Any experience with interviews in Auckland?

[kiwipete 18]

Following up my previous post. I just talked to/scheduled with CityMed.

They said for the eMedical it usually takes ~48 hours to get the documents to the consulate. With paper forms it's longer, but usually less than a week.

So she said booking the medical 2 weeks ahead of the interview date was no problem.

[Jacq1227 12]

I’ve been following this page for along time now. I’ve been DQ’ed last 20-Apr-23 and still waiting for the IL.

I was looking on the news on the US Consulate NZ website. I want to share what I found so that people waiting for interview schedules will know what to expect. I found out that they won’t do interviews on July and August.

 

Reference: https://nz.usembassy.gov/plan-ahead-apply-now/

 

 

[chevin 11]

Hi everyone, for the documents to be submitted to the consulate a week prior. Are you also getting your copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates etc notarised or signed by JP? I am aware we also need to provide originals too.

 

Thanks!

 

Also @Jacq1227 thank you for the helpful information above

[kiwipete 18]

I have a question about the pre-interview pack (IR1 visa) that I'm planning to drop off this week.

 

I saw a few posts mentioning to include a self-addressed courier envelope, but I can't find this instruction anywhere in the correspondence from NVC/ACK, or on the ACK pre-interview document instructions. Does anyone know if it's required?

[MaliceDaMeanest 12]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:55 PM, chevin said:

Hi everyone, for the documents to be submitted to the consulate a week prior. Are you also getting your copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates etc notarised or signed by JP? I am aware we also need to provide originals too.

 

Thanks!

 

Also @Jacq1227 thank you for the helpful information above

@chevin I got my copies certified just to be on the safe side, though it might not have been required.

 

On 5/7/2023 at 7:38 PM, kiwipete said:

I have a question about the pre-interview pack (IR1 visa) that I'm planning to drop off this week.

 

I saw a few posts mentioning to include a self-addressed courier envelope, but I can't find this instruction anywhere in the correspondence from NVC/ACK, or on the ACK pre-interview document instructions. Does anyone know if it's required?

 

@kiwipete Hopefully you sorted this but if memory serves me correctly you might be able to pay for the courier services there (I think I saw it on display there when I went for my interview), but I supplied mine while dropping off the documents, and got back the passports in in it.

[kiwipete 18]

@MaliceDaMeanest thanks - picked one up just to be safe. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, it's quite a stack of paper

[MaliceDaMeanest 12]

On 5/15/2023 at 4:07 PM, kiwipete said:

@MaliceDaMeanest thanks - picked one up just to be safe. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, it's quite a stack of paper

Cool - I'm pretty sure you'll get back every single piece of paper - I did 😁

[chevin 11]

Hi! @MaliceDaMeanest and @kiwipete thanks for your help! Just had my interview today all went well!

I can confirm they do need the courier bag so good you got one @kiwipete! however for those who didn’t include it in the pack, don’t worry You can bring it on the day of the interview or if you don't have one at the time too they told some of us we could go to the dairy at Britomart which sells postal bags, they could buy one after the interview and just put it in the immigrant visa mailbox so they can use that to ship your passport back to you. They were understaffed today so we couldn’t buy one there today but I think usually you’d be able to!

 

If anyone’s worried about the questions don’t worry! They’re so nice and didn’t ask me much overall I think I was in line for 40 mins but the interview only took about 2 minutes. Here’s a few questions I can remember:

1) who’s your petitioner?

2) who is he to you? (I just said his name so they followed up with this)

3) when did you meet?

4) did you start dating right away?

5) how did you manage long distance?

6) how long have you been together for?

7) what made you want to get married?

8 ) what’s his job? Which company? US OR NZ?

9) what do you do?

10) where are you planning on staying in the states?

11) when do you plan to move? (Reminded me that we need to move within 6 months if when the medical was taken)?

12) what work did you do while on a J1?

 

Then I had a mini freak out because she said we might need a joint sponsor because my husband was currently working for an NZ company and not US but thankfully it was all ok in the end as he had some investments and I just pointed to where the documents were in the package.

 

Wishing you all the absolute best next week! ❤️❤️❤️

[kiwipete 18]

@chevin thanks so much for posting the follow-up. It's very informative, but also so nice to have a recent experience posted for knowing what to expect.

 

An update from me. Yesterday I had the medical exam at CityMed (9am) and dropped off the documents to the Consulate before (8am). I'll post a detailed recount -- never know which little piece of info someone might find useful (like I have - thanks everyone!)

 

Rescheduling medical:

• I originally had it scheduled last week, but my flight to AKL was canceled. Rescheduling with CityMed for this week was no problem, but they mentioned the US immigration medical can be one of the trickier ones to schedule because they need nurse, doctor, and radiography appointments to be available all together. That said, I got the day I wanted.
• Time required before interview -- they use digital forms. Everyone advised that it takes about 2-3 days for the test results to come back, and for them to be sent to the consulate. My (rescheduled) medical was 8 days before my interview; everyone seemed to think that would be more than enough time.

