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| Belgium |  Review on September 7, 2022: |
Nika P
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Let me start by saying that, this year, the US Embassy in Brussels was very busy. The number of people that live in Brussels and want to immigrate to the US is large (this includes non-Belgian citizens), and because of the Ukraine-Russia war, a lot of Ukrainians pass through this embassy to immigrate to the US. Not only does this affect Brussels US Embassy processing times, but also the time it takes to get a medical appointment. This is made worse by the fact that recently the license of the doctor in Antwerp to do a medical check for the US Embassy has expired. So, if you are wondering why you can't book a medical appointment before your interview at the US Embassy, it is a combination of the following four things (according to Dr. Raphael Nardone):
1. Everyone goes through Brussels because it is one of the only available places in Belgium.
2. The war in Ukraine has increased the influx of immigration cases, and therefore also visa medical appointments.
3. Surrounding countries (NL, GE, FR) have either very costly medical appointments, or their next available appointment is much further away than ours. This brings citizens of those countries to Brussels.
4. There is still a lingering backlog from COVID.
The people at the Embassy are very nice. The website says you can't bring bags or electronic devices, but I brought my phone and my phone charger (to charge on the train) and that was fine. Other people brought bags, which was fine too. They did say that they won't let you in if you have a laptop with you. My guess is that, if you bring anything bigger than a cellphone, they probably won't let you in with that and you'll be screwed because there's no place to put it. When you get to the Embassy gate, you will need to wait a little bit if you're early. I had an appointment at 1:45 pm and could not enter until 1:30ish pm. The reason for this is that the lobby and office are not very big. If you do get there early, there is no place to sit or hide from rain outside, so bring whatever you need to stay comfortable. They will search you at the gate. Once you're cleared, you will walk inside and they will ask you to put your belongings in a box that will be x-rayed, and you will have to go through a metal detector. They gave me back almost everything from the box, but they kept my charger in a different box for safe-keeping and gave me a blue receipt to get it back later. Once I was let into the lobby, I had to wait for staff members to get to desks 6, 7 or 8 (almost felt like waiting at the airport). A guy showed up at desk 8 and handled my case. This is not the "interview" itself, this man was just responsible for checking if my original documents are the same as the ones uploaded on CEAC. Apparently, they want to see the exact documents you uploaded. If you're Belgian, you know that our background documents are all digital and digitally verifiable. That's why I requested new digital documents because the ones I uploaded on CEAC had expired. Don't do that. It creates more work for the person checking your documents. There is also a photo booth at the Embassy that takes your passport picture with the right dimensions for 5 euros (to the left when you enter the lobby). So, if you don't have a picture, don't worry. One thing that I had extra and was not on CEAC was the I-864 with 2021 taxes (on NVC I uploaded the I-864 with 2020 taxes). I had to give that too (with the 2021 W2). They kept the I-864s, the W2s, the marriage certificate, my birth record and my police record. Lastly, the person at the desk took my fingerprints and then told me to wait until my name was called by a Consular Officer. This person will give the interview. First, they make you swear an oath to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. You just talk about how you met and what you guys are intending to do with your lives. There's not much that can go wrong unless it is obvious you are trying to commit marriage fraud. They didn't even want to see any evidence of a relationship between us. (However, everyone's case is different so do bring yours.) In the end, the Consular Officer returned me my marriage certificate, birth and police record, and told me that once my documents were checked (probably the extra I-864 and W2 I submitted) they would print the visa and email me once they hand my passport to the courier service. I received two emails the next day, one from the Embassy that looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/ocXsziH and another from the courier service telling me my visa will arrive by the next day. So, the time between the interview and the passport + visa delivery can be as short as two days.
All in all, it took one year and a day for me to get my visa. Sept. 7th, 2021 was when we first started applying and Sept. 8th, 2022 is when we had the visa on-hand.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #31413