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| France |  Review on November 8, 2015: |
noz
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My appointment was at 1 PM on November 4th 2015. I got there about an hour early and just waited in the park nearby. Around 12:40 I decided I’d check to see if they’d let me in and as I was walking towards the entrance I saw soemone being sent back across the street. I asked her what the guard had said and she said she was told to wait across the street. After a seeing a family be admitted I decided I would at least make sure the guard knew I was there. When I told him what kind of visa I was here for, he told me to wait and called the girl who was across the street. The guard was fair to let her in before me since she had come to him before me.
Then there is another checkpoint where they scan your bags for electronics, which you have to leave with the guards before actually getting inside the embassy.
Once in the waiting room you are given a ticket and wait for your number to be called. I was number 4 so things didn’t take very long. I was called a first time to a window where I was only asked to give proof of payment (from usvisa-info). After more waiting I was called to another window, this time to give my birth certificate, passport, police certificates and all other relevant documents. I had my “JAPD” certificate but the woman didn’t want to see it.
I had read that even though the I-134 (affidavit of support) is not required anymore at the US embassy in Paris, they still accepted it if you decided to bring it. This is not the case anymore. I had it with me and offered to give it along with all the required documents but the woman replied that they don’t take it anymore. However she did mention that CBP might want to see it at POE.
She asked if there were any other documents I wanted to add to the file. There were, some of which I wanted to keep originals with me and only give copies to her. She looked at both original and copy, stamped the copies and added them to the file before handing me back the originals.
The woman also gave me back all the documents we had submitted in our K-1 petition (proof of meeting in the past two years), including all the photos of us, and a copy of the approved I-129F petition.
I then sat down and waited to be called for the interview. I knew from reading on VJ that the third time they called you was for the actual interview. For some reason I always envisioned the interview taking place in an office, sitting down in front of the interviewer, so I was a little surprised to see that it happens at one of the many windows in the waiting room, identical to the ones I had been summoned to twice before. The first two women I talked to were French and were polite enough. I had read in some reviews that some can be especially unfriendly but my overall experience with them was positive.
The interviewer was an American woman with a big smile on her face and immediately put me at ease. Definitely more friendly than the previous women I talked to. She asked if I was comfortable using English for the interview, I said yes and she had me raise my right hand and swear I would say nothing but the truth. She didn’t ask me many questions:
How did you meet your fiancee?
Where is she from?
Where does she live now?
What does she do for a living?
Have you been to the US?
Have you met her family?
Has your fiancee been to France?
Has she met your family?
There were a few more questions very specific to my case, which I will write about in a separate thread. (13 years ago a passenger in my car had marijuana in his bag and I ended up paying the fine for him).
Are you ready to move to California?
YES!!!
You’ll receive your passport in 10 to 15 days. Congratulations. I was so happy, it must have been obvious on my face since everyone I saw on my way out smiled at me (mostly people waiting for their interview). I was out at 3 PM.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #18315