Accommodation, etc:

• I stayed at the Rydges on Federal Street. Price was OK, ~170 NZD. I joined the 'PriorityGUEST' rewards club when I booked on the website. It was free to join, got me a few $ off the booking, and 20% of food/drink (although the meals at the hotel were a bit spendy so I didn't end up going there).
• I caught the SkyDrive bus. $17 each way. Goes from the Auckland Airport domestic terminal to the Skytower (2 blocks from the Rydges). Can book ahead online (same price) or the driver has an EFTPOS machine and most people were just paying by Paywave as they got on the bus. Double-decker bus, lots of room for people & bags, very comfortable.
• There is an NZ Post (for the oft-mentioned courier bag) on Wellesley St West. It doesn't look like it from the street (esp. with construction) but it's there. You go down an alleyway - if you're on Wellesley St West looking at the Wellesley Centre, it's on the left. Go down the alley and the shop is on the right. It's small, but has the bags.

Dropping off documents:

• Arrived early, about 7:45am. The security guard was there  but no-one else. As you turn left out of the elevator, there are 2 drop boxes against the far wall - one for immigration documents. I think this is probably where you drop the documents, but I wasn't sure (and didn't want to put the pack with all the original certificates etc. in the wrong place!) so I asked the security guard. He just ended up taking the packet, scanning it through the x-ray machine, and saying he'd sort it out. Easy drop-off.

Medical:

• Got in ~20 mins early to fill in paperwork. The paperwork was just a general CityMed registration form, no extensive background questions at this point. Handed it back and they said to go to Waiting Room 1.
• Appointment was scheduled 9am, got seen ~9:10am.
• First stop was nurse #1:
  • Passport
  • Quick eye test (I normally wear glasses but asked to try without, we went to the second-from-bottom row and he called that a pass).
  • Took height, weight.
  • Took a urine sample. Bit awkward because you have to walk through the waiting room to get to/from the bathroom, but what are you gonna do. Trickiest part was washing hands while trying not to drop the tube.
  • I think this was where I got the test forms to take to each person (some wanted them, some didn't).
• Nurse sent me to Dr. Donna:
  • Wanted to see record of vaccines - couldn't accept the print-out from MyHealth because it didn't have my name on it. I logged into MyHealth on my phone and showed her it matched up, that was fine. I had printed test results for Varicella that I got a few weeks ago because I had no proof of having had chickenpox. This did have my name on it and was fine. I also happened to have my Plunket book with vaccination records in it - she got reception to photocopy it and write my name on it. Apparently they have recently received an update about COVID vaccines. Her understanding was only 2 are required, but offered me the 3rd booster (was behind). I have a flu vaccine from July 2022 (so within the year) but they wanted a current one. Fortunately (at least in this case) I'm an asthmatic so these were both free.
  • Asked some medical history questions - mainly concerned with gonorrhea, syphilis, TB, and mental illness as far as I could tell. Asked about smoking, not much about family history. Controlled asthma was fine.
  • Physical test - stripped down to undies (a sheet was offered). Pretty brief, maybe 3 mins. Poked some organs, checked pulse, ears, eyes, tongue. No jumping jacks or anything like that.
  • Back to waiting room #1
• Nurse #2:
  • Top-up jabs (current flu, and COVID booster)
  • Draw blood for blood tests
• Then down to radiology for
  • Chest Xray - waited for maybe 5 mins, then about 1 minute having the Xray taken

All done.

 

Total time - arrived 8:40am (early), left 10:40am.

 

Hope that's helpful, happy to answer any questions!

[sabby_nay 4]

Hello everyone! 
This thread is exceptionally helpful and want to let everyone know that our Cr1 visa approved today . 
 

Good luck to everyone and God Bless. 

[chevin 11]

48 minutes ago, sabby_nay said:

Hello everyone! 
This thread is exceptionally helpful and want to let everyone know that our Cr1 visa approved today . 
 

Good luck to everyone and God Bless. 

YAY! Congratulations @sabby_nay!
Sending good wishes to everyone else who had their interviews today or are having it soon!

For anyone who recently interviewed and worried about their status on the CEAC visa website not updating yet, don't worry too much if the status is "administrative processing" for about 2 days. This will be updated to "issued" once they ship your passport out! They shipped it out on Friday and I got my passport back the following Monday after my interview(based in AKL) so it may take a few more days for other locations 

 

I also wanted to check with anyone who has already flown in to the USA or plans to fly into the states (This may not be the right thread so feel free to direct me to the right one), has anyone recently gone through Honolulu Airport for first point of entry with their CR1/IR1? I'm currently deciding between arriving at HNL or SFO as a layover and wanted to see anyone's recent experiences with customs there?  

Thank you!

