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| Argentina |  Review on October 24, 2023: |
snewbery
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We setup the medical appointment with Dr. Grillo three weeks before the Embassy interview. Dr. Grillo was very friendly and allowed me to accompany my fiancee for the simple medical exam and all went well. She had to get three vaccines (Triple bacteriana, triple viral and Varicella) plus an X ray at the Trinidad Hospital a block away. The cost for the vaccines was 97000 pesos (100 dollars at the time). After that we walked to the US Embassy just blocks away and delivered the advance packet containing all the required document copies and passport style photos. The final interview at the US Embassy was the best and easiest part of this long and stressful process. Her appointment had been scheduled for 1:45PM but we got an email from the Embassy a few days before, moving it up to 9:45AM on the same Tuesday. My fiancee and I arrived 20 minutes early, there were long queues for the Tourist visas. We went straight to the guards who directed us to the ladies who work the queues, She announced that we were here for a K-1 visa, they asked her name, checked their tablets and sent her through the main gate, bypassing the lines. As others have mentioned, I was not allowed in the Embassy. She left her phone and other belongings with me and proceeded through the gate and the usual security screening. After that she was directed inside and told to skip another long queue and sit in a waiting area. Her name was called and she was directed to a window where a clerk asked for some of the originals of the required documents. Specifically the Acta de Nacimiento (birth cert.), Divorce decrees for both of us, good conduct police report, plus past and present Argentine passports. They also took her fingerprints at this time. After a short wait she was interviewed by the male consul who was very kind and friendly. His questions were:
how did we meet?
was I, the petitioner a US citizen?
whether she was previously married
had she ever been to the US? (No, which made things simple)
what was my profession?
did we have plans to marry once we arrive in the US? (obviously yes, and very soon!)
where would we live?
did I own my house?
The consul smiled and concluded the interview, taking another set of fingerprints and announced that she would get an email that same afternoon. When my fiancee asked if her Visa had been approved, he repeated that everything was OK and that she would get an email in the afternoon. She emerged from the Embassy with a smile, we had a long hug and headed for one of our favorite Confiterias in Recoleta, for coffee and medialunas. We checked the ceac.state.gov website and her Visa case showed "Approved". She did not receive the official email until the next day and the Visa then showed as "Issued". A celebration with friends at one of Recoleta's great restaurants would follow. We paid extra to have DHL deliver her passport and Visa document packet to her apartment in La Plata so we do not need to return to Buenos Aires.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32661