JaredAndAna

For maximum effect I recommend watching the movie Sicario before going. But seriously, don't do that.

Updating to say we finally broke through...K1 is in hand!

Updating this thread to say we picked up Ana's K-1 visa today and will hopefully never have to go back to Juarez again!

Thank you! Ana's birthday is in three days so we could not have dreamed for a better present!

We picked up Ana's K-1 today! So everything went pretty fast after we dropped off the final round of paperwork at the consulate in Juarez.

Hi, yes, I am the same person. Let's keep our conversation here as this is probably most visible to folks experiencing the same as we are. I am happy to talk to you on the phone if you want. That may make this all easier to explain. You update the DS-160 online. Our lawyer helped us with this. I encourage you to do the same. This was the form you filled out immediately before the medical/interview. Your fiancee would have brought the confirmation page with a bar code printed on it to get admitted to the consulate for her interview. The problem that held us up was paying the DS-160 fee again ($185 I think) - this expired after 12 months. The first time it was easy to do that through the appointment scheduling website. But there's no way to do it a second time. The website thinks you're still at the "go to the interview" stage and there's no way to reset it. You are correct in your summarization of the documents needed, at least in our case. And yes, the process I encourage you to do is first the medical, then go to the window with the documents and hope that saves you from going back a third time. What happened to us was that we went back to Jaurez to retake the medical and had no idea what to do next. We went to the info window the day after the medical retake and they told us to go home and gave us info that made us think we could sort it out. Turns out we couldn't do that (back to the DS-160 repayment block). It took me doing the public inquiry to the consulate to figure out we had to go back for a third time. So what I want to tell you is to come prepared given what we learned. Be prepared to bring those documents to the info window the day after the medical retake (currently only open Tuesday and Thursday mornings). Pay the DS-160 fee again inside the consulate. And then go back outside to the window again and drop off the documents. Hope this helps. If you want to chat, send me a DM, we can talk.

Adding my recent experience with this as a couple also dealing with the same, although a year later. I've let the OP know what we've been through but I also want to post here in the hope it will help others in the future. This has been a frighteningly confusing process with very little information available that seems relevant in recent years. My fiancee was not asked to do routine testing. We confirmed this through the clinic. Per our blue slip she was not found by the medical psychologist to be a drug abuser. It simply stated she was blocked for a year due to use of a controlled substance. I do not think there is a single process here - certain people may be asked to follow processes like routine testing or not given the finding of the medical staff. We went back this January (a year after her original failed medical) and it seems all went well. She had to do a full redo of the medical and meet with the psychologist again. It was the same person. She was grilled, again, but she had supporting evidence from her own therapist stating she was clean and healthy (along with a clean drug test from the medical obviously). In the end we got back the sealed packet later that day. What happened next was a pain - conflicting information and no real way to resolve things without a third trip to the consulate. Because it had been more than a year, we were denied again based on an incomplete application. We had to pay (again) the DS-160 fee for the K-1 visa and deliver an updated passport photo, letter of intent to marry, updated DS-160 form, a new federal police report, and her passport. After the second medical (our second trip to Juarez) we went to the info window and were told we could do all of this without coming back to the consulate. This is not true. There was no way to pay the DS-160 a second time via the appointment scheduling website. Eventually I got a response from the consulate via a public inquiry that made it clear we had to go back in person. We just did this last week and are now waiting to hear back. I would recommend to anyone about to go back for their second medical that they bring all of the paperwork I mentioned above in the hope it will save them a third trip to CDJ. If we'd known, if the guy at the info window had known, we could avoided a 6 week delay and another expensive trip to the wonderful 🤮 city of Juarez.

Oh and I bookmarked that google form if you need it again - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVfgiNz1651bJFw8-3cSF2IBMIwXMZpUF3CodoSIhc6XW3SQ/viewform

Our lawyer was the same, clueless as to this process. If I had to do it all over again I'd find lawyer in El Paso with hands on experience with the Juarez consulate. Of course going into this we had no idea we'd end up going to Juarez in the first place. Our blue slip didn't sound as severe as yours, that's probably why my fiancee didn't have to do routine tests. It was 1A4 ($212(a)(1)(A)(iv)) use of a controlled substance. I guess Ana was able to state her case in a way that the psychologist didn't think she was an abuser/addict. At least that was the wording on the blue slip. That Google form is exactly what I did after we got back from retaking the medical - a public inquiry to the consulate. That seems literally the only way to contact someone and it takes 10+ days to hear back. What they are saying is what happened to us basically. You retake the medical and if that goes well they will send you a new blue form via the mailing location. This one will say you're ineligable for a visa because your application is incomplete. This is because of the documents and DS-160 fee that expire after a year and have to be resubmitted. My thinking is if you show up with all that stuff already it may keep you from having to take a third trip to the consulate like we just did. We haven't been accepted yet but we just got back from our trip to drop off the updated paperwork a few days ago. I expect we'll know in a week or two. I'm feeling positive given what I've read others have gone through. But either way this process seems to change year to year and a lot of the info to be found online is out dated. Best of luck! Let me know if you have any other questions, happy to help.

