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| Ukraine |  Review on June 7, 2007: |
John W
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The interview process at the US consulate in Kiev was a pleasant experience for us. Our paperwork was well organized and complete. The staff there was professional and courteous.
We had a Thursday 9:30 appointment and showed up about a half hour early. A line had formed in front of the security checkpoint at the Consulate so we jumped in. Since we had plenty of time I didn’t jump in front of the Ukrainians in line though I could have being an American citizen. I showed my passport but my fiancée wasn’t asked for hers though she was on the list for that days interviews.
We went through the security station and they do have some small P.O.Box size containers with corresponding plastic number fobs like you would get from a coat check attendant. They took my chap stick, apartment keys, cell phone and I had already warned my fiancée not to take her purse, cosmetics or anything else that was listed on the Consulate website as being prohibited.
After passing through a small courtyard we then entered the main building and went down the hallway to the right all the way down to the immigrate section (though the K1 is really a nonimmigrant visa). We then talked to a woman at one of the windows and she asked for the various forms and evidence in order of the checklist from packet 3. It appeared she was putting them into some kind of binder. Then I had to go back up the hallway to the payment window to pay my $100usd fee. We took receipts back to the woman who had our documents as proof of payment and then sat and waited for probably a couple hours.
Though we had a 9:30 appointment it seemed to be first come first serve once you got inside. Eventually the woman called her name and held up Susanna’s passport and motioned us to the back window for the interview. A man came to the window and told us after reviewing our documents that no interview was really needed because they had no basis for denial. All he asked was, “how did you meet”. I told him I found her on a marriage agency web site, exchanged a few letters and went to visit her in Ukraine. No questions about the IMBRA act compliance though I had first contacted her a couple weeks before the law went into effect. He then told her to insert her finger in the scanner and took her fingerprints. They compare them to a database of known criminals apparently which is why she didn’t get her passport with visa stamp immediately but had to arrange a courier service to send it later.
We were given some small piece of paper that allowed us to set up delivery of her passport. We then had to go back out through the courtyard and into a tent–like building with trees growing up through the roof. There at a window we had to pay in hyrivnias the equivalent of $8usd for delivery of her passport. After that we collected any belongings left at security and went to celebrate!
Just to provide a little further background, neither of us have children and have never been married. My fiancée has never been to the US and I have visited her in Ukraine three times. Our interview date was on May 24th and she received her passport with visa stamp by courier on June 5th.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1679