[MaliceDaMeanest 12]

22 hours ago, chevin said:

YAY! Congratulations @sabby_nay!
Sending good wishes to everyone else who had their interviews today or are having it soon!

For anyone who recently interviewed and worried about their status on the CEAC visa website not updating yet, don't worry too much if the status is "administrative processing" for about 2 days. This will be updated to "issued" once they ship your passport out! They shipped it out on Friday and I got my passport back the following Monday after my interview(based in AKL) so it may take a few more days for other locations 

 

I also wanted to check with anyone who has already flown in to the USA or plans to fly into the states (This may not be the right thread so feel free to direct me to the right one), has anyone recently gone through Honolulu Airport for first point of entry with their CR1/IR1? I'm currently deciding between arriving at HNL or SFO as a layover and wanted to see anyone's recent experiences with customs there?  

Thank you!

Just to add, don't lose faith if the passport is not sent out on the Friday immediately following the interview, as mine was sent out 2+ weeks after said interview even though the visa was "issued" the day after the interview. 

[kiwipete 18]

Had the interview last Wednesday, but got caught out by a missing field on the I-864 form (affidavit of support). Our joint/financial sponsor is retired so selected retired and didn't fill out the Annual Income. We are doing it based on income as opposed to assets because he still has some income from his business, and thought tax returns would be easier than getting all the proof of assets together (possibly not at this point). Silly mistake I should have caught, oh well.

Fortunately the Consular Officer said everything else was good so they held on to my passport and asked me to resubmit the form. Resubmitted the same afternoon, and now we wait (at least we're getting good at that part!). Unfortunate timing with them being closed on the last Friday of the month, and then Memorial Day yesterday. Hopefully that's the last thing that needs to be sorted -- been apart from my wife & 2 year old for 2 months now, so hopefully not too much longer 🙁 ... or at least I get my passport back so I can visit them.

Edited May 30, 2023 by kiwipete
add detail

[kiwipete 18]

On 5/24/2023 at 4:54 PM, chevin said:

YAY! Congratulations @sabby_nay!
Sending good wishes to everyone else who had their interviews today or are having it soon!

For anyone who recently interviewed and worried about their status on the CEAC visa website not updating yet, don't worry too much if the status is "administrative processing" for about 2 days. This will be updated to "issued" once they ship your passport out! They shipped it out on Friday and I got my passport back the following Monday after my interview(based in AKL) so it may take a few more days for other locations 

 

I also wanted to check with anyone who has already flown in to the USA or plans to fly into the states (This may not be the right thread so feel free to direct me to the right one), has anyone recently gone through Honolulu Airport for first point of entry with their CR1/IR1? I'm currently deciding between arriving at HNL or SFO as a layover and wanted to see anyone's recent experiences with customs there?  

Thank you!

We've been through there a couple of times recently, once on a visitor visa as a family, and my wife and son recently (both US citizens). Immigration was straight forward, and lines in my experience a bit shorter than SFO (I lived in SF on a work visa previously, so went through immigration there a few times). The SFO lines vary a lot depending on which long-haul flights arrive at the same time/before you. For HNL the issue (from what I remember) is it's a bit of a hike between the international/domestic terminal, so you just need to factor in that time + immigration time if you have a short time between connections. This is mainly relevant if you're booking something like NZAA-KHNL-KOAK - my wife did this recently with our son and they just made it through customs etc. and to the domestic flight. If my visa's approved, I'm planning to go that way (NZAA-KHNL-KOAK) but going to try and book the domestic flight separately to get a longer connection.

Edited May 30, 2023 by kiwipete

[kiwierin 9]

3 hours ago, kiwipete said:

Had the interview last Wednesday, but got caught out by a missing field on the I-864 form (affidavit of support). Our joint/financial sponsor is retired so selected retired and didn't fill out the Annual Income. We are doing it based on income as opposed to assets because he still has some income from his business, and thought tax returns would be easier than getting all the proof of assets together (possibly not at this point). Silly mistake I should have caught, oh well.

Fortunately the Consular Officer said everything else was good so they held on to my passport and asked me to resubmit the form. Resubmitted the same afternoon, and now we wait (at least we're getting good at that part!). Unfortunate timing with them being closed on the last Friday of the month, and then Memorial Day yesterday. Hopefully that's the last thing that needs to be sorted -- been apart from my wife & 2 year old for 2 months now, so hopefully not too much longer 🙁 ... or at least I get my passport back so I can visit them.

Hey @kiwipete

 

We had a similar issue with the affidavit of support. We did it based on income, but since my partner only has foreign earned income here in NZ, we had to provide proof of assets. We uploaded the documentation the same day to CEAC and the officer kept my passport as well which is a good sign! 
 

When I went on the case tracker our status it still says Administrative Processing. Interested in hearing when everyone else’s status changes to issued and when their passports are shipped out! We’ll keep everyone up to date too. 🤞🏼🤞🏼