K1 Visa Interview at US Embassy Abu Dhabi

[Fari Pari 29]

On 2/20/2019 at 10:30 PM, Anna&eiad said:

2nd interview is 24 Feb. Checked ceac and now status changed to issued!!!

Congrats! Not sure why would they need a follow up in-person. 

 

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRafOne question we paid the visa fee online and printed the payment confirmation page. The instruction from embassy one place says to pay online and another says pay fee in cash at the embassy. Just want to confirm that he does not need to bring dollars to interview next week since the fee is already paid. Its bit confusing.

[Anna&eiad 84]

1 minute ago, Fari Pari said:

Congrats! Not sure why would they need a follow up in-person. 

 

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRafOne question we paid the visa fee online and printed the payment confirmation page. The instruction from embassy one place says to pay online and another says pay fee in cash at the embassy. Just want to confirm that he does not need to bring dollars to interview next week since the fee is already paid. Its bit confusing.

No you have the printed you will not pay anything at the embassy. Don't worry. So supposed to go back Feb 24 at 8 am for follow up.. But i got email saying it is in empost and have a tracking number. I checked ceac website and case atatus and it says issued. So in case he will go to the embassy tomorrow am.crazy really. 

Just now, Anna&eiad said:

No you have the printed you will not pay anything at the embassy. Don't worry. So supposed to go back Feb 24 at 8 am for follow up.. But i got email saying it is in empost and have a tracking number. I checked ceac website and case atatus and it says issued. So in case he will go to the embassy tomorrow am.crazy really. 

I mean status says issued

[Fari Pari 29]

16 minutes ago, Anna&eiad said:

No you have the printed you will not pay anything at the embassy. Don't worry. So supposed to go back Feb 24 at 8 am for follow up.. But i got email saying it is in empost and have a tracking number. I checked ceac website and case atatus and it says issued. So in case he will go to the embassy tomorrow am.crazy really. 

I mean status says issued

Thanks Anna

 

So the passport will be ready at Abu Dhabi Madinat Zayed for pickup? Still going in tomorrow? That is bit crazy. Best of luck.

 

When is he planning on traveling out? When is the wedding  ?

[Anna&eiad 84]

Just now, Fari Pari said:

Thanks Anna

 

So the passport will be ready at Abu Dhabi Madinat Zayed for pickup? Still going in tomorrow? That is bit crazy. Best of luck.

 

When is he planning on traveling out? When is the wedding  ?

Well all this delay I had to cancel our wedding venue and lose the deposit money. But I don't care anymore. Just ready for him to be here. Even if I just have something in the court I don't care. I told him to go tomorrow because I do not want anything else to go wrong. Ive changed the plane ticket 5 times in our 2 month delay..and there is a nice 16 hour nonstop flight Dubai to Dallas arriving march 9th. I live pretty close to Dallas and am planning a 3 day dun trip including Dallas, fort worth and Oklahoma. I will be happy to see if the visa is in the passport really.

[Strontium 70]

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to share our experience for others that come along and have to endure all of the stress that comes with this process, specifically for the process at Abu Dhabi. 

 

Brief time line:

Mar 22 2018 - I-129f sent in, front loaded with chats dating back to 2001

Sep 27 2018 - NOA2

Nov 04 2018 - Case received at embassy - "Ready" on CEAC

Dec 11 2018 - Packet 3 received via petitioner's email address

Feb 03 2019 - Interview, verbal approval

Feb 04 2019 - "Administrative Processing" on CEAC

Feb 05 2019 - "Issued" on CEAC

Feb 06 2019 - Email with tracking number for passports recieved

Feb 07 2019 - Visas in hand

 

Her daughter is 18 and lives in Philippines with grandparents.  We had no clue whether she could apply/interview in Abu Dhabi with the mother or she had to interview in PI.  No one could answer and the embassy would not answer the phone or reply to emails.  So, we said the worst that could happen is she's told to interview in PI and applied for her in Abu Dhabi.  She was already in Dubai on vistor's visa with mother.

