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|  Review on October 3, 2014: |
jens_prodigy
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Since I don't live in Nassau, I flew in the night before my interview. Luckily, my sister lives there so I didn't have to worry about booking a hotel, car etc. In fact, she literally lives right around the corner from the Embassy so I knew the horrible Nassau traffic wouldn't be a problem. Anyway, the week before, my fiancé had FED-Exed my sister (since there's no Fed-Ex locations on the island where I live) a packet filled with the sponsor form, a copy of our K-1 packet, our approval notices, our whats-app chat logs and copies of everything else we thought we might need to further prove our relationship.So when I got to my sister's apartment I was anxious to open the packet and organize it. Upon looking through it, I realized it was perfect EXCEPT she didn't include any new photos from our past year together since filing the K-1. I was so confused because she had PLENTY to choose from since she came to visit me twice in that time. The only pics in there were in the original K-1 petition!! I immediately began freaking OUT and planned to visit a local library the next morning to print out some pics just to ease my mind.Well, the next morning it just didn't happen, my sister was busy with dropping off my niece at school, running some errands etc and by the time we got around in the traffic it was just too late. I decided it was best to be on time for my interview than to have the pics but I was still really nervous about it. My appointment was set for 10:30am on a Tuesday morning but Ms.Darling (my embassy contact who helped me greatly answering all my questions throughout this experience) advised me to arrive 30mins early for fingerprinting, payment of fees($265) and to turn in required documents (birth certificate, passport sized photos, sponsor guarantee form, and a couple other things I don't remember.) After going through two security checks (in which you have to check in your cellphone) I was told to take a seat and wait for Ms.Darling who came out after about ten mins. It was nice to finally meet her and to put a face to the name on the countless emails LOL. She was really pleasant, took all my docs and told me to have a seat. She also added that the wait would be "a while" today which surprised me because it didn't look terribly full inside but I said okay and found a seat. I was not as nervous as I thought I would be even though I was wishing that my fiancé could've been there but since she's a teacher AND she was having surgery that same week it was impossible. I saw a few people reading, some were talking with the people they brought with them and others were just mindlessly watching the tv in front of us. I decided to do the latter since I was too nervous to do anything else. In the embassy they turn all chairs away from the interview windows so that you can't watch whats going on while other people are being interviewed. In fact, one of the security guards actually came over to one lady and made her physically turn around because I guess she had been looking behind her at the interview windows and that was a no-no. BUT it's not a big room so you can still hear whats going on. As time waned on I heard so many interviews but I didn't hear a single K-1, they were all tourist visas, one student visa or work visas and I realized I was the only one for a fiancé visa which made me slightly uneasy. I heard mostly approvals but a few denials and I just prayed and prayed that everything would go well. The prayer helped settle me but I was starting to wonder why it was taking so long for them to call me because there were people who came in after me who were being called. I didn't know what to make of it and I wondered if it was a bad sign. Finally, TWO HOURS later at about 12:05pm, I heard my name. I went up to the window and saw a really young IO who was obviously new because when I first got there I saw him asking MsDarling a lot of questions. I inwardly groaned and hoped he knew what he was doing but then I thought it could also be an advantage like maybe he'd be easier on me lol. The other thing I noticed was that there was a document in front of him with my fiancé's passport photo attached to it that was stamped with a big red APPROVED. I didn't know if that meant we were approved for the interview or if it was just the approval from the original application. He made take an oath and began asking his questions . I wouldn't say he was friendly or unfriendly . Instead he was very professional and direct. he asked :What's your fiance's name? When/Where was she born? How old is she? When is her birthday? I fumbled on birthday and age like an idiot!! Those two simple questions that I know by heart. But when he asked "when's her birthday" I started to give my own before correcting myself and the same with her age. I inwardly kicked myself and hoped I didn't sabotage myself but he just raised one eyebrow and moved on. What does she do? When/How did you begin dating? Who proposed to whom and when? Where did you buy the ring-which I replied we didn't have rings yet. Then he asked about me; what I do and for how long have I worked there etc. Then he got to the scary part of the interview that I had been so nervous about. He asked me about my brief overstay which I explained to him then he asked when was the last time I was in the US and how long was my last stay. He also asked me to explain my denial of entry last year which I did in a short but honest way.I figure if he wanted more detail he would ask which he didn't. Then he asked again if I had overstayed any other times which I replied no and I worried whether he saw another overstay on my record which I had forgotten about and maybe it looked like I was lying but I was pretty sure there was no more overstays . I just had one from my student visa for a few weeks.He asked if I'd ever been arrested which again was no. Then he held up my sponsor guarantee form and asked, did you complete this form today? I said "no my fiancé did and FEd-exed it to me" to which he replied, "Well she didn't date it" and my heart literally STOPPED! In my head I was like "nooooooooo". He said, "Well I have to call my supervisor and ask if this is okay so give me a sec". So he used the phone attached to the wall and called Ms Darling right in front of me. My stomach was turning over and that 5second convo felt like an hour but in the end she told him it was okay and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then he casually told me I was approved and could pick up my visa on Thursday. Inside I jumped over the moon but in reality I just looked at him and said, thank you. He never even looked inside the packet I brought with me that I had been so nervous about. *Shrug* . I guess it's like everyone says, they pretty much know whether or not you will be approved beforehand and the interview is more or less a formality to ensure that you backup everything you said on your application, so he didn't need to see further evidence. I don't know.
