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| Chennai, India |  Review on December 7, 2006: |
jack and jill
Rating:  | Review Topic: K3 Visa
Here is a long version of how things went at the embassy:
My wife’s K3 interview was on Dec. 6th at 9:00 AM. I flew to India to support her during the interview process. The day before the interview, she and I flew to Chennai. After we checked into the hotel, we started to practice questions that they could potentially ask. One area we focused on was explaining why she was denied a visitors visa before the marriage. This caused us a lot of stress, so we spent a lot of time on practicing answers.
The day of the interview, we woke up extra early and practiced questions again. We then took a taxi to the embassy. Once there (at 7:30AM), we tried to stand in the line, but the line usher kept telling us to come back 15 minutes before the interview time. We tried to explain that we were not there for a visitor’s visa, but he was not listening. We finally went to another person and he asked to see our interview letter. Once he saw the yellow letter, he immediately realized that it was for an immigrant visa and asked us to stand in a corner. [advice: keep the interview letter in your hand] At that point all the guards treated us very nicely and were joking with us. When the rush at the entry counter became less, they asked us to jump into the line (near the front) and we were eventually let into the embassy and directed towards the immigrant visa section. Once there, we were told to sit and they eventually collected her interview letter. We waited till about 8:30AM.
They eventually called her name and we both walked up to the counter with copies of the information we sent through the VFS courier service and two large wedding albums. I asked if I could be present and the lady said yes after asking if I was the petitioner. The consular lady then looked at the paperwork and asked a few questions:
1. She asked if this was my wife first marriage and then she asked me the same question.
2. She asked if my wife has ever been to the US and when.
3. She asked if she has been to any other countries and for how long. (it is not a problem unless the stay is for longer than 6 months)
4. She asked if she ever had a US visa denied
5. She asked for the date of the marriage
She then took the demand draft of 4600 rupees ($100) and stapled it to the chart. She also took her passport and gave us a number (#730). Both of us were excited as we were told that if they accept the money and take the passport, we were approved. We were ready to jump up and down, but before that I asked her if this meant our visa was approved. She nicely stated that she was just gathering the paperwork and that the consular officer would call my wife when it was her turn. I then asked if I was allowed to be present at the time of the interview and she replied yes.
We then sat down and waited. While waiting, my wife’s name was called again, and we went up to the counter thinking it was time for the interview. Unfortunately it was not. They called her to return our proof of relationship, which by itself was a book. They simply stated that it was not necessary. They did however keep the pictures of our marriage and honeymoon with them.
We then started to compare our number with others and found that we were one of the first numbers so we were excited thinking that we would have an answer soon because we thought it was first come first serve. The consular officer came at 10:15 AM and took about 20 minutes to review a chart then she called the number 731. We then realized that the numbers they gave out were useless except as identifiers.
A second officer then came to a window and also started to review cases. The one thing we noticed that these officers acted differently than the officers for the visitors visa. They were much nicer and actually listened and gave time for answers. When they rejected someone, they would let the person ask questions and respond.
At around 11:30 they finally called our number and we were somewhat scared as everyone before us did not receive their visa. We went to the interview counter and I asked once again if I was allowed to be there and the consular officer said yes. He then looked at the paperwork and gave us a receipt for the visa fee. He then asked some questions:
1. what visa did you go to USA before and why?
2. what do you do?
3. he looked at me asked me what work I did in USA?
4. why was her visitor visa denied in may 2006?
After listening to her answer, he said well that does not matter for this visa and told us that we were approved and that the visa / passport will come in three to four days via courier. We were so excited that we hugged each other. Then I asked him if it was possible to get it sooner as I needed to go back to the USA and I wanted to take my wife with me. He then spent five minutes looking for a paper that gave us instructions to get the visa sooner.
Overall, other than the long wait time, we were very happy with our experience and surprised that the officer only asked a few questions. We left the embassy, went to our hotel and called our family and then celebrated.
Thank you Visajourney and all its members for supporting us through this portion of our journey. Once we get back to the USA, we will start the next process.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1093