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| Guatemala |  Review on June 27, 2014: |
TexasRuss
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I'll try not to repeat what's already been written here… we found it useful during our interview experience today. Getting there early paid off… we had a 7:15am appointment and arrived about an hour early. In the IMMIGRANT visa area there are some concrete benches… try to get a spot toward the front and be on the lookout as the officials begin to gather out front. Thats your cue that things are about to get going. At this point you'll want to jockey for position in the line that forms along the concrete/brick wall in the immigrant visa waiting area. They hand out numbers and we were lucky enough to get #7. At this point they check your appointment confirmation letter and passports. There was no problem with me entering with my fiance… we simply asked and they waved us through to the security check area. This is an area similar to security at the airport… you and your bags go through the metal detectors/x-rays. They DO NOT allow any electronics of any kind. We saw lots of people scurrying to get rid of their electronics. At the exit of security, we went down the IMMIGRANT visa path and the up the steps to the entrance of the waiting area. In our case, there was plenty of room to sit. We waited about 30 minutes and we were called by number to submit our documents. The person was very helpful and patient… but we were surprised when they told us they had no record of our petition. Turns out it was just a slight mis-spelling of the name which was quickly corrected on the spot. They asked that all papers be arranged and submitted by person (for my fiance and two children). We were very organized but did not expect this… it took us about 5 minutes to arrange the docs as requested… we felt no pressure. This whole document submittal process took about 15 minutes at the window.
From there, we were seated again and awaited our turn for the electronic fingerprints… this took all of about 5 minutes… again this was completed by a very nice and patient person. After this, we waited about another 30 minutes to be called for our interview. The female interviewer was again very nice to us and the kids and even engaged in small talk. All in all, she only asked 4 simple questions about our relationship and they never even asked for a shred of relationship evidence. My fiance was handed a small slip of paper indicating that she could return on the following Tuesday (our interview was Friday) to pickup the passports with the visas.
One tip I would recommend… carry every document you've ever had related to your case. And make extra copies of all the documents they request… and then make backup copies. Several of the forms requested in the email from the embassy were returned to us and we were told we didn't need them. But I suggest to meticulously prepare every form requested. Other documents, they needed more copies… mainly related to the fact that we were requesting three visas, not just one. Come prepared with your documents in order, arranged by person if you are requesting more than one visa. Anywhere they asked for "the original and a copy" in the instructions, they returned the copy to us immediately and kept the originals… they did not want the copies. But it was comforting to know that we had plenty of spare copies of everything. It seemed like way too much stuff to take, but in the end it came in handy as we needed some of those for the children's paperwork.
We were dreading this process, but all in all I have to say it was almost a pleasure to see a government agency be efficient and people were friendly all along the way. That was our experience… your mileage may vary!
(updated on June 27, 2014)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #14726