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| Ethiopia |  Review on June 29, 2007: |
reeses16
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We had a great experience through the Embassy in Addis Ababa. Within a week of NVC sending our case to the Embassy the Embassy forwarded to my fiancee and he had it in his hands within 7 days. He received is packet 3 (in Ethiopia there is no packet 4) which also included his interview date. But we already knew his date, when I called the Embassy 3 days prior the lady who took my call volunteered his interview date without me asking.
Generally, I haven't heard of any VJ people have problems through this embassy. However, I do want to share that on the day of my fiancee's interview 7 people were interviewed and he was the only person to get approved that day. I don't know why the others were not approved. But we followed the VJ guidelines and had no problems. One thing, Ethiopia really wants to see call logs, not used phone cards. We had a ton but the CO didn't want to look at them because they didn't prove who I had actually called. She was however very interested in our e-mails. We had a ton. My fiance insisted on printing them all. I didn't think it was necessary (who wants to read all the random stuff we talk about...I though maybe 2 e-mail for each month we'd been together). Anyway, my sweetie was right! He was only asked 5 questions and 3 came from our e-mails! The CO tried to trick him. She asked what city I went to school in. He told her Nashville (correct answer), she said he was wrong I went to school in DC. Then she asked him again where I went to school. He replied, "I don't know what to tell you, but I know she goes to school in Nashville." Then she told him he was approved! The other questions were about my dad, my dog- stuff from our e-mails. Our binder and evidence was VERY well orgranized and documented. They didn't ask any questions about details in the forms, income, etc. I also our interview was sucessful because my fiance did it in English. When the CO called his name, he said "Hi, good morning." And she seemed surprised and replied,"of course I speak english!" and laughed.
A few other things, tell your significant other to be themselves. My fiance was worried about not appearing traditional enough. He has dread locs and was considering cutting his hair. We decided not to because we both love his hair and he has locs in all of our pics together. After talking with friends who have successful gotten visa in Addis, they pointed out that the Consular Officers (COs) who do the interview are Americans. So things that Ethiopians consider to be respectful and proper such as talking softly and not looking directly at someone while speaking are often viewed as being unsure or deceptive. Be direct, simple, and show good eye contact.
Also, K1 interviews are done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday approvals recieve collect their passports and visa after 3:00pm on Thursday. And Thursday approvals collect them on Tuesday.
My fiance
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1743