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| Auckland, New Zealand |  Review on January 11, 2007: |
jennac13
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Well I only have good things to say about the US Consulate in Auckland 
They were very helpful from the moment NVC sent me an email informng me they had sent my petition away. I called Auckland and they looked up my case and called me back to let me know that they had the electronic version and the hard copy would be there in a few days.
I got the paperwork quickly after that (please look at NZ Embassy page to see what you can do in advance) and from this moment things moved very fast!  I called the consulate and told them I had already booked a flight out of NZ for Jan 16th so they made a note on my forms that I would like an interview date ASAP. I sent my forms back the same day I got them and a couple of days later I got my interview date... Jan 22nd. Good but I wanted it earlier.. so I called the consulate and they were able to move my interview date forward to Jan 10th!!! (Luckily my medical also got moved forward so good fortune was all on my side!)
I went upstairs for my interview and talked to the nice security man. He explained which window to go to and a lovely woman arrived immediatley. I handed her my passport and she pulled out my huge file She asked for the affidavit of support and medical (I took mine instead of sending it) and we chatted about where I was moving to, but nothing seriously hard. It was all just basic conversation! As we were finsihing up, she explained what the next 3 years are going to involve and all the forms I need to fill out etc. and gave me some WORTHWILE information... when you are at the POE make sure, when you give them the brown sealed envelope, that you ask them WHERE they are going to send it. Wherever they send it, this is the place you need to file for your AOS.. otherwise your forms wont meet up and there could be major delays! 
So I was done with her after 15 mins or so, she asked me to sit down and after a 15 min wait I was called up by the nice American man. Both of my index fingers were scanned and then I had to raise my right hand and swear that all the information was true. He then looked breifly over my paperwork and stated "Texas.. hrmm he MUST be a good guy!"  I thought that was pretty funny! He also saw where I lived and commented how he had just been down around that area and then he saw where I used to work in Wellington (Wholly Bagels) and we had a whole conversation about how great the food is! He asked me when I was due to fly out and I told him this coming Tuesday (16th Jan)... he said he thought I would have my visa by Sat (They are closed Monday) as I had given them a saturday delivery sticker for the courier pack... I said it would be good to have it in time to fly out Tuesday, but I understand if it doesn't come in time... they told me they would try. Two days later I have my visa! I was so happy and greatful that I called and left them all a message to say a huge thanks for getting it done in time
Asides from the horrible price to call the US Consulate, they have only ever been helpful and not scary at all! They are really great and supportive so there is nothing to worry about when you go for your interview!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1191