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| Ghana |  Review on October 1, 2013: |
Chris_B
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Sammy got to the Consulate around 6:45 AM and waited with others until the gate opened at 7:30 AM. He made sure to be towards the front of the line as they were allowed to enter. He sat and waited with other interviewees until about 9:30 AM. During this interim time he gave all of his documents to a consular officer who arranged the papers for an interviewer. He said that she was impatient and rude, telling him, and others to 'hurry up.' He was also fingerprinted by another consular officer, who he reported was amiable.
When he was called to be questioned, he was made to swear an oath. He saw his documents by the interviewer and the top page had been stamped with the word 'APPROVED' in red. This made him feel confident. The consular officer asked him questions general to the interview, and specific to our situation:
1. How we met
2. Why did I choose to study abroad in Ghana?
3. Why did I return to Ghana on 2 separate occasions?
4. Why did he have 2 sponsors for the F1 student visa (which he was denied)
5. Questions about the gender of his first sponsor for the F1 visa
When he answered questions about how we met, the officer was friendly, joking with him that he was talking a lot. He seemed generally interested in why I chose to study abroad in Ghana. I think it was also beneficial that I had visited Sam twice after my first study abroad stint - Once for the summer holiday for about 3 months, and once after I graduated from college, for a year. I think these initial questions saved us from the slight downturn at the the end. When the officer asked him about his sponsors for his F1 student visa, he tried to confuse Sam, stating that he didn't think Sam knew who his sponsors were, to which Sam replied that his fiances parents sponsored him the first time. When he was denied he asked his uncle to sponsor him because he thought it would show that he had more ties to Ghana (which is what they doubted since he has family and friends and ME in the states). The officer tried to make it seem as if he only had one sponsor for the F1 visa, to which Sam kept denying, and repeating his original answer. Finally when the officer asked him for the last time, Sam told the officer to check his record on the computer, so the officer could see for himself. When the officer checked, he saw that Sammy was indeed correct, which annoyed him a bit. So he started asking about who his first sponsors were to him. Sammy told him again that they were my parents. The officer said that it couldn't be because the names listed are both masculine, my parents' names are Andre and Edward. He told the officer that Andre is my mother, to which the officer replied that Andre was a man's name. At this, Sammy laughed out loud, which I think broke the tension. He agreed with the consular, but stated that he couldn't help that this was my mother's name. It was the name she was given at birth, and the only name he knows her by.
At this, the officer handed him a visa confirmation ticket, and told him to come back on Friday for the visa. The interview took about 15 minutes. He was out of the consulate by 10 AM!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #12911