I think all of them are the max
• I paid an extra 50,000 KRW for vaccinations
• Process is as follows:
  - Enter and find the visa section (it's a sliding door....just so you know. Don't pull or push on it )
  - Give the staff there your packet 3 letter and fill out a form
  - Go across the hall and you will be examined for blood pressure, height and eyesight by a doctor. Then you change into a gown and go back across the floor.
  - You fill out another form and are sent into an adjoining office with a doctor. He spoke excellent English. I had my vaccination records so he inputted those and then checked my chest and asked a few questions. Things like AIDS, STDs, Drug, cigarette and alcohol use. Usual stuff.
  - You then get given a list of tasks. X-Ray, Urine and Blood Test, Vaccinations (if applicable). But first you pay
  - Go to the payment counter with the sheet provided by the visa section and pay. I'd ask for the receipt in Korean as this is then used at the various stations (I got mine in English and it caused problems)
  - As a warning the vaccination centre is not well labeled. It's actually also the chemo radiation therapy room so don't be confused by the cancer patients. You're in the right place! No English but grab a ticket and wait.
  - X-Ray and Samples were straightforward. Use the machine outside for a ticket. No English but it has a touchscreen which is pretty intuitive. You have a patient code on your sheet, and press buttons till you get an opportunity to enter it. Wait for your name to come on the screen and attend the relevant counter.
• Go back to the visa centre with all your tasks complete and you'll be told it's all done and ready. You'll be asked how you want to receive the results. I chose to pick mine up because of language challenges with address and phone number. They were ready the week after.

Police Report

• I got my police report from Gangnam Police Station. (Seoul Gangnam Police Station, 11, Teheran-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul)
• No appointment is needed. Approach the cabin by the entrance and you will be asked to fill out a form and provide a credit card as a deposit for a security pass. They will not take your ID because they want to you to keep it for the processing inside the station.
• English was limited at this stage but say 'Foreigner criminal records check' and they will understand and direct you to the right floor.
• There are signs when you get to the right floor (I think 8) and you enter a large office with a few desks to your immediate right which deal with foreign criminal record requests
• Ask for the the two criminal record variations. This is extremely important and sometimes hard to communicate. I attach two recent forms which I suggest you take. I also suggest you give them the Korean instructions in the Packet 3 e-mail with the relevant paragraph highlighted. Lapsed sentences are also important (see PC2.pdf) and this box must be checked.
• The first form is done at the desk on floor 8 by the team there. They speak really excellent English. You need a passport photograph and your ID. The second form is done downstairs and outside. I acted confused and a little nervous (not hard to do ) and one of the staff took me downstairs and went through the whole process with me. This was useful because the staff at the second stage spoke no English. Make sure you get both certificates in English, not Korean.

Happy to help with any further details as there's a ton of stuff not mentioned here. Feel free to ask questions.

PC2.pdf

PC3.pdf

[garcia0913 0]

How long did the whole process take in Seoul?

[VisaBound 0]

Toda,y we got our IR-1 at the Seoul Consulate.  The whole process for us was unusually fast It took 84 days from beginning to end.  I-130 took 3 business days to process.  Filling out the DS-260 and collecting documents for the final interview took 18 days.  The rest of the time was waiting for the interview.  As posted above the observations were spot on.  Generally a very efficient process.  We've done this once before a number a years ago (2012) and both of us thought this time was better.  Still stressful getting thing done and trying like the dickens to not make any mistakes.  In the end if you take your time ask as many questions as you can from many trusted sources you will come out on top.  All in all I would say both my wife and I are very happy by the way things worked out.