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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on June 21, 2022: |
SG&PG
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
TL;DR - Interview took around 4 hours because my wife had to exit the building to upload missing documents to the consulate's visa online system, the embassy needed time to find documents she mailed to them, and she was last on the list to be interviewed that morning.
Long version: My wife's interview was at 7:30am. US Embassy has no parking for visa interviewees so we had to park a few block away across the street on Roxas Blvd East Service Road near the Bayview Park Hotel. Empty parking spots were roped off but we told the parking attendant we were headed to the US Embassy and he kindly opened up a spot for us. I walked my wife to the Embassy after parking (about 5 minutes walk) and they let her in 15 min early. Unlike other people's experience, her interview process took about 4 hours. This was for several reasons:
1) During the first pre-processing step where they check all the visa candidate's documents, the US Embassy representative informed my wife there were some missing documents, my latest US Tax transcripts and her latest NBI Clearance. The year prior, I had submitted these documents online and they were accepted by the consulate's online visa application system (CEAC) but apparently the embassy needed more up-to-date versions. My wife was also informed that she needed to upload these documents to CEAC, and even though she had hard copies of these documents, they didn't accept hard copies because we used CEAC for our visa application. Now how the heck is she supposed to upload these documents to CEAC if a) She is not allowed to bring any mobile or electronic devices (side note - smart watches fall into this category. My wife had to beg a guard to hold her watch) into the embassy and b) The US Embassy does not provide a computer or any other means to upload these documents to CEAC? Turns out the embassy allowed her just one hour to exit and go outside the building to find a way to upload these documents to CEAC. So my wife exited the embassy and since she could not contact me via mobile phone (I had her phone with me and as waiting in a nearby Starbucks) and did not want to walk to me (it had been raining on and off that morning!) she found another way to upload the required documents to CEAC. Apparently this is a common problem. And so there is an opportunistic "Ate" or woman standing outside near the embassy with a mobile phone that assists people with this sort or problem. She was able to help my wife upload the documents to CEAC but with not without a cost of PHP 250 per page. Don't ask how many pages she needed to upload. Thank the good Lord my wife had cash on her. Side note 2 - Ate accepts GCash but what good is that if you do not have a mobile phone? What a racket!
2) Other reasons why this was 4 hour ordeal. a) My wife had mailed some required some civil PSA and medical certificate documents to the embassy instead of bringing them to the interview. The embassy had a hard time locating these documents but after an hour tor so hey found them. b) She was last on the list to be interviewed that morning.
Once she got to the actual interview, it was quite easy. The first question was "What is the full name of your husband?" My wife naturally answered correctly, smiled and almost laughed at this question. The interviewer noticed her reaction and told her that she would be surprised how many people actually do not know their husband's full names.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #31172