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| Naples, Italy |  Review on August 24, 2014: |
longwhitecloud
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
5 stars for the interview at the Consulate
2 stars for the communication with the Consulate before the interview
1 star for the medical exam at Istituto Varelli
NVC sent us an appointment for an August interview only 3 weeks in advance. They scheduled the interview few days after both NVC and the Consulate in Naples told us that we would most likely get an appointment in September because the Consulate is closed during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of August for a vacation and almost all time slots for the last week of August had already been assigned. The appointment process is quite obtuse and you would be better off not trying to augur the interview date. Try not to make any travel plans for the months for which the interview might be scheduled. We learned this lesson the hard way.
A letter from NVC (“Interview letter - P4”) specified the date, time, and place of the interview at the US Consulate in Naples. It did not specify the date and time of the medical exam. When I asked the Consulate whether the exam has been scheduled for the day before the interview at 8:45am (as I found from the reviews at Visajourney.com) or some other time, their email response only said: “Medical is already scheduled for you.” Very helpful.
I came to Istituto Varelli at 7:30am and there already were few other visa applicants waiting. Some had received an appointment for some specific time in the morning; some had not. Regardless of that meaningless piece of information, you have to take a ticket with a number from a little ticket machine in the lobby and wait for your turn. The ticket machine has three buttons: “Accettazione”, “Consulato”, and something else. Although it is counterintuitive, do not press “Consulato”! You would get a ticket with a “C” number and these numbers are never called. You should press “Accettazione” to get an “A” number that will eventually appear on the screen.
When it is your turn, you go to the receptionist and give her your passport. Warning: Although Istituto Varelli is contracted by the US Consulate to serve clients living in Italy (not all necessarily speaking Italian), Malta, and Iran, receptionists do not speak any English. Most nurses and other personnel also do not speak English. The doctor and one nurse spoke some broken English.
After the receptionist takes your passport, you have to wait until they call you for a blood test (for syphilis). Then you have to wait until they call you to see a nurse who checks your vaccination records. Despite a long list of required vaccinations on the US Embassy in Rome’s website, they only want to see your MMR and Tetanus records. The same nurse also takes your 170 EUR. Alternatively, you can pay by a credit card at the reception – except that their terminal did not accept my card issued by an Italian bank. Then you have to wait until they call you for a chest X-ray (to check for TBC – as if a dose of radiation were really necessary without a positive blood test). Then you have to wait until they call you to see an actual doctor who gives you a brief eye exam and taps few times on your stomach.
Istituto Varelli is an extremely disorganized and inefficient place. Due to all the waiting, my “medical exam” lasted 7 hours! No one could give me any reliable estimate how much time it would take. It seemed that the end was always just 30 minutes away. There are no vending machines with food or water. While you are waiting, you are even afraid to go to the bathroom because you never know when they will call you to the office.
One of the biggest problems is that the order in which they call customers’ names does not correspond to the order, in which customers came and checked in. I had to wait 7 hours. A guy wearing a very expensive suit was done after 1 hour. Did he bribe someone? I could not tell, but it would not be so surprising given how the place worked. It might be just a coincidence, but all Italians who arrived to the clinic after me were done before me. The last three customers kept waiting until the end were all non-Italians: a Russian, an African, and me. I really hope it was just a coincidence.
They will not tell you the results of any test at Istituto Varelli. Instead, they will send all the results to the Consulate. So, you do not to have to worry about carrying any documents with you.
Compared to the horrible experience at Istituto Varelli, the interview itself was a breeze. The Consulate will only let you in 15 minutes before your assigned time slot. So, there is no reason to come early in the morning. Thanks to this new rule, everything was quick, well organized, and smooth. The whole visit took us less than an hour. Also, everyone was very polite and spoke English.
You have to leave your cell phone and other electronic devices in the security booth. Then you go to the main building, where you wait in a large waiting room equipped with AC, drinking water, and even crayons for children. They will call your name and invite you to a counter.
We brought a lot of extra copies of our documents, but the Consulate really needed only those specified in the NVC letter. NVC transferred our entire file to the Consulate and no documents were lost in the process. Well, I still think it is a good idea to come with copies of everything well organized in several plastic folders. Better safe than sorry. Before the interview itself, a consular employee took the photos I brought, fingerprinted me, went quickly through the documents from NVC, and verified that everything was all right.
My wife came with me for moral support, but she was not allowed to answer any questions during the interview. However, almost everyone brought their American spouses and I believe it signals that your marriage is legitimate. The interview itself was the most pleasant part of the lengthy green card application process. The consular officer was very professional and friendly. He only asked a couple of questions about how we met. At the end of the interview, he said that the visa had been approved. You can imagine how relieved we felt. At the end of the interview, you will also get all your civil documents back.
I needed 3 US passport photos (5x5 cm): 2 for the Consulate and 1 for Istituto Varelli. The photos have to be recent (old up to 6 months), so, do not use the same photos as those sent to NVC. Different sources (the NVC letter, the Embassy website, employees of Istituto Varelli) told me different numbers of the required photos. It was not clear until the end of the interview whether we needed 1, 2, 3, or 4 photos. Unlike the US Embassy in Rome, the US Consulate in Naples does not have a photo booth and it is impossible to find a place to take your photographs before a morning interview. So, do not forget to bring enough photos with you.
After the interview, the passport with the visa was delivered to us by DHL. You have to register online at ais.usvisa-info.com before the interview. The website is badly designed and you have to first choose a pick-up location even if you want the visa to be sent to your address and not to pick it up in person (for a good reason: for example, the pick-up place for Florence is actually in a village outside the city). Only after registering online, you can request your passport to be delivered to your actual address. You have to pay 30 EUR and the delivery apparently takes up to 2 weeks. Seriously? This is supposed to be a courier service? Fortunately, in our case, the visa was processed on the day of the interview and we miraculously received it the day after. Not sure whether other applicants have been equally lucky. Anyway, you have to go through ais.usvisa-info.com and, despite some older reviews at this site, it is no longer possible to pick up the passport at the Consulate. Also note that the passport can only be delivered within Italy and not to an address abroad. No one will tell you this in advance.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #15060