Anyone else get a language test?

[Michael Smith 0]

My fiancee is Thai working in HK. She just had the interview and they noticed that she did not speak much English. By "not much" I mean damned near none. When they asked her how she talked to me, she told them that I spoke Thai. Evidently they did not believe her.

So three days after the interview I get a call from the Embassy in HK, while sitting at my desk at home working. The gal states that for purposes of record-keeping they need to know if I can speak Thai. (Yeah, right) She just happened to have a Thai speaking consular officer on the line who she passed me off to. We talked in Thai for about 10 minutes, and I guess he passed me, because she said that as soon as my fiancee coughed up the one birth certificate for her daughter we were short, she could have the visa. No further interview required, just show the birth certificate at the window, and drop off her passport. The Chinese New Year gets in the way, but we should have the visa in a week or so.

Has anyone else had a Consulate or Embassy call to check on language skills?

Regards,

mds

PS - Hope to be in the AOS forum soon! I GET TO GO GET MY GIRL IN TWO OR THREE WEEKS!! YEE...HAA!

[YuAndDan 153]

Yes sometimes that happens at the consulate in Guangzhou China, but they usually blue slip the beneficiary requesting a video of the petitioner speaking the language of the petitioner or spouse. Or video of petitioner, and beneficiary having a conversation in the beneficiaries language.

Consider yourself lucky that they had the courtesy of calling you and testing you, Guangzhou would have not done that.

[Detty2809 0]

Very interesting....they really are serious about verifying stuff, aren't they... *gulps* hehee, but anyways, congratulations!!!!

[bora bora 1]

Wow - I didn't know they did that.

Congratulations on passing, getting the visa, and knowing Thai!!

[SoL. 0]

Congratulations on your approval!

[Bill y Bella 0]

Congratulations to Michael and his fiancee on a successful interview, but this makes me wonder what would have happened if they discovered Michael could not speak Thai.

Would they have denied the visa because they considered a relationship where the two parties do not speak the same language to be invalid?

Would they have denied it for fraud because the fiancee lied about how they communicate?

Did anyone have any communication issues raised during their interview that did not have the same happy ending as Michael's?

Did anyone receive a visa when the beneficiary and petitioner did not share a common language?

[Michael Smith 0]

Consider yourself lucky that they had the courtesy of calling you and testing you, Guangzhou would have not done that.

I have nothing but good to say about the actions and professionalism of the US Embassy in HK. On three seperate occaisions I emailed them for information, and each time I got a response within 24 hours. It was not always the response I wanted, but they did not leave me hanging.

In addition, the woman consular officer who called me to test my language skills answered a few questions, and gave me her personal email address so I could email her if I had any further trouble. She is married to a Brit, and went through the same K1 process to marry him.

Overall a pretty positive experience.

Regards,

mds