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| Bucharest, Romania |  Review on August 10, 2012: |
AFD
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
The Consulate staff (both American and Romanian) was very professional and friendly throughout the time my visa application was in their jurisdiction. My case was expedited just prior to it being transferred to the Consulate, because of special family circumstances. Only 10 business days passed between the NVC notifying me of the case being accepted for expedited processing by the Consulate and the visa being approved. The Consulate responded to my email message asking when I should be receiving their instructions very promptly and sent instructions via email, immediately. They scheduled my interview on the day of my medical examination and allowed me to come to the interview without my medical examination results and to bring those back immediately after the interview. They even allowed me to come in with the results a few minutes after the official close of business (with the public) because they had had many interviews that day and they only started my interview a half an hour before COB.
As for the interview, the process went very smoothly. I presented my passport and additional paperwork showing evidence of a continued relationship with my husband upon entry (I entered last because I tried to be polite to a family and an elderly lady, so I got called up last and interviewed last--still, it pays to be polite because the Consulate staff accommodated the extra time I needed to bring back the medical exam results a few minutes after 4PM). I was also fingerprinted promptly, then waited some two hours and fifteen minutes, as the other cases were being processed before me (luckily, I had brought a book to read  , which I took out of my bag when I left the bag at the security desk). The consular officer who interviewed me was very friendly and apologized for the long wait. He asked me to swear that all the information submitted with my immigration files was correct (I did so in Romanian because the question was asked in Romanian) and to sign a similar statement in front of him (I had already signed it when I filed, but he needed to certify that I had signed in front of him). Then he took my old passport in which I had a still valid US tourist visa and told me I would no longer be allowed to be a tourist and that it was his pleasure to cancel my tourist visa (indicating, indirectly, that my spouse visa would be approved). He asked me when and how I had met my husband, in which Washington, DC neighborhood we had lived (he had lived in DC as well) and what we had studied in grad school (which is where we had met). He said he had also studied international relations and we talked a bit about another one of our (my husband and I) classmates, who happens to have started working at the US Embassy in Bucharest this summer (I had not contacted him, but I was aware of his coming to Bucharest from a social network posting by his wife, also a graduate school classmate of mine). The officer then let me go pick up my medical exam results, as time was running by fast. When I returned a few minutes after 4PM, the Romanian officer who had first taken my passports filled out my courier form in my stead (after the American consular officer who had conducted the interview verified that the health forms were in order). Everyone was very graceful and professional, just like every other time I received a US visa (5 times, 4 types of visas processed in Bucharest and Amman, Jordan).
This brings me to a bit of background. I had spent many years in the US as a foreign exchange student, then an F1 student, then an H1B worker, then a tourist (when I moved to the Middle East with my husband and let my H1B visa expire without extending it, but wanted to visit my in-laws' and our common friends during winter holidays in 2010/2011). I had had a clean record in the US and I had never encountered any problems at visa interviews, which had typically lasted two-three minutes tops. My husband (whom I have known for eight years now, whom I started dating four years ago and married over two years ago) and I had given plenty proof of a solid, real relationship. I did not expect the Consulate to have any suspicions as to the validity of our marriage and it turned out to be right. I thank every US government officer (at USCIS, NVC and the Consulate in Bucharest) who has helped process this visa.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10162