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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on December 18, 2020: |
chris413
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I arrived at the embassy with my wife around 20 minutes before our 7AM interview, but we did not get into the embassy until around 7:20 due to the line of other applicants. There were many more people there than I expected and about 5-10 people for each of the 7:00 and 7:15 times slots.
A surprise to me is that they will not allow phones in the embassy or hold them for visa applicants. As a USC I was able to have them hold both my phone and my wifes at security, but I feel this would put many visa applicants in a difficult situation as I did not see anything on the interview email about this.
After we got into the embassy my wife went her way to the interview area and I waited in the outside waiting area. They would not let me attend the interview (I do not know if this is expected or is due to the pandemic). The interview email did say that petitioners would not be allowed in, but I figured I would try my luck anyway. My wife was done a little before 9 so the whole process took less than 2 hours.
From what my wife told me the interviewers were pretty friendly and did not have many questions about the requirements or our relationship. They did ask questions about why we were choosing to move back to the US NOW, how many times my wife has been to the US, and the address that we would be staying at in the US. My wife made some mistakes on the details but they corrected her with the documentation we provided and didn't have any issues.
My biggest frustration through this entire process has been the lack of communication from the embassy when trying to get our interview scheduled. I tried to call the embassy multiple times this week to clarify details about the interview but could not get through. The whole NBI clearance with AKA is also a bit confusing as this is stated as a requirement, but is not needed for first marriages (at least in our case). We have been stressing over getting our interview scheduled and preparing requirements over these past 4 months and a little communication would have made things much easier. Happy to be (almost) done with this process!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #28912