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| Uruaguay |  Review on October 6, 2005: |
lizroxy24
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our case was sent from NVC to Montevideo using DHL. It didn't show up on the DHL website but by calling DHL and giving them the date that the package left the NVC they were able to track it for me and tell me the exact time it arrived in the Embassy.
I have made several calls to the embassy which has been useful in finding out information about case status. The first tip in calling from the US is to call the main embassy number (598-2-418-7777) then dial 0 immediately and skip the phone tree. That will bring you to the operator for the main embassy, you then ask for the "Consular Section".
The main Embassy operator and many of the consular staff speak excellent English. I was almost always transferred to a woman named Blanquita, I got the feeling she was in charge of the fiancé visas. She is very nice but likes to try and explain things before you finish your question. The embassy is relatively small and compared to many other countries there are not a lot of people filing for this type of visa. She asked for my fiancée’s name and seemed to know immediately some of the specifics of our case.
Packet 3 apparently is being sent by Nunez (a bus line) as my fiancée lives in a part of Uruguay where DHL does not service. It has taken almost 2 weeks and still hasn't arrived. When I spoke with Blanquita today to ask a question about the I-134 I was able to convince her to put us on the interview schedule by assuring her that we had already collected almost all the needed paperwork. Right now they are scheduling interviews about 5 weeks out. October, November and December are their busy months as people are scheduling summer vacations/ tourist visas. Other times of year visa interviews are only 2-3 weeks out.
She seemed surprised when I mentioned I would be coming to Uruguay for the interview. Apparently it is not a crucial factor in the visa determination for them. I do believe my mentioning that I wanted to make travel arrangements did help convince her to give us an interview date prior to my fiancée receiving the packet 3.
All in all a pleasant experience if you are patient and willing to work up through the levels until you get someone who knows what you’re talking about. Everyone I spoke with was pleasant and professional.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #200