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| South Africa |  Review on April 24, 2018: |
sp1360
Rating:  | Review Topic: EB-2 Visa
I just picked up my passport and visa. It has been quite a journey to get this far and I'm writing this because I am so grateful but also because I didn't find any information regarding employment based immigrant visas for the Johannesburg consulate.
My appointment was set for 16th April at 1pm. My advise is to get there early! You will have to sit outside and wait but if you go early: 1) you will be able to grab a bench to sit, 2) you will be one of the first ones to be interviewed. I was there at Noon and no one was there. By 1pm there was a decent amount of people, most were for non immigrant visas.
I ended up being the 2nd inline for the interview. At first they call you to the counter to collect all the documents. You have to go and sit back down and wait for them to call you up for the interview. After waiting for about 10mins they called me up to a different counter and I was interviewed by a young American lady. I was pretty nervous but it was actually very straight forward. she asked:
1. How do you know the petitioner and How did you get the job
2. In which state is the company at
She was friendly and the questions were asked in a very causal manner as she kept typing away on the computer. She only asked me 2 questions but I feel like it was because when she asked me the first question was I pretty elaborate and also mentioned what I do now and what qualifies me for the new job. She then asked me if I did the medical. I had done it but apparently it wasn't sent on time to the consulate by the clinc. She then said to me that "we are sort of jumping forward, but everything looks fine for approval, I just need to take a look at your medical results. When the medical comes in I'll hit ok and it should be fine". She basically told me that my visa was approved pending medical results. I MUST elaborate on the medical clinic that we are assigned to get things done from at Johannesburg:
My medical appointment was schedule for 13th( for blood test and x rays) and on the 16th( for immunization shots if required). I phoned and emailed them a couple of times asking if the 2nd medical on the 16th was enough time to send the results by because my interview is on the same date 1pm. The two ladies at the front desk are just terrible and not helpful at all. They said it should be ok but it wasn't! I collected my visa today, 24th of April and the embassy was ready to hand over my passport before the 19th because I had come from a foreign country just for the interview and I had to urgently fly back for work. The medicals are only collected every Monday and Wednesday. So if you need rush out of the country, make sure you get your second medical a couple of days before your interview. There were other people with me at the line and they faced the same problem, we were all scheduled on the 16th for the 2nd medical. Try avoid this! I had to reschedule my flight twice and extend my hotel twice because of the terrible medical staff at the Clinic( Family Medical Centre - Dr J Hoosen)
Apart from that, everything at the consulate went smoothly. Good luck to everyone going through the process! The interview is more of a formality and is a pretty straight forward process. I was nervous wreck and I hope reading this will help put someone at ease!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #23680