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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #21913
Guyana Review on June 7, 2017:

Duncan21

Duncan21


Rating: 		Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa

The interview was scheduled for March 1, 2017 at 9 AM.  Both petitioner and beneficiary attended the interview.  If the petitioner is also attending the interview, please take your US passport because security will ask for it, as well as one of the officers you will meet.  After passing through security, we sat in the waiting area close to one of the speakers (it was raining so it was difficult to hear the names as they were announcing them).  When our name as called, we proceeded to the window where we were asked to submit the following documents:

* Interview letter
* Original birth certificate of beneficiary
* Original birth certificate of petitioner 
* Original marriage certificate
* Updated police certificate (you should not use the same one that you used at the NVC stage)
* Medical Examiner's Report (please ensure it remains sealed)
* Two 2x2 photos of applicant
* Passport of beneficiary (ensure that it is valid for at least 6 months from the interview date)

We were then asked to wait outside until our name was called.  We waited about 20 minutes and our names were called again.  We proceeded to a different window and a pleasant female officer greeted us.  Both of us (petitioner and applicant) were asked questions:

Questions to the applicant:

* Who sponsored you?
* Is this the person next to you?
* How did you meet and how long did you know each other?
* What does your spouse do for a living?
* Where does your spouse live?
* Did you all have a wedding?
* How many people attended the wedding?
* Did any of your spouse's family and friends attended the wedding?  Who?
* How did you communicate during the course of your relationship?
* Did you all had an engagement?  When was it?
* Did you travel to the US?  How many times, and for how long on each trip?

Questions to the petitioner:

* Remind me how long your relationship was from time you met to now?
The officer then repeated the timeline of our relationship to me, but I corrected her since she mentioned the incorrect year that we started our relationship
* Who do you live with in the US?
* When was your last relationship?
* How many times did you travel to Guyana to meet your spouse (including this trip)?
* When are you returning back to the US?

Those were all the questions we were asked.  We took a lot of evidence of our relationship (2 huge binders):

* Updated i-864 (AOS) and copy of tax return showing we filed jointly with applicant as a non-resident alien (NRA), and recent W2s
* Employment letter (of petitioner) showing the start date of employment, location of work, salary and job title
* Years worth of phone call records from calling cards, skype (screenshots) and whatsapp calls (screenshots)
* Facebook conversations and whatsapp conversations
* Pictures from all trips and, our engagement and our wedding.  Most pictures were with other people in them.  Pictures included family members of both sides
* Wedding album
* Flight itineraries and boarding passes of all trips to see each other, and hotel reservations/bills
* Greeting cards to each other (Birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day)
* Wedding cards from guests to us
* Life insurance policy showing applicant as beneficiary
* Retirement (401K) statement showing applicant as beneficiary
* Receipts of gifts bought for each other
* Confirmation of delivery for flowers bought for birthdays and Valentine's day
* Copy of same credit card of both beneficiary and petitioner (I added my wife's name on one of my credit cards as an authorized user [social security number is not needed for this])

We never opened any of the binders because we were not asked to show any evidence; however, it is better to be safe and take as much evidence as you can.

The entire interview lasted for 10-15 minutes.  The female officer told us that we were approved and mentioned the next steps.  She asked when my wife will be traveling to the US, and we said in a month's time.  She told us to come back for the passport and visa in 2 weeks time.  However, we did sign up for DHL delivery and we received an email notification on March 6 (5 days after the interview) to pick up the visa and passport from the DHL office.  

Before the interview, we reviewed questions from here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/305724-what-are-the-possible-interview-questions-for-cr1/
and here: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/Consular_Interview_Questions

There are also many posts on visajourney for evidence of a Bonafide relationship, but see our list above.  Any evidence of joint ownership or mingling of finances will definitely help.

For the interview, please be honest about everything because they will know if you are not. For the Guyana embassy, it is strongly recommended that the petitioner attends the interview as well.

God's blessings and good luck - all will be well!

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