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| Georgia |  Review on September 7, 2017: |
Ulrica&Jesse
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Yesterday was a huge day for me - finally had my IR1 visa interview at the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi.
Needless to say - I was extremely nervous and worried.
My interview was scheduled for 8.30 am and me and my husband arrived an hour earlier, something that was pretty much useless, since ''Polite'' and ''Welcoming'' Georgian guards were rude and disregarding to us and other applicants waiting outside - nothing out of the ordinary.
Finally, after standing in front of the embassy for about 40 minutes and inhaling fair amount of car exhaust , security officer finally started letting us in one by one.
Went through the typical security check.
Notice - you are not allowed to bring any sort of cosmetics, medicine and metal objects. As for the cell phones, I left mine at home but other's just had to turn them off and leave them with the security.
My husband was not let in the embassy and thankfully there is McDonalds right across the street from the Embassy. So that's better then nothing.
After security check, one by one we were let into a small interview hall. It was peaceful and quite inside, lights were still off and as other applicants were coming into the room, embassy workers behind the glass in front of us casually were getting ready to start their working day.
Soon we were called by Georgian worker sitting behind the window and asked us to give him our passports. Afterwards one by one we were called to his window in order to have our fingerprints taken and documents checked. Even though checklist clearly said to bring copies of civil documents along with originals and translations - they ONLY cared about originals. Absolutely nothing was asked of me except original civil documents(Marriage license, Birth Certificate, Police certificates with BOTH maiden and current last names),sponsor's I-864/tax papers and two passport sized photos.
After providing all the necessary papers to the Georgian employee, I had to wait about another 10 minutes before I was called again and this time it was an American visa officer who had all my papers together in front of him gathered in a paper folder. I noticed that, before calling me he went through that folder first for couple minutes.
My heart was pounding but I was still able to squeeze out a smile. He smiled back at me and his nice demeanor sort of put my mind at ease a little bit. He was really pleasant american man, probably in his 40's. He told me to raise my right hand and swear that my answer will be true.
Questions he asked:
1. So you are married to? (name of my husband)
2. How did you guys meet?
3. Where does your husband leave, what does he do?
4. Are you two planning on moving back to U.S. together?
5. How long has he been living in Georgia with you?
6. How long did you stay in the States when you went to visit him?
He handed me the pamphlet about domestic abuse and asked me to read it and later asked me if I understood what that meant etc. Basically it was talking about rights of foreign spouses in case some sort of domestic violence incident occur.
After looking at his screen for another couple minutes he smiled and told me that my case looked good and my visa will start processing soon.
My visa was printed today and I'm hoping to be able to pick up my passport soon. 
It was almost a year long process and it's finally over. ...It.Is.finally.OVER.
I can breathe again
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #22462