I can add a bit more. Your fiancee will have to talk to the psychiatrist again during her medical. She should be prepared for that. Having a history of drug tests, or a therapist's letter will help. We did the latter because the clinic/blue slip did not say my fiancee needed additional testing. The clinic does directly communicate with the consulate. But if all goes well you will be asked to come back the afternoon after your fiancee's medical and they will give you a sealed package in black plastic. That's one of the things you'll need to resubmit to the consulate. We went back to the consulate info window the day after and got a print out of what we needed to resubmit to continue our visa. A couple weeks later we got a similar blue slip sent to our mail location, and I sent a public inquiry to the consulate and got back the same again except they made it clear we had to come back to Juarez to complete the process (pay the fee & drop off the paperwork). Wish they'd told us that when we were there at the window! You are right, your visa application is not cancelled, it's on hold for a year. The problem is that after a year certain things expire - the DS-160 fee, police report, passport photo, and your letter of intent to marry. All of those need to be resubmitted, plus your fiancee's passport so hopefully they can apply the visa. They also want you to update the DS-160 in case of changes. Again, talk to your lawyer about that. The most frustrating thing about this is that calling the clinic can't help you figure out what the consulate wants you to do and if you call the consulate they will feed you the same useless information over and over or simply say they can't talk about in process visas. It sucks.

Hey, I replied to you a while ago on my thread about this. We just got back from our third trip to Juarez. Hopefully I can save you one since they were not at all clear about the process after retaking the medical. You *should* be able to handle everything with a single trip back. But I can't guarantee it. Anyway, here's what we needed: 1. Retake medical, schedule it early with the same clinic on Monday or Wednesday. 2. Get the black sealed packet later that afternoon. 3. Early the next day (Tuesday or Thursday when the info window is open) bring a new passport photo, your fiancee's passport, an updated letter of intent to marry signed by you, a new federal police report, and an updated version of the DS-160 to the info window outside the consulate. Our lawyer suggested the only change we make to the DS-160 was the question about ever having been denied a visa - no to a yes. I strongly recommend you talk to your lawyer about how to best submit an updated DS-160. 4. Your fiancee will be given a pass inside to pay the DS-160 visa fee again (this is where we got stuck, we could not do this a second time online despite what the dude at the window told us). She can pay with a card. If it's your card, you can also go inside with her. Leave your phone at the hotel if that's your plan. 5. Go back outside to the info window again and drop off the paperwork. They will confirm the mail delivery location. 6. Wait to get an email to go pick up the results (where we are right now). It was 3-3.5 hours of waiting in line for us to do the last steps and get the paperwork delivered. If we'd known what they needed we would have brought it with and not gone back to Juarez for a third time after the medical redo. Hope this helps!

It's been a bit of a mess. We went back to Juarez and Ana had to completely retake her medical (not just the drug test). She did have to speak to the psychologist again as well. That all went fine and we were told to return later that day and we were given a sealed packet that we assume contains the results. We went to the info window the next day and asked what to do. He gave us a document with a list of stuff to send to them to continue the process - updated DS-160, pay the visa fee again, passport, new photo, new police report, and updated letter of intent from me. We said ok and returned home the next day. A week or so later we got an email saying there was something for us to pick up at the mail center we chose when we first scheduled the interview a year earlier. That turned out to be another blue slip that practically matched what we got at the window. We were able to update the DS-160 and get everything else together however there was no way to pay the visa fee again (apparently that expires after a year) so we got stuck. I called the appointment scheduling number for Juarez and they couldn't help me, they said I had to send a public inquiry via the consulates website. After 10 days I got an answer to that with again basically the same set of instructions we received twice before EXCEPT they said we have to return to the consulate to hand in the updated paperwork and pay the fee. Soooo I guess we'll be headed back to Juarez in a couple of weeks for the third time. Super annoying run around. Hope this helps!

We asked the medical center and they said routine testing wasn't necessary. She'll pass no problem this time...again lessons learned. I'm wondering about what's next. How does the reschedule happen and be communicated? What should we plan for? Thanks!

My fiance was denied entry (1 year ban, no required tests) after she failed her medical in Juarez in January. We're approaching the end of that timeline. Needless to say, lessons learned. I'm having trouble figuring out what is next. We know she needs to retake the medical in Juarez. But beyond that, how do we proceed with the consulate? I know we likely need to re-up on time sensitive info like continued proof of the relationship and her police report. Do we need to reschedule with the consulate? How do we get her passport to them for the visa assuming all works out? Many thanks!

Also happy to join this team, NOA 2 dated Aug 1. Just got it in the mail a few days ago. Fingers crossed things speed up and we're not waiting months for papers to move from desk to desk.

My fiance and I have both been divorced and that didn't seem to slow our approval. It's a waiting game, give it a bit more time.

Approved August 1, NOA1 July 27!