Interview experience at Paris embassy

[shayrene 0]

Hello Vjers,

I wanted to post our experiences to help others as you have helped us through this process.

Background

Fiance is a French national, but his citizenship is in Togo. We applied in March and our case got recalled in the IMBRA fiasco. Timeline below:

Medical

Fiance did the medical the day before the interview. It is best to do it then so that you can have your results and plus it is alot of running around to different offices. The doctor's office, the place to get the x-ray, the place to get your blood drawn. He returned that afternoon to get his results. The fee was 160 euro and not the 150 euro that was on the embassy letter. He also did his vaccinations earlier. (He did not have his vaccination records so took them all over again) You will need tetanus and MMR (ROR in French)

Interview

My fiance and I arrived at the Paris embassy at 12:40 for his 1 pm appointment. They do not allow anyone in until 1 pm. (All K-1/K-3 interviews are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 1) We went through security where they take your cell phone and return to you after your interview. There were not alot of people there on this day. My fiance went up to the window to ask a question as to where to go. They told him that they will call everyone up to the window. (Since he was there first, his name was the first to be called).

He went to the first window where they inspected his documents. It really helped that I was there. They asked me for my financial papers. I told them I had the I-864 and the I-134 and which did she prefer. (My fiance's appointment letter requested the 864, which was different from others who had gone through Paris). I gave her the I-134. She gave us back alot of the papers that were extra. She asked me if I had my employee id on me. I did not, it was in my baggage back at the apartment. She also asked me if there was anything else I wanted to add. She did not look at any of our proof of a relationship documents. I guess because I was there.

She asked about the police certificates and the letter of intent to marry. We had prepared 2 letters. She took the one from me to update the old one she had from the first approval. However, she wanted the piece of paper that was included in packet 4 of the letter of intent. (which of course we didn't have). She went to the back and brought another one for him to sign. (BTW it looked just like the letter we prepared)

We went to our seat and waited for him to be called for the interview portion. FI went up to the window alone. They asked him these questions:

How and where did we meet?

What do I do for a living in the US?

What do you do for work in France?

Will your children be coming with you?

The CO called me up and asked me what I did for a living, where we met and how was I going to do since my fiance smokes. (Very weird that everyone asked about his smoking and living in the US as a smoker. They also asked this question at the medical and at the first window at the embassy)

We had gotten the Chronopost envelope that the embassy needed to mail your visa back to you. But it was the wrong size. You need the 2 Kilo envelope with the padding. The CO said that we were approved and to bring back another envelope. My FI did not hear this. When we left the embassy to go to the Post to get the envelope, he hadn't realized that we were approved. When we went back to the embassy and gave the envelope to the first lady, she said we would have our visa in 2 days. That was what my FI needed to hear.

USA Arrival, JFK POE

Visa arrived in 2 days with the passport, a sealed envelope, and the documents from the K1 petition. His brother and sister could not sign for it, he had to pick it up himself from the Post. We left for JFK on Tuesday on different flights. (Air France was tripping on the price of a last minute ticket, so he flew AA and I was on Air France). He purchased a round trip ticket on AA to JFK and a one way ticket to DC for 3.5 hours later. The POE was quick and he had a long time to wait after this. He said that JFK immigration is very efficient. They let him know where to go from the time he stepped off the plane. They took him to a small office. They informally asked him about me while they processed the paperwork. For example, When we would be married? They also asked him why he came through JFK if Baltimore is his final destination. He showed them his flight info for his connecting flight, which was sufficient. They gave him the work permit stamp on the I-94 in his passport. The immigration/customs took less than 30 minutes.

Hope this helps! Things to remember. Relax! Be patient! Be calm and don't look nervous. I wished we had purchased his tickets earlier so that we could be on the same flight and just changed it later if need be. But I am happy that we are finally together.

Now the long road ahead to AOS/EAD/AP.

[*julez* 124]

Congrats on your success!!!

[Delete This 0]

Congrats and Best Wishes

[MaryandMian 1]

Congratulations and best wishes for the next steps in your journey.

Mary

[RosaMystica7 0]

Congratulations! I'll give this link to my fiance so he can read it, he's been asking me questions about the France side of things lately. I'm glad to read about the JFK experience, too, as his POE will be JFK. I really wish I could be there for the interview with him, but I don't think I'll be able to. Anywho. Congrats, and thank you for posting this!

Edited December 7, 2006 by Angilla

[barryT 0]

Yes, Congrats.

I'm happy for you.

I'm also happy that I can finally say that I know how you feel. Cécile got here Interview Approval today.

Isn't it great!!

[forchika 4]

:dance: Congratulations to you both Shayrene, I am happy to hear that your interview was a success. I thought it was a bummer that you were not able to take the same flight back together but, I see you made it pass that. I wish you luck with the next steps in the process.

[felnfrank 1]

congratulations and goodluck on the rest of fur journey