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| Ukraine |  Review on August 29, 2005: |
MikeAndIryna
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
My wife (then fiance') had her interview in Kiev on a Monday in June of 2005. I was with her during the interview, as was our 11 year old daughter. The Embassy gets quite crowded with about 75-100 people waiting to enter for various reasons. However, there is a guard located inside the fence, just to the right of the entrance that will verify your interview date/time and allow you to move to the head of the line.
The entrance has two lights above the door. If it is "green" the next 2-3 people can enter to go thru your initial security screening. They will ask you to leave your cellphone, key's etc. at the entrance and give you a #'d receipt to claim your possessions later and allow you thru with your paperwork, notebooks, etc. Once you are in past the security shed and in the compound, you will go straight ahead to a large door and allowed in the main facility. Once in the facility, make a right and follow the hallway all the way around to the left. At the end of the hallway is the interview window where you will be asked for your forms, photos etc. and then asked to take a seat. You will see two interview areas to your right, where when they call your name, you will go up to the window for your actual interview.
The interviewer we had, a man around 30 w/ a Van Dyke & read hair/glasses, was very nice - and very thorough. He asked my wife how we met, how many times have we seen each other, where will we live, is she planning on working, how were we able to communicate (this was the "key question" in our interview - her response was her girlfriend is an English teacher and translated the emails for her). They also called over our daughter and asked her two ??'s - "Do you like your father and are you happy about moving to the USA?" They also asked me to come over for a couple of questions, but the big one was "did you ever give $$ to her girlfriend, for the translations?" I replied "No, she is a family friend". We were told we were approved, went down the hall and paid the $200 ($100 each Visa), got the receipt and took it back to the main interview window so they could stamp it.
On the way out of the main building, there is a man sitting in the "General Visa" area at a small desk with a laptop. If you take your receipt to him and pay him $6 or $8 (can't remember the exact dollar amount)he will give you a receipt where you can pick up your Visa at the FedEx office that evening, vs. waiting for them to deliver it. The FedEx office has around 20-25 people per day waiting to pick up their Visa's and you must show the gaurd at the gate your recpit in order to go to the FedEx office that is located off the loading dock as you enter.
Note, we had a slight hiccup w/ our Visa. We were approved, but the Visa was not at FedEx Monday night as planned. We went back to the Embassy Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday and were always allowed to go right in, but that was because I had a US Passport. Our problem was the date on our documents for her birth were 1 day different than her birth certificate (Dr. error). This was not caught at the NSC or NVC prior to the interview. The Embassy had to email the State Dept. so they could run another background check to make sure there were no problems or Visa violations for my wife. They said this process takes 3-4 days (which included Monday) and we got the Visa Thursday night at FedEx.
Overall, the Embassy people were very helpful, very pleasant and very thorough. I would suggest if you have any problems at all, that you ask to talk to your interviewer and not just one of the window clerks. On Tuesday, we talked to her and got "bum info" on why we didn't get the Visa. She stated since we were the last interview for that day, we must have missed the cutoff for printing and could pick it up Tuesday nite at FedEx. However, once we talked to our interviewer and found out the actual reasons for the delays.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #26