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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on April 18, 2015: |
Crazy/Beautiful
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
Hi!
I just wanted to post some things about my fiancés experience in Ciudad-Juarez for the consulate K-1 visa interview. I will quickly say that the taxis are expensive from the airport (about 300-400 pesos) and you do need to be careful of the taxis. Not to scare anyone with this, but just be aware of your surroundings. My fiancé said that it is dangerous there but there are a lot of police/security everywhere so that is both reassuring and alarming. It wasn't very busy this week when he was there (flew in on Monday April 6th 2015 and flew out on Thursday), there were no people on the streets after dark and not many throughout the day. The location seemed very quiet and not very long wait times. He decided to walk around and find the locations of all the places he needed to visit so he wasn’t stressing about it immediately before appointments. He mostly ate at the hotel restaurant (he stayed at IBIS-details coming) or at a restaurant in the plaza across the street from hotel. He tried taking pictures of the embassy and was quickly and aggressively approached by 4 guards-so it’s better not to take pictures. As far as the hotel, it was fairly cheap (around $100 USD for 3 nights) and looked very simple. The water was not working in his room after 2 days so they promptly changed his room. He seemed to be pleased with the customer service. There is no fitness center, no pool...there are no activities in the hotel when you have time to waste. Now, on to the good stuff...
Tuesday April 7th: Biometrics appointment-
My fiancé said it was fairly easy, his appointment was scheduled for 7 am. There are people who help and direct you. He was the fourth person in line and the officer refused him because he did not have a certain paper. (We received an email from the consulate stating what to bring to the biometrics and it only said the DS-160 and passport) He was missing the ‘Instruction page’ that was printed when you schedule the biometrics and interview online. This page only stated to bring it to the consular interview, not the biometrics appointment. Either way, he had his paper at the hotel, so the officer told him to go get it and bring it back in less than an hour. So, he was able to grab the paper and go back and a kind woman who had been watching from the beginning let him go ahead of her in line so he didn’t have to spend more time waiting and he was very grateful. He was finished by around 8:30. We had planned for him to do his medical the following day, but he stopped at one center (I don’t know which one, I couldn’t read the name from his pictures but it was white building with blue in the front-sorry this may not help at all) and there was nobody there so he decided to just do it then. On to the medical...
Medical exam: By far the biggest stress for our individual case...so he went for the medical (he had not eaten yet that day-I have heard that you need to fast, then I have heard that you don’t need to fast and he told me that the doctor told him that it was good he didn’t eat because you do need to fast) but it was exactly as others have described it before. There are many stations with many things you need to do...they take your blood, do a chest x-ray, visual exam for tattoos/piercings, vaccines etc... However, the trouble part for us was the doctor asked if my fiancé had ever done drugs. He answered yes, that he had tried marijuana and ecstasy. He was examined by the psychiatrist and she interrogated him for 40 minutes. She was trying to determine if he was a ‘drug abuser’ or a ‘drug addict’. He even gave a urine sample (which is not asked by everyone-it is strictly a case by case basis and I am assuming they do this when they are not comfortable with the conversation; a history of drug use whether experimental or not and/or suspicious of recent drug use). She said that she was doing her job and that she would have to pass all this information on to the consulate. He understood but we were so scared because they can legally deny the visa for prior drug use. I have looked this up and even the appeal/waiver process in case we were denied. I wanted to be prepared, but had I really been prepared and known everything, we could have prevented this scare. That is why I wanted to share this information. We were so confident about his appointment before the medical. I am placing a major emphasis on this part of the exam because I really have no idea if they have denied visas for this (to what extent, i.e. If it’s only enforced for a particular type of visa) or that they would deny a visa or was the doctor just trying to scare him or was she just being honest. I am clueless what the consulate officer looks at and how much prior drug use would affect the decision. (My fiancé had smoked marijuana over a year ago for fun and ecstasy for a few months when he was younger-by no means is he a ‘user’ or ‘abuser’) I know it sounds stupid when over 80% of people have tried drugs at one point in their life but nonetheless when you are trying to get a visa it’s really scary. Here is an interesting article I just found as I am typing this. http://www.usavisacounsel.com/articles/article-115.htm
Like I mentioned, the medical exam was difficult. My fiancé said the doctor kept trying to confuse him and was trying to make him feel bad for trying drugs. She wanted to know exactly which date he smoked pot and what he was doing, the dates of the ecstasy and why he decided to try it. Didn’t he know marijuana is illegal and so on...he replied you know, this is Mexico, everybody has tried it and he gave her the statistic I mentioned a moment ago. So many questions she asked. It may be their method to detect liars or something but my fiancé just told the truth and tried his best to remember things and when he didn’t, he just said that he was sorry and he really couldn’t remember. He says he wishes he would have just answered the question ‘no’ as many people have told him they have done that. Either way, I am not endorsing to omit truth, lie, deceive or embellish-I am not giving advice to anyone who reads this. I am simply mentioning my experience and my fiancé and what was said and how things happened for us. I only want to offer insight as many people before me have by sharing their experience so I could prepare for my own. Moving on to the actual interview…
Thursday April 9th: Consulate Interview-
My fiancé’s interview was scheduled at 7:15 am. I will not go into detail about the logistics of it because it is exactly how other reviewers have described. The only important part is just make sure you have all your papers, even if you think you don’t need something, bring it anyways. Just my advice even if most of the time they don’t ask for anything. The interview itself was very short and quick. The consular office only asked a few questions. The officer was a very friendly woman and made small talk with my fiancé. She asked:
What is your fiancés’ full name?
What is her mothers’ name?
What is her address?
When was the last time you saw your fiancé?
When and where did we first meet?
After that she said Congratulations, your visa is approved and handed him a green slip of paper with appropriate instructions. Just a note, they do take some of the documents that you are requested to bring to the interview. I am not sure if they return them or not when the visa is mailed or if they forward them to your local immigration office. Anyways, so the visa was approved on Thursday and it was in his hands on Tuesday the 14th!! We have scheduled our plane tickets for me to go to Mexico and bring him back with me the first week of May!! We are so happy and super excited and thanks to everyone for their advice and experiences! If anyone has questions, please feel free to send me a message, God Bless!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #16625