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| Mumbai, India |  Review on August 30, 2023: |
TrashJay
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Applied Nov 2021, Interview Date Aug 24 2023.
Appt time : 7.15am
Waited across with group that was larger than expected, a solid 100 people. Reading the various reviews, we assumed there was the usual Indian mentality of rushing ahead and thought there was no need to do so as we had an appointment time. Note to those who don't like waiting, don't be ignorant like us lol, people started rushing up before the person barely mouthed the letter 'I' for immigrant on the megaphone. Knock people over if you have to. We had around 20-30 people ahead of us by the time we got to the line that had formed. I, the sponsor (US Citizen) was not allowed to accompany my Wife, some online say they did, but that might have changed, or maybe when the people are less. If you are able to stay at the Trident I highly recommend it, Sofitel is close, but Trident is literally across the road and its a very decent hotel all things considered, but the proximity cannot be ignored. They offer a car to take you to the embassy if it's raining, but I don't know what the point of that would be, it's literally a 2 minute walk if that, and you'll still be stuck in the rain after you exit the vehicle, but in general they are aware most of their clients are there for the consulate, and it's reassuring when they say what time you should leave etc... For us not having to stress about a taxi reaching on time, and the ability for me to go back and have breakfast after she entered, and a place to decompress afterwards etc is priceless.. I thought I could wait it out in our comfy AC room, but my nerves got the better of me, I had to go wait outside and find out ASAP what the result was, it was probably the most stressful couple of hours in my life, I just paced back and forth, and nervously watched as copious amounts of people filtered out the exit, it was heartening to see those whose lives were clearly changing and the joy they had, but it was also very sad to see those who had been rejected, it's an emotional place to wait. I counted hundreds leaving, yet we only had those 20 or so in front of us and she was in the first batch of the day. Her not being able to text, just added to the tension.
Her experience inside. Upon entering she was given a token, like at the deli counter, and sat patiently about 30 mins before the 1st interview. We were noting just how many documents and full blown photo albums others were carrying, one dude literally had the whole Harry Potter collection worth of docs with him, and we just had one simple accordion folder. We couldn't tell if we were under prepared, or others were being overly cautious. Her 1st interview went smoothly, nothing of note. My concern of how long things were taking, was purely down to most people coming for Visitor, Work and Student visas being seen first, considering she was applying for permanent status, it made sense things would take time, only 3 US officers were interviewing such candidates, of the 16 or so counters.
After the 1st interview her wait time was a good 2-2.5 hours regardless of the 715a appointment time. Like I said, knock people over to get to the front of the line lol!
The US officers seemed to give preference to see some people ahead of others, expecting mothers etc.. people were called verbally, there was no screen showing the order. note, she had requested English speaker. A mix of people were seen before her, but she was able to somewhat hear people, and knew of 4 others applying for same type of spousal visa. One was a clear rejection, 2 approved, one hard to tell from reaction. She was worried to get the female officers as they seemed more strict, luckily she got the male officer, at least that's what she felt. We ourselves had arranged marriage, but was not overly concerned about proving the Bona Fide side of things, I was concerned about the finances as im a freelancer and not so straightforward, no W2 etc... First few questions were standard, but when he pushed her on our 10 yr age gap, it was something neither of us ever considered being an issue, this was the first time she worried, and that's when he started to seem suspicious, and whether it was my first marriage etc... She mentioned examples in her family with age gaps, and he moved on to other topics, such as my profession, what activities we liked to do together, when he asked where I was, and she answered 'outside', that seemed to be a positive (note to those debating whether to accompany, even if you can't enter), but it seems the turning point for him was seeing the album we hastily put together a couple days prior, it included 100 pics, he glossed over the first 30 or so marriage photos, because so what right, everything has these photos. We've been fortunate enough to take a fair amount of trips over the last year or so, and luckily documented them, honestly with no real thought process of them being needed for such a case, I feel they know when you're faking it, so don't. The pics though, we were really glad we put them together in the end, even in a really haphazard fashion, but it worked to convince him it was a genuine marriage.
One picture of us in particular seemed to hit a nerve with him in a good way, and he immediately said the magic words "you're approved". He retuned the documents, explained some admin, and immediately after that she left. She didn't note any refreshments on offer as some have mentioned, so eat and hydrate before hand. Toilets are obviously available, but she noted only one person going, as adrenaline and fear of missing being called running through everyone's mind. Again, knock people over to get to the front of that line! I recommend that, and staying at Trident, ask if you can get a room overlooking the embassy maybe if you are accompanying, that's one regret I had.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32467