|
|
| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on March 7, 2013: |
SFbound
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Making the move to the United States is a major step in our lives. Therefore, I wrote this little story to help you prepare for _your_ interview, but also to serve as a memento for myself. Hence, it's a bit longer than some other accounts on VisaJourney.com. I hope that you still find it worth the read.
PLANNING MY FRANKFURT TRIP
The Frankfurt Consulate General is in charge of all immigration visa cases in Germany.
It so happens that, of all the medical clinics sanctioned by the Consulate, the one in Frankfurt is the closest to my former home town.
Getting there via Germany's high-speed train, ICE, takes about two hours. Hence, I decided to combine both the medical exam and the visa interview into a single trip.
I stayed in Frankfurt for two nights. The first day was just for traveling. On the second day, I visited the clinic as a walk-in. On the third day, I went to my interview in the morning, and returned home in the afternoon.
THE MEDICAL
The medical exam itself required some patience.
When I first entered the clinic, I was surprised how few people were waiting in line. Until I found out that what I saw was the waiting area for the public section of the clinic…
The waiting area for the consulate check-ups is on the second floor, and, yes, it was busy.
Before any actual medical tests, you need to fill out a questionnaire about your medical history and pay for the exam. It cost 140 €, and you must pay cash.
Unfortunately, I had _not_ gone through my medical records before the exam, so it took a while to remember all the relevant details. Compiling such a medical history beforehand will surely make this step in the process much easier and quicker.
Once you've filled out the questionnaire, the actual tests can commence: A chest x-ray, as well as blood and urine tests, which are performed in the clinic's basement.
The final step is a personal visitation with a physician, during which the doctor will listen to your heartbeat and your lung, and ask a number of questions.
At the end of the checkup, I received a CD with the chest X-rays. I was told that you don't need to carry the CD with you in your carry-on when entering the U.S., but that it will be required later during the Adjustment of Status process.
You will also receive a copy of your immunization history. Once you're in the U.S., you will need to have a Civil Surgeon prepare a transcript of this document, which will become part of your Adjustment of Status application.
Before I left the clinic, I asked how long it would take for them to send the test results to the consulate. I was there on a Thursday, and the documents would be sent to the consulate via courier the following Monday.
That made me a bit nervous, because my interview would take place the very next day.
ARRIVING AT THE CONSULATE
When you arrive at the consulate general in Frankfurt, you will notice that there are two queues at the gate. The one for K-1 applicants is the one on the right.
On the date of my interview, a single person was waiting in that right queue when I arrived, while there must have been some thirty people in the other one. So that made for a good start of that day. 
From the queues, you are called up to a reception window, where your passport and appointment document are checked, and you're handed a waiting number.
Before you enter the actual waiting hall, you need to go through security that is similar to an airport security check. Surprisingly, the staff at the security checkpoint were cheerful and joking around, and their attitude to the visitors was exceptionally friendly.
After the checkpoint, you walk over to another building and enter the Consulate's huge main waiting hall.
As is typical for a U.S. office building, that hall is decorated with iconic images from the U.S., showing scenes of American Indians, major landmarks, etc. Additionally, there are numerous flags high up on the walls, including all fifty state flags.
I'm not superstitious, but it did add a nice touch to the entire process when I found an empty seat directly underneath the flag of Colorado, the U.S. state I now call home.
The first window I was called to was W23. There, a lady took my passport and checked that my set of documents was complete.
I asked her whether it was a problem that they had not received the results of my medical exam yet, and she said it wasn't, because the consular officer would need a week, or two, anyway to finalize the visa application. The delayed documents would merely show up on statistics which they compile internally.
After more time waiting under the Colorado flag, I was called to window W19. Another female officer took all of my documents and noted that my K-1 application had run out.
I'm not really sure what she was referring to, since the NOA2 (form I-797) of our K-1 application was valid until after the interview date. This was easily solved, however, because I had brought new "letters of intent to marry" -- both my fiancée's and my own -- with more recent dates than the one we had included in our original I-129F petition package.
As for the medical exam, despite the comments of her colleague at window W23, this lady stated that, yes, the results from the exam _must_ have arrived at the consulate before they can schedule the interview. "Actually, we were not really allowed to schedule your appointment without it!"
Thankfully, she didn't send me away, but explained that the consular officer can perform the interview and process my application, and then classify it as pending until they would receive the medical exam results.
Phew.
Another short wait followed, during which I finally did get seriously nervous, because the only remaining thing to do at this point is go through the actual interview.
As a funny aside, I noticed that Florian König, a German Formula 1 commentator, had taken a seat next to mine. We had a quick chat about Vettel vs. Alonso, and he explained that he had to extend his journalist visa for the U.S. Grand Prix, which served as a wonderful distraction for me.
Until I was finally called to the next window, W17, for the actual interview.
It begins with being sworn in, that you will only tell the truth and that you have also truthfully filled out any and each of the forms you submitted.
My interviewer was a friendly, soft-spoken young man, who, during the procedure, took lots of notes on a computer, and continuously flipped through the pretty tall stack of my documents in front of him.
The key questions he asked revolved around the same topics as the ones you hear when visiting your sweetheart in the U.S.: How did you meet? What's your fiancée's job? Where does she live? Do you already have a date for the wedding? Will you be working in the U.S.?
As far as I could tell, one of the key pieces of "evidence" are your couple photos: The consular officer spent considerable some time looking at our pictures. While it probably didn't have much of an impact on his decision making, it sure was a nice touch when he commented that the two of us looked like a happy couple.
Although he was very thorough in his questioning, I never felt pressured, let alone harassed. The interview was more akin to a serious, but friendly conversation, than an legal interrogation.
After maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, the officer scribbled "Approved pending medical" in a surprisingly delicate script onto the top sheet of the document stack, and I realized that we were done.
He explained that he would petition for approval of our application, and that I should receive my passport back, with the K-1 visa, within ten work days.
When I left the consulate building, it was 11:10am. I had arrived for my 8:30am appointment at around 8:20am, so I spent little less than three hours at the consulate overall.
Distilling down this long story into a few words is very simple: If you've diligently prepared your fiancé(e) visa application, and you're sincerely in love with your "petitioner", there is no reason at all to be afraid of the consulate interview in Frankfurt.
A FEW TIPS
Here are some tips that may make your trip to the consulate a bit easier (just in case you chose not to read all that prose above, after all):
* Go through the medical exam well before your visa interview, so that the Consulate has already received the results before your appointment with them.
* Bring cash (140€) to pay for the medical exam.
* Compile a medical history before you have your medical exam. Include major illnesses or treatments -- like chickenpox, a broken leg, etc. --, and when they occurred.
* Bring a (more) recent "letter of intent to marry" in case your original K-1 application is no longer valid at the time of the interview.
* During the actual interview, be courteous, be honest, and be yourself.
* And, most importantly, when you're approved, enjoy the relief and do a little dance!
Good luck!
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #11596