Anyway, I then asked if there was anyway I could pick up the visa earlier since my fiancé was having surgery Thursday but he said no. I was slightly disappointed but so happy to be approved that I said, "okay" and practically skipped out of the Embassy to the McDonalds next door where my sister was waiting. She asked how everything went with a worried look on her face because earlier I had told her that it shouldn't take long and if it did it probably meant bad news LOL. So the whole time I was in there for two hours she had been worried about me but I told her I was approved and we celebrated together!!!
Well, They told me to pick up my visa on Thursday at 11am and knowing that my fiancé was having surgery that same morning, I bought my ticket for friday morning thinking even though I would miss the surgery at least I could be there first thing the next day.I arrived, went through security and sat and waited for ms darling. When she called me up to the window I noticed she didn't have my visa in her hand and I got nervous. That's when she told me that there was some system error or failure that had something to do with my fingerprints and the FBI's system and blah, blah blah. Honestly, I was so upset that I don't even really remember what she said. I just remember thinking that maybe they'd found something in my file and decided to revoke my approval or something or wanted to conduct further checks on me. it was nerve wracking. She made me retake my fingerprints but said it still wasn't working. Then I thought, maybe the new IO who conducted my interview did something wrong. Who knows?. In the end she sent me away empty handed which was so devastating. I cancelled my ticket and had to call my fiance's parents (she was out of it so I couldn't speak to her) to tell them I wasnt coming the next day and didn't know when I would be. I went back to the Embassy that friday and the system still wasn't working which meant that I was stuck for the entire weekend. I started frantically searching the internet to see if this had ever happened before and I found some articles saying that it had and that it took a couple weeks to get it fixed, I was in tears that I couldn't be there for my fiancé. Anyway on Monday I called Ms.Darling and she said that "they were working on the system" and that she would call me later on that day. I waited on pins and needles for her to call and she did about an hour later and said it was working and I could pick up my passport that afternoon. I was THRILLED but this time I didn't book my ticket until I had it in hand- I had learned my lesson. LOL. When I got there, Ms.Darling was so sweet and apologetic and she even asked how my fiancé was doing which I thought was nice. She gave me my passport with the visa inside, a large sealed envelope and a HUGE envelope containing my chest X-rays. She explained not to open the sealed envelope and to hand it over to the CBP at the border.When I got home that night I realized I hadn't asked her whether or not I was supposed to give my chest X-rays to the CBP as well. I decided not to and packed them inside my luggage.
Also at my interview, the IO also told me to make sure I gave myself extra time at the airport which I did. My flight was at 845am but I got to the airport at 6am and it was a good thing I did. I checked-in in less than 5mins (during which the agent asked me why I only had a one way ticket so I had to explain that I was in possession of an immigrant visa ,which she confirmed and said okay). When I got to the initial CBP officer, she was a really nice lady who looked at my visa, smiled and said, "oh you're getting married" and I smiled back and said yes. Then she asked me to follow her to secondary where I sat for an hour and a half! Some other guy was in there with his huge chest x ray envelope and I thought, "Oh no, was I supposed to bring them after all?" but the officer immediately gave them back to him and said he didn't need them. Finally, the CBP officer took my packet from the tray and I saw him going through it. I found myself holding my breath yet again because since it's a sealed envelope I had no control over the contents and just hoped the folks at the embassy assembled it correctly. In fact, in the case of the guy before me with the chest x-rays, they hadn't included his passport photos in his packet and he was so scared but they let him go through anyway. When my name was called the actual thing only took about ten mins, he explained that I had to get married in 90 days and that I should not leave the US until I adjusted my status etc and he was really nice too. I wasn't asked to swear an oath like some other people on this forum said they did. He also told me that he had to keep everything in my envelope and he just passed me my passport back with my I-94 number and Alien registration number written on top of my visa. MAKE SURE THE CBP TAKES YOUR ENVELOPE.DON't ALLOW THEM TO GIVE IT BACK TO YOU, it's for them not you.
By the time I got to my gate they were calling my flight!!!!! So I seriously advise everyone to give themselves a LOT of extra time.
All in all, I have to say I had a good experience with the exception of the system error that was no-one's fault but it was surely inconvenient. I would'nt have cared if my fiancé wasn't in the hospital but hey, that's life and things happen. If not for that I would've given my experience a 5 star review, everyone was very pleasant and professional and the process for the most part was a smooth one!
Sorry this was long but I hope it helps someone who like me wanted to know EVERY detail of everyone's experience who'd gone before me so that I could prepare myself and help calm my nerves.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #15328