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| Costa Rica |  Review on July 15, 2016: |
kc214
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Super fast and easy interview. Our interview was at 12:15 pm. We recently sold our car so we got an uber and arrive at embassy at around 11:45 a.m. No one was allowed until 12 so we waited outside. If it is rainy season, either arrive just on time or take an umbrella because there is no roof to keep you dry while outside.
We went through security where one of the dumb officers there told us to open our medical envelope because according to him everything has to be opened. He then he got yelled at because the medical results have to be sealed. Note to self: listen to your intuition first, I asked him multiple times if he was sure because I knew that we could not open the documents. They just stapled it back closed and it didn't affect us in any way.
After you pass security, you have to get a G number and go to the door where the interviews are done. There is no one there guiding you so make sure to ask. Because tickets are given as people arrive and not based upon their interview time, many people lost their place in line because they didn't know they had to grab a ticket.
After we were allowed inside, we didn't even sit down because they immediately called our number. Talk about efficient. This is the first "mini interview". We had it with a super nice girl, she asked a lot of questions about our relationship, simple questions but still a lot. She also had a copy of the email that was sent to us from the embassy and then she requested all of the information that was stated there. So make sure you read the email from the embassy carefully and collect all of the documents as they request them, especially translations. She was delighted that we were so organized and began telling us stories of unprepared people. This was fairly quick about 15 minutes. We then sat back down.
This is where the wait began. It was around 12:15 pm when we sat down and we didn't have our official interview until around 1:40 pm. When we first arrived to the embassy there were a lot of people for tourist visas. The officers had to interview all of those people before they began the residency visas. This took about an hour and then the officers left and a new officer came.
The official interview took about 5 minutes max. The officer was extremely nice and pleasant, he asked us very basic questions...when/where did we get married, where we are going to live in the US, what I do for a living, how did we meet....and that was it. He said congrats your visa has been approved, you can pick it up in 5 days.
Side story that I think is very important. Because the interviews are at bank teller like windows, you can hear everyone else's stories. There were 2 people, a mother and son, who paid an attorney to do all of their paperwork. BIG MISTAKE. They had none of the correct documents, they had no idea what was going on or what the first girl was talking about. I felt so sorry for them because they looked like deers caught in headlights. The Hoja de Delincuencia that they had was not the international version so the girl told them straight forward, "your visas will not be approved today, the officer will give you a slip with all of the documents we still need and this will delay your process at least 2 more weeks". They did not have the correct birth certificate needed, they didn't have the translations, they didn't have the page from usvisadocs stating where they would pickup their visas, they didn't have any proof of relationship to petitioner. Basically the attorney sent them to their interview with nothing.
The once really nice friendly girl got extremely irritated with them, especially when the mother tried to blame everything on the attorney. The girl told her that even though she is paying him to fill everything out she still needs to be informed because this is something for her not for the attorney. During our interview, I saw the girl walk over to one of the officers and told him everything, I am guessing that he was the one that was going to interview them.
I cannot stress enough the importance of researching. Read as much as you can. It is always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. We didn't even get asked for the majority of the documents, but better safe than sorry.
Overall I would give the embassy a 4.5 haha. just because we had to wait a really long time from our first mini interview to our official interview.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #19947