holi

Hi All, Yesterday my wife who has an IR-1 visa, myself (US citizen), my 3 US citizen children, and my mother in law who has a B2 visa, entered the US for the first time as a family. We entered through SFO and had 2.5 hours to make our transfer. It was very tight. When a IR1/CR1 visa holder enters the US for the first time, they are going to be pulled into secondary to get information on where to send the Green Card to. This took us about 15-20 minutes. Then you have to pick up all of your checked baggage, load it on a cart, and take it to be rechecked on your transfer flight. This took us about 20 minutes. We were told to check a bunch of our carry-ons as we were told we had too much baggage. This took another 20-30 minutes. Then you have to get in line for security, likely end up with multiple bags getting searched. This took around 40 minutes. We only had around 20 minutes to spare, no real time to rest or grab anything to eat. Be careful not to bring too much on the plane, and do your best to move quickly.

My wife had her visa interview this last Monday at the Tokyo Embassy. All beneficiaries are expected to be at the embassy at 8:30 am. Of the 20-30 people there for interviews, only 4-5 were Japanese. She waited until around 11:30 am for her interview. It lasted about 30 seconds. She said she had a hard time hearing the interviewer with others talking loudly next to her. Be prepared for a wait, and if your wife doesn't speak any English, be prepared for a poor experience in the waiting area.

We're awaiting our interview at the embassy. I'm just fed up with the whole process.

Even ignoring the visa overstayers that skip the line to AOS and get quick approvals for their i-130s, I find it very frustrating that it takes more than even a week or so to approve cases like mine. My three children are US citizens, their mother is listed on the documentation required for their CRBA. This was all approved without any issues, and my kids all ahve their passports and SSNs. It's an open and shut case, my wife is still obviously the mother of my children and we haven't divorced so she is obviously still my wife. What is there to investigate? I don't know why more of this can't be automated.

No, just make sure you have the sealed police certificate for the interview.