 

The DS-160 was very aggravating.  For the mother, the education section kept disappearing and reappearing.  After a lot of searching, it seems that section is only filled out in certain countries (for females) and it seems the site couldn't decide what to show.  We just left it.  Nothing we could do since it was on their site.

 

When we finally received packet 3, the first available date for interview (after spending an entire weekend getting the DS-160's straightened out and the visa fees paid) was Feb 3rd so I scheduled it right away.

 

I asked her to write in her own words about the interview experience (for others, and myself  ):

 

Her Words:

 

 

Feb 3 – We went to the embassy an hour earlier to avoid long queue my interview time was 8 am, there were like 4-5 people ahead of us. It was a good idea to be there as early as possible as more applicants began to arrive.  Since Bag and mobile phones are not allowed my brother accompanied us to look after our belongings, although they keep mobile phones at the reception.

 

7:10 am – guards started calling applicants to make a line outside the reception area. Before entering the door we were asked for our appointment letter and passport. We went back to the line and allowed to enter by two’s.  After passing the security area, we walked through to the next building. Once inside the main building, we passed through one more body detector and then the guard gave me a token based on the visa type we were interviewing for.

 

8:10 am we were called and asked for our documents like the original passport, passport copy, original birth certificate and copy, payment receipt, police certificates, medical exam, affidavit of support.  We were asked to take a seat and wait to be called again for biometrics.  After biometrics we waited once again to be called for interview. The waiting was longer than the interview itself.

 

9:50 am We were surprised to be called right away for interview there were still three applicants ahead of us after the first one went inside a private room. I think they’re choosing which ones who’ll go for private interview. We were interviewed at the counter before the interview started we were asked to make an oath to tell the  truth, I was feeling nervous and awkward, applicants could hear the questions being threw at me. But I just I thought well we’re going to be having the same experience so I might as well just focus on the questions and not my surroundings.

 

Most of the questions were personal such as: my name where do I live, how long have I been in Dubai, his date of birth, where we met, his company name and work, where will I stay in the US, and my daughter was just asked with like 2 questions, her name and what she thinks of my fiancé.

 

The consul asked me to pick up the phone for some personal questions and reminded me of my rights. The consul asked if I have any chat logs, I handed over the chat logs  together with the pictures I printed. She commented “oh he already met your family”  She then said “looks good to me, congratulations your visa is approved”. She handed me this small white paper that says the same and told me that we should have my passport back in 3-4 working days.

Over all our interview experience was smooth. The consul was nice and all smiling throughout the interview. We finished at 10:05 am

 

End quote.

 

Good luck to everyone going through this!  I hope our experience will help someone who is worried about anything.  We were terrified about the possibility of needing to transfer the case to PI for the daughter.  From what I've read it could add up to a month to the process.  Thankfully, that wasn't necessary.

 

 

 

 

[GeeRaf 61]

17 hours ago, Fari Pari said:

Congrats! Not sure why would they need a follow up in-person. 

 

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRafOne question we paid the visa fee online and printed the payment confirmation page. The instruction from embassy one place says to pay online and another says pay fee in cash at the embassy. Just want to confirm that he does not need to bring dollars to interview next week since the fee is already paid. Its bit confusing.

We paid online and printed the receipt just in case. 

[Anna&eiad 84]

3 minutes ago, GeeRaf said:

We paid online and printed the receipt just in case. 

Yes thats what they did and they asked for it. 

[Greenbaum 12,259]

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 1:04 AM, Fari Pari said:

Congrats! Not sure why would they need a follow up in-person. 

 

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRafOne question we paid the visa fee online and printed the payment confirmation page. The instruction from embassy one place says to pay online and another says pay fee in cash at the embassy. Just want to confirm that he does not need to bring dollars to interview next week since the fee is already paid. Its bit confusing.

