My visa journey

[MarianaCastro 4]

Hi, as many of you are going through the same situation I went through to obtain my residence card I wanted to share my journey & experience because I'm sure alot of you are just as nervous & wanting to have every single thing correctly as I was. My journey started on Feb 12th my husband & I drove to El Paso airport to leave our car in the long term parking they charge $5 a day we wanted to drive our car to Ciudad Juarez but we had heard a few stories about how it wasn't safe & we shouldn't take our car so that's why we decided to leave it at the airport when we parked  we then looked for a taxi driver we wanted someone who was able to cross us from the US into Mexico we found one who crossed us for $80 & took us to our hotel. We arrived at Microtel inn hotel the room was nice, clean everything worked the tv had alot of diff cable channels we enjoyed our stay there. The next day the Feb 13th I had my fingerprint & visa photo appointment I arrived around 2:10 & my appointment was until 2:40 they have a clock outside that changes every 10 mins when your time is put up you get in a line & a guy starts letting you in all they asked me for was my passport & my fingerprint appointment sheet my lawyer had given me it went by pretty quick about 10mins, when you go inside your phone has to be completely off you go through security & then they check your paperwork & tell you where to sit after that another guy tells you what window to go too & you get your finger prints & photo taken make sure you look nice bc that's the picture that will be on the visa & residence card. We had the rest of the day off & we went walking to the mall it was okay they have diff stores.. a few diff food places we tried the taco inn it was pretty good. The next day Feb 14th I had my medical exam appointment early at 6am we arrived around 5:45am & there they check your interview date paper...inside they do an eye & physical test as well as an x-ray, blood & urine exam if you need vaccinations they will let you know which ones you need & there they will put them on you, please be aware the medical exam can be pricey we paid $441 US dollars that included the exam & vaccination i received. Around 3:30 in the afternoon that same day they had my medical exam ready in a black sealed packet be aware you cannot open that packet!! They will ask you for that at the US consulate the day of your interview.. for the rest of the day we walked around the area we went to a taco place called tacos locos highly recommend that place it was really good. The next day was the big day my interview day! Feb 15th my appointment was scheduled for 9:15 i showed up at 8:30 there was alot of people outside when I got there on one side were all the family members of the people with scheduled interviews waiting on them.. when you go inside you go through security first no cell phones allowed they give you a paper with a # on it then you walk into another room full of chairs after that they take you inside another building where you then are Sat down again & called to get in line so they can check all your paperwork all they asked me for was my medical exam packet, marriage lisence, birth certificate, criminal record paper & 2 5×5 photos after that they mark your ticket paper w either a black or green marker I'm not to sure what that means but mine was marked with a black marker & you go back outside to sit down in chairs then they take you inside the same building again & sit you down for the interview process they ask you to get in another line to wait your turn to be interviewed, after a few mins of waiting in line it was my turn I took a deep breath & walked to the window i got a male officer he asked me about 6-7 questions & then gave me the great news my visa had been approved I was extremely happy even teared up he gave me a green sheet where it gave me info on how I could look for my tracking number to obtain my visa packet. It took about a week for my visa to arrive after my interview date I was so excited it had finally arrived we picked it up & were able to cross the border back to the USA that same day at the border you go into the immigration offices & an immigration officer opens up the sealed packet & stamps your visa to be able to cross back you will receive a paper with instructions on how to order your residence card and the fee I was in Ciudad Juarez almost 2 weeks for my whole process to be complete so be patience when you are over there. I hope my journey helps other & I wish ya the best of luck.