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| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on January 19, 2013: |
L and T
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Most importantly, my visa got approved (yay...). The experience was somewhat mixed, therefore I give only 3 stars...
My appointment was at 9.15am, so after finding a parking spot directly on the other side of the street, I arrived at the gate a little before 9am. I went to the window, was checked on the list and got my waiting number and was sent to security. As instructed, I did not bring any electronic items, left everything in the car except for my briefcase containing all the documents and a book for the waiting time. The security people were friendly, but thorough, I couldn't even bring my keys in there with me, they were deposited in the security booth.
Then I proceeded to the consulate building - it is basically a big hall with 299 seats (so it says on the wall...) and 22 windows on three sides of the wall, plus a vending machine and a passport photo booth on the 4th wall, with flags of the 50 states hanging from the big columns. ALl the consular officers sit behind glass windows, you communicate with them standing at the window, talking through a speaker system, so the people waiting nearby can kind of hear what's going on...
I was first sent to window 22 where I handed in my passport. After a little while I was called to window 21, where a very nice lady took my fingerprints, went through all the documents with me and asked me to put my address on the DHL Express Sticker that I sent in with my visa documents.
Then I had to wait for the actual interview with the consular officer. I saw that immigrant visas were handled at windos 16 and 17. Behind window 16 I saw a consular officer who was a bit younger, and he seemed very friendly, throwing in a joke every once in a while. But unfortunately I was called to window 17...
Here I met a consul who was a little older, and not very friendly. Not even a greeting, just right to the point. His opening statement was something like "so you want to marry a US Citizen and live & work in the United States". I should add that he conducted the entire interview in German. He asked how I met my fiancée, what did she do in the army when I met her in Germany, what is she doing now, and he kept elaborating and asking more detailed questions about our relationship, all the while he was leafing through my papers, as if looking for something wrong. The entire time he did not smile once, and he seemed very unfriendly to me. At some point I feared that he would tell me that he doesn't buy my story and that he woud deny my visa... After about 20 minutes that seemed like an eternity, he finally said that everything looked good and that I will get my visa within 10-15 days. Phew! I politely thanked him and said good bye, but again, no smile and no good bye or good wishes from him...
I realize that they have to be throrough, but it would have been nice if I had been treated a little friendlier, therefore I give only 3 stars...
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #11308