Paying once online is sufficient and therefore there is no need to pay again.

[Anna&eiad 84]

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

Paying once online is sufficient and therefore there is no need to pay again.

Went to follow up appointment which they said why did you come? And he showed them the email saying your follow up appointment in person is 8 am and the usvisa site where the embassy scheduled the appointment 24 Feb. And the reply? It must have been for someone else. Great.. Very organized . haha better safe than sorry. And now the owner is threatening to put a block on him. So I may have to change plans and change ticket again and won't know for a couple of days because the owner of the company conveniently decided to go to Jordan again and wont sign any paper to release him from his work contract still.  At this point I have cancelled wedding and nikkah plans (and lost the deposts already paid) and have no idea when he will be here or what to plan. Sorry. Just venting as I am frustrated. 

[Hphelp 28]

On 2/23/2019 at 8:07 AM, Strontium said:

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to share our experience for others that come along and have to endure all of the stress that comes with this process, specifically for the process at Abu Dhabi. 

 

Brief time line:

Mar 22 2018 - I-129f sent in, front loaded with chats dating back to 2001

Sep 27 2018 - NOA2

Nov 04 2018 - Case received at embassy - "Ready" on CEAC

Dec 11 2018 - Packet 3 received via petitioner's email address

Feb 03 2019 - Interview, verbal approval

Feb 04 2019 - "Administrative Processing" on CEAC

Feb 05 2019 - "Issued" on CEAC

Feb 06 2019 - Email with tracking number for passports recieved

Feb 07 2019 - Visas in hand

 

Her daughter is 18 and lives in Philippines with grandparents.  We had no clue whether she could apply/interview in Abu Dhabi with the mother or she had to interview in PI.  No one could answer and the embassy would not answer the phone or reply to emails.  So, we said the worst that could happen is she's told to interview in PI and applied for her in Abu Dhabi.  She was already in Dubai on vistor's visa with mother.

 

The DS-160 was very aggravating.  For the mother, the education section kept disappearing and reappearing.  After a lot of searching, it seems that section is only filled out in certain countries (for females) and it seems the site couldn't decide what to show.  We just left it.  Nothing we could do since it was on their site.

 

When we finally received packet 3, the first available date for interview (after spending an entire weekend getting the DS-160's straightened out and the visa fees paid) was Feb 3rd so I scheduled it right away.

 

I asked her to write in her own words about the interview experience (for others, and myself 😞

 

Her Words:

 

 

Feb 3 – We went to the embassy an hour earlier to avoid long queue my interview time was 8 am, there were like 4-5 people ahead of us. It was a good idea to be there as early as possible as more applicants began to arrive.  Since Bag and mobile phones are not allowed my brother accompanied us to look after our belongings, although they keep mobile phones at the reception.

 

7:10 am – guards started calling applicants to make a line outside the reception area. Before entering the door we were asked for our appointment letter and passport. We went back to the line and allowed to enter by two’s.  After passing the security area, we walked through to the next building. Once inside the main building, we passed through one more body detector and then the guard gave me a token based on the visa type we were interviewing for.

 

8:10 am we were called and asked for our documents like the original passport, passport copy, original birth certificate and copy, payment receipt, police certificates, medical exam, affidavit of support.  We were asked to take a seat and wait to be called again for biometrics.  After biometrics we waited once again to be called for interview. The waiting was longer than the interview itself.

 

9:50 am We were surprised to be called right away for interview there were still three applicants ahead of us after the first one went inside a private room. I think they’re choosing which ones who’ll go for private interview. We were interviewed at the counter before the interview started we were asked to make an oath to tell the  truth, I was feeling nervous and awkward, applicants could hear the questions being threw at me. But I just I thought well we’re going to be having the same experience so I might as well just focus on the questions and not my surroundings.

 

Most of the questions were personal such as: my name where do I live, how long have I been in Dubai, his date of birth, where we met, his company name and work, where will I stay in the US, and my daughter was just asked with like 2 questions, her name and what she thinks of my fiancé.

