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| Guayaquil, Ecuador |  Review on January 13, 2013: |
leenkath
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We arrived at about 7:55 a.m. for my husband's 8:30 a.m. interview. We learned right away that they literally were going to allow NOTHING but ourselves, our hotel key, and our documents into the building-- we were sent out of the security line to throw away coffee and to leave behind some other miscellaneous things that we had brought with us. Fortunately, the hotel we stayed at was just two blocks away.
Once inside, we waited for about 1.5 hours before being called for the first time to a window where an Ecuadorian employee reviewed our documents. This part made us nervous, first because she said I was missing a financial document of my Dad's W-2 (he did an I-864 to co-sponsor my husband) to show if he really made all the income listed on the form and that it wasn't divided between him and my mother. I explained that my mom is no longer working and showed her some extra copies of my dad's pay stubs which seemed to satisfy her. We became nervous again while talking to her because she then began to ask my husband about his family in the U.S. (his mom and two youngest siblings immigrated to the U.S. on a separate family petition nearly three years ago). I don't know if she made a legitimate error or trying to test us but she commented about them being in the immigration process at the same time, and my husband corrected her and explained their case was unrelated and happened years ago. She sent us away to sit down for the next call.
After another 30 minutes of waiting (and yes, it is absolutely freezing in there) they called my husband to take his fingerprints. We sat back down and waited nearly two more hours until being called up to interview with the consular officer. FYI they do the residency interviews in the back part of the first floor, so I recommend sitting back there to make sure you hear your name called.
The interview was easy, and the consular was polite. He addressed my husband in Spanish once he realized my husband's English was only intermediate and when he asked me questions he used English. He asked us perhaps 10 questions including: when and how we met, when was our wedding, did we have a religious wedding in addition to the civil ceremony, which members of my husband's family live in the U.S., what was I doing while I lived in Quito, do I live in the U.S. now and where, what am I doing in the U.S. now. He flipped through a few our our pictures (we brought 50 photos, plus other evidence such as proof of shared residence and finances) and then told my husband he was approved and explained the process of getting the visa through DHL.
For couples who are living abroad together at the time of the interview, in addition to the evidence of your relationship, it appeared important to have proof of domicile or evidence that the USC is going back to the states soon. We saw an applicant get turned away because she did not have evidence that their petitioner planned to move to the US anytime soon (and the petitioner was not there to talk about it).
In short, my advice: Follow the interview prep instructions on the consulate website to a T, eat a good breakfast, arrive early, wear pants and a sweater, and bring additional evidence could answer questions about your relationship, financial situation or domicile in the U.S. You don't have to go overboard, just bring the most relevant and convincing items.
Thanks to VisaJourney, our process was smooth sailing all the way. No RFEs and we'll have the visa in hand in under eight months from the day we got married, which is much faster than we originally expected. Thanks VJers!!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #11252