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| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on November 14, 2016: |
Sugarmew
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Overall it was very smooth!
I stayed in a hotel near the US consulate, arriving a day before my interview. I already checked out the area a day before to see where the entry is, the consulate is huge. I was so nervous I read over 60 reviews about the process to calm myself down. It helped me a lot, so I decided to make a detailed review myself too!
My interview was on a monday morning at 8.00am, I arrived there at 7:25am. You can choose between two lines, Non-Immigrant and All others, the lady in front directed me to the Non-Immigrant line. There were already about 10-15 people waiting, but I didn't wait too long. I got my ticket number at 7:47am.
After that you need to go to a man who hands you a plastic bag, you have to put all your belongings in there (keys, wallet, belt, ... excpect electrical devices, they're not allowed there), and wait at the white line until you're called into the security building. It's similar to the security checks at the airport.
Only negative: the security officer was REALLY angry and yelled at some people standing before me because they forgot to remove everything from their pockets... Literally screaming. But this was the only unpleasant experience from the whole process. (When he proceeded with me I told him "Have a great day!!" and after that he smiled nicely. They're all just humans in the end). I also had to give him my CD with the X-ray of my medical examination after he did the security check, I got a little plastic card from him so I can pick the CD up again after the interview.
Just follow the little courtyard, and in the entry you can put your stuff from the plastic bag back on, and the empty plastic bag itself in a plastic container. Right at the entry is kind of a receptionist, the lady gave me a piece of paper with all the information I need to go through this process smoothly. She directed me to Window 22, right behind the pink wall. The hall is rather nice by the way, there's seats for up to 299 people and a lot of windows.
You can directly go to window 22, no need to wait to be called. The lady asked for my passport and my appointment confirmation to see if I paid, which I did of course. She directed me to sit on a chair, facing windows 19, 18 and 17. A screen with ticket numbers plus matching window numbers were above that, so I could see where I had to go to what time. Only one person was in front of me. Advice: bring a pocket watch so you know what time it is. I didn't see any clock in there and was happy I brought mine!
I was called to window 19 after 10-15 minutes of waiting to a friendly lady who took my fingerprints and informed me how the Visa package will look like. After that I sat down again and was called to my Visa interview about 3 minutes later, to window 18.
The consul was a strict looking, but friendly man. By the way, the only thing handled in English, the rest was on German. He informed me "This is the official interview!". I had to swear all the information I gave was correct. His questions:
1. So how did you two meet? (I chatted a bit here, it was over the Internet)
2. So he was not stationed in Germany? (My fiancé is in the Air Force)
3. Is he still serving?
4. In which base is he currently serving?
5. When did you meet in person for the first time?
6. How long have you been to the USA after that?
7. What do you love about your fiancé? At first I joked: "Everything of course, that's why I want to marry him!! No really,..." and proceeded to say some things we have in common and some traits I really love about him. The consul laughed when I said we're both nerds and spend a lot of time gaming, overall he was super nice and smiled often from my answers.
8. When do you want to travel to the USA?
He then informed me that my medical exam results still aren't there (I had my examination exactly one week before the interview in Dortmund, but apparently it's new that the doc gets the results only a few days after. The doc told me then they'd send it out Thursday of Friday before the interview, so I expected it to be late already). He said everything looks good though and once they get my medical results they'll send out my visa within 5 days. He wished me good luck and a great day, and that's it! It took only about 10 to 15 minutes.
I just headed straight back to the security building, where I gave the officer (who had a little better mood by now) my plastic card and received my CD again. THAT'S IT! Overall I was there at 7.25am and was finished at 8.30am. To summarize it, a pleasant experience and less trouble than I expected! I'm usually a really clumsy person and was afraid I forgot something or would accidentally go to a wrong place or person, but this wasn't the case at all and it was super easy. Yay!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #20868