 

The consul asked me to pick up the phone for some personal questions and reminded me of my rights. The consul asked if I have any chat logs, I handed over the chat logs  together with the pictures I printed. She commented “oh he already met your family”  She then said “looks good to me, congratulations your visa is approved”. She handed me this small white paper that says the same and told me that we should have my passport back in 3-4 working days.

Over all our interview experience was smooth. The consul was nice and all smiling throughout the interview. We finished at 10:05 am

 

End quote.

 

Good luck to everyone going through this!  I hope our experience will help someone who is worried about anything.  We were terrified about the possibility of needing to transfer the case to PI for the daughter.  From what I've read it could add up to a month to the process.  Thankfully, that wasn't necessary.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations! When did you fill out the ds160? After the application was ready on ceac? Thank you!

[Strontium 70]

1 minute ago, Hphelp said:

Congratulations! When did you fill out the ds160? After the application was ready on ceac? Thank you!

Thank you.  Yes we started on the DS-160 after the embassy received the case.  You can download the completed form to upload again if 30 days runs out (DS-160 site will remove data after 30 days if you don't submit it).

[Greenbaum 12,259]

50 minutes ago, Anna&eiad said:

Went to follow up appointment which they said why did you come? And he showed them the email saying your follow up appointment in person is 8 am and the usvisa site where the embassy scheduled the appointment 24 Feb. And the reply? It must have been for someone else. Great.. Very organized . haha better safe than sorry. And now the owner is threatening to put a block on him. So I may have to change plans and change ticket again and won't know for a couple of days because the owner of the company conveniently decided to go to Jordan again and wont sign any paper to release him from his work contract still.  At this point I have cancelled wedding and nikkah plans (and lost the deposts already paid) and have no idea when he will be here or what to plan. Sorry. Just venting as I am frustrated. 

I'm sorry that you are experiencing all this "push back" from others. Just a little advice. Take a day to sort through things. Put items in order of what needs to be done. Leave the marriage plans till you have your visa. Your trying to eat an elephant in one bite and that you know is impossible. So small little bites will get you through the "meal". Good luck. Keep us posted on how you are doing and ask those questions that may come up from time to time.

[Anna&eiad 84]

5 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

I'm sorry that you are experiencing all this "push back" from others. Just a little advice. Take a day to sort through things. Put items in order of what needs to be done. Leave the marriage plans till you have your visa. Your trying to eat an elephant in one bite and that you know is impossible. So small little bites will get you through the "meal". Good luck. Keep us posted on how you are doing and ask those questions that may come up from time to time.

Yes I get the elephant thing but since the original interview was wcheduled back in January i thought mid march wasn't such a rush. Lol and we have the visa but trying to deal with getting out of the UAE work/resident visa/contract issues is the problem. Avoiding a future block to the country by this employer who is doing a good job at being a jerk is the problem. Yes.. As change of plans like changing the ticket and hotels when he comes are a priority. As I said I cancelled any wedding plans because I am trying to just get him here. So I'm not trying to rush any wedding or plan that at all. No worries. 

[Fari Pari 29]

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRaf How much chat do we need? Is last 15 days enough? Last two months of exported simple text chat is coming out to be 150 pages 😓

[Anna&eiad 84]

1 minute ago, Fari Pari said:

@Anna&eiad @Greenbaum @GeeRaf How much chat do we need? Is last 15 days enough? Last two months of exported simple text chat is coming out to be 150 pages 😓

I sent like 6 pages of chat and pages showing wedding plans.. Like the nikkah email discussion from imam in dallas and wedding chapel confirmation booking and the 6 pages of chats but I added like 4 screenshots to each page and printed. And I sent pics from thw additional trip 4 pics to a page for 4 pages. And 2 pages done the same way of screenshots of some video chats from different times/wearing different clothing. That's all.