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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on February 18, 2008: |
zeroland
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
(This is an edited version from 2 e-mails that Ruth sent me. She hasn't had time to do the actual review yet, hopefully she will get around to doing that soon. She has 3 kids. They first went for their medicals on Wednesday, but the doctor or nurse "forgot" to do the TB test on the kids, so they had to come back; that is what Ruth is referring to...They first went for their medicals on Wednesday, came back on Saturday, came back to get the results on Tuesday, and ended up back there again for the interview on Wednesday...AND they were there for 10 hours on that Wednesday, and were the last ones out of the building!!! Lucky for us, she and the kids were staying at the house of a family friend, AND she had added an extra day to the trip, "just in case". Turns out that was a good idea. )
" Something happened on Saturday. We went to pick up the kid's medical results and then, after an hour of waiting they told us that they should do the tuberculosis test to them. I didn't know, and they never told me or the kids anything about it. One of the doctors didn't want to accept that they made a mistake, because on Wednesday, when they finished with me, one of them, a lady, came to me and told me that we were done, and that all we needed to do was to pay. I asked her if we didn't need any vaccination, or some other test for the kids or for me, and she said, NO, that we were completely done. So she took me to the cashier and made the kids sit there to wait for me, so I payed and went out. And the doctors never told the kids anything about that test, so I explained all that to the doctor and she said, " But you should know because we wrote it in the instructions you received by mail!" And I told her that I reviewed those papers a lot of times and all that they say is that the kids need to be there 4 days before the interview, but they never explain why!!! So fortunately there was a very nice nurse who gave me the reason, so the doctor said that she would ask for authorization to make the test in that moment so we can pick it up on Tuesday, and try to go to the interview that same day. So they put the vaccinations to the kids and the nurse was very kind and gave some candies to the kids because they were behaving so well, she was even talking a lot to Mauri so he would not feel nervous. Then I was worried because, as you know they said that adults need to do the medical exams 1 or 2 days before the interview, so I thought "oh no, maybe they will need to do that to me again!" I asked them how all that would work, and they told me that I don't have to worry because I can use the medical exams within 6 months. So, well, now we are ready for tomorrow, we are going very early to pick up the medical first and then I will try to do the interview ...."
" ....I was very angry because, as you know they applied the tuberculosis test to the kids on Saturday because as I told you, they forgot to do that on Wednesday as they should have. They told me to bring them on Tuesday so they can see the results on their arms. So we went and they saw that their reaction were negative, so good for the kids, then they said "the results will be here at 2pm" and I told them "but I am ready for the interview! I will like you to give me the results now, you have them, so I can go now to the interview" It was 7:30 am and I could have been done that that day. But they said, "NO, you should come at 2 pm", so we called Chela to pick us up.... then we came back at 2 pm, and guess what....We waited 2.5 hours to receive the results!!!!! I was so angry, I told them that it was a mistake that they made with my kids and that I deserved to receive the results on time! But they were so calm!! And then the machine that closes the envelopes broke down, and so on, and so on..... the kids were desperate, and waiting there I saw a lot of mistakes the people that work there do, like how they don't inform the people about what to do and what to expect..... well, that was the reason, but I was thinking "well, I don´t want to pass through all this again, I am so tired..." I was negative, and very tired, that was why I decided not to call you, I didn't want you to hear me telling you these things. I am so glad that this is over!!!
Yesterday (Wednesday) was terrible too, we were in the line at 7 am, until 9 am. We entered, at the entrance they asked for the passports and the date paper, then they checked purses, coats, etc. and we walked to a building where they asked again for the passports and that date paper and gave us a number and we sat until we were called. We went to window number 1 where a nice man checked all our paperwork; our file was on a beautiful dark pink folder, very huge, and he checked every thing you sent and asked me for:
* the birth certificates, the originals
*divorce certificates, yours and mine, copies
*your affidavit of support, only the originals no copies
* your tax return
* the photos
* the forms that I typed on the computer, I-156 of everybody, in duplicate, and I signed them there and Danny
signed his own (Danny is 14)
*the letter of intent that I signed there
* the letter from your work
* the medical results, that were in a black envelope and we should not open, we never saw those results.
I showed him the letter my ex gave me, but he said, "no, I don´t need that, but have it with you just in case."
He made little packages, for the kids, and he asked some questions like,
-What does your fiance do for work?
-Have you been married before,? How many times? And your fiance?
Then he told us to sit again and we waited and waited, until they called us to take our fingerprints, Danny and mine only. After that they told us to go to another building and wait, and we waited for 4 hours!!! For the interview there, with no chairs and between hundreds of people, I sat the kids in a corner in the shadow, fortunately the day was nice. While I was between the people hearing every name they were saying, waiting to hear mine..... suddenly I heard, "Ruth XXXX, window 18 please" so we went and I was ready to take more papers there, but the nice lady didn't asked me for anything else. She had all our paperwork with her and she was checking everything, including the pictures you sent. I never showed her our little photo album or anything else, and while she was looking at everything she asked me a few questions:
* Who is Daniel XXXX? (my fiance)
*Have you ever been told not to enter the U.S.? (no)
*What does your fiance do for work?
*When did you get married in Mexico? ( I told her that we are not married yet)
*When are you planning to get married? (As soon as possible because I understand that I need to get my social security number first---she smiled while she nodded her head like telling me that I know what I am doing)
She didn't ask anything to the kids, and she was very kind, she just said, ok, sit and wait for your visas, and asked me if I know the conditions of the K visas, that they are valid only for 6 months and that once I enter the U.S. I should not go out and that I have 3 months to get married, etc. She asked me all this because I told her that I will enter before the kids and she said that it is ok, and she smiled.
So we waited and waited, for more than 2 hours! And the room was getting empty.... until we were the only people in that big room and there were no people outside!! Where there had been hundreds of them!!! Only us and another person. I was very worried, and the police officer told me that maybe I should come back the next day so I began to be worried more and more, because I had the plane tickets for the next day, etc. My head was spinning out thinking that maybe they found something wrong and they will not give me the visa, etc... My goodness it was stressful!!! Until suddenly, a woman came and told me that everything is ok and she gave everything to me, the visas and the 4 packages that we should not open and that we need to give to the immigration office when we come into the U.S. And she explained again everything to me. They didn't say anything but because of how I saw them, I am sure that they misplaced my papers, somehow they put them in another place or something........... well as soon as we got out there, we were the last ones leaving the building!!! I took the kids to a little restaurant out there to give them some food and then I went out to a public phone to call you, I couldn't wait to tell you that we got it!!"
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #2486