|
|
| Guayaquil, Ecuador |  Review on August 17, 2021: |
JKLSemicolon
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
As of 8/2021 Guayaquil is doing a 2-day process for immigrant visas.
The first day was just to turn in required paperwork. My wife's appointment was at 12:00 PM and she was back out of the Consulate at about 1:30 PM. There was a lot of waiting involved and they took originals of some (but not all) of the civil documents requested at the NVC stage, as well as some (but not all) of the relationship evidence we prepared. They told her to bring the rest to the interview the following day because the folder for the file wasn't big enough for everything. In our case they were particularly interested in our original marriage certificate (which was returned the next day) but did not take anything related to an updated Affidavit of Support I had prepared, or a packet with additional photos/boarding passes/etc. related to visits that happened after filing the I-130.
The second day's interview was scheduled for 7:45 AM. My wife was back out within about an hour or so. She reported that the interview itself only lasted a few minutes and they asked questions like where and when we met, where and when we got married, why she left the US after starting Adjustment of Status. She was also asked if she understood the pamphlet about domestic violence that they gave everyone on the first day. They didn't review any of the additional evidence we had prepared. The officer told her she was approved and gave her a slip of paper with next steps.
Multiple people were given the same appointment times, and security guards called them in promptly when the time arrived. Everything, including the interview, was conducted in Spanish. I (the USC) was there both days but waited with family friends in a vehicle around the corner from the building. There were a lot of family members, etc. waiting right outside the entrance to the Consulate but there is really not a good place to do that so it was kind of a chaotic scene.
Overall the experience went smoothly. It would have been nice to know the interview time for the second day ahead of time since in our case to get to Guayaquil we had to book flights from Quito and ended up getting an evening return flight just in case the second day's interview was scheduled later in the afternoon. That left us with a lot of time to kill the second day.
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #30022