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| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on June 26, 2007: |
Walter G.
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Finally, after all the stress and trouble!! We drove to Frankfurt today, went through the interview process, medical exam taken and APPROVED! :dance:
Now Claudia's officially an ALIEN!
It was a pain, I gotta say, though mainly not due to the consulate in Frankfurt. We arrived at the consulate at 7:45, fifteen minutes before our interview time. Lots of people were already waiting and we experienced some pretty nasty weather--rain, cold and wind. Good thing I put on my jeans today, instead of just shorts like normal.
So nearly two hours later we made it through security. Most of the guards were friendly enough, though the fella wandering around outside talking with people was a bit short with everyone. Claudia got upset 'cause the families with children weren't being brought to the front of the lines...thank God we left our two at home!
Once we got into the building (wet and cold) everything started moving at light speed. Getting through security was fairly uncomplicated (no cavity searches), and when we finally got to the main building I immediately saw that our number was already being called. We ran to the window, appeased the woman since she had to wait so long for us, and got the next instructions. After that, we were immediately called to the next window to pay ($380), after which I had a (*much* needed) bathroom break. Coming out of the bathroom I saw that the next person already was talking to Claudia, who was a bit stressed due to my absence.
Here we laid out all our paperwork. Translations were ignored, DS-230s and all the rest quickly taken and checked through, and we got the initial ok. (The person helping us here, like all the people so far in the building, were quite civil, even friendly.) Now we only had to wait for the interview...
Which, no surprise, was totally anti-climactic. I believe the "interview" consisted of two questions--"how long have you been married," and "where did you meet?" The interviewer was more interested in the fact that we were headed to the Portland, Oregon area, which is where he grew up.  Again, a friendly person.
Next we had to wend and wind through Frankfurt to find the doctor's office for Claudia's physical. The instructions supplied by the consulate were very good, and we found the building no problem. More waiting, talking with other would-be IR/CR-1ers, and everything was done. We were a bit concerned about Claudia's immunizations, but they passed muster. We got the x-ray that we have to give at POE (why, actually?), and, 125 Euros lighter, we finally started home.
So the entire process took around 10 hours front-door to front-door, cost us well over 500 dollars, and not a little stress.
Thanks GOD it's done!
Three from five rating for the *slow* security process, for grouchy greeters, and for not having better rain protection. But the people at the consulate were by-and-large very friendly and helpful, as I've come to expect from the Frankfurter consulate.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1737