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| France |  Review on January 29, 2024: |
gustavosgf5750
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Since the US Embassy in Lisbon doesn’t process Immigrant Visas, I received my Interview Letter on 12/13/2023 to attend the interview appointment at the US Embassy in Paris on 01/10/2024.
This is my story as a Brazilian passport holder living with a residence permit in Portugal.
I attended the medical examination on 12/20/2023 at X-Clinic with Dr. Marta Monteiro. The staff from the clinic was pretty helpful and scheduled the exam quickly. They will email you all the documents you need to bring to your exam. You need to do a quick chest X-ray at a different clinic (close to Sete Rios). At X-Clinic, you also do some blood work (they told me it is a test for STIs) and have your vaccination records checked. The clinic has some age-specific exams; I was 25 at the time of the interview, and apparently, people below that age don’t need to go through the chest X-ray. Both my Brazilian and Portuguese vaccination records were accepted as proof of immunization. Also, be sure to take a COVID-19 booster and flu shot if you take the examination during fall/winter time. The CDC updates the vaccination requirements without further notice, so be sure to check on that.
The exam cost was 224€, and the results are sent electronically to the embassy, so you won’t have any envelope to take for your interview. Also, be aware that your exam is only valid for 6 months, and you can only schedule it after receiving your Interview Letter. After some days, they will contact you to get a sealed envelope with your results; they warned me that CBP might ask for this envelope at the time I enter the US.
Now the interview:
I got the Chronopost envelope at La Poste in Orly Airport. I speak no French, so I just showed the picture on my phone from the envelope to the La Poste worker, who, to my pleasant surprise, also spoke Portuguese. It costs 59€, be sure to ask for the 2Kg envelope. I flew from Portugal to Paris two days before the interview and stayed at a hostel in Crimée. It was freezing cold in January, so be sure to take some warm clothes. The embassy is easily reached by the Paris subway; be sure to get out at the station Concorde and take exit #3 towards Avenue Gabriel. My interview was scheduled for 09:30 am; apparently, Wednesday is the date they do IV interviews, and specifically the IV interviews for residents in Portugal.
They have a timetable at the entrance telling which appointment times are available to enter at the current time. I got there at 9 am and had to wait for a while at a park from the other side of the road. When they flipped the appointment time to 10 am, I was able to get in. You first show your DS-260 confirmation at a green tent at the entrance; then, they do a quick search in your bag (DON’T bring your laptop or suitcase, they’re not allowed in. I’ve seen people running around looking for storage space and had to walk pretty far to find it). Finally, they check your passport to see your interview time.
After that, you go through a metal detector and leave your phone and any small electronics in a sealed bag that you can retrieve later after you leave. Inside the embassy, you show your passport and DS confirmation page again, and they give you a number. They had a line specifically for residents in Portugal; the staff was super friendly and spoke Portuguese, English, and French. On this first line, you are greeted by a very friendly lady that speaks Portuguese and asks for the original documents you submitted to NVC (Birth certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Decrees, Police Reports, etc.), 2 5x5 pictures (The embassy says to bring 1, but this is outdated, and you should bring 2), the 2Kg Chronopost envelope, and give your fingerprints. She confirms your telephone, email, and the address your passport will be shipped to.
Since my DQ was in September, my police reports from both Brazil and Portugal were expired at the time of the interview (they are only valid for 3 months), so I made sure to get new versions which the lady said would be useful to add to my case, and she took the new versions. My guess is that even though this was not necessary, it was still better to bring new versions. They ask you in which language you would like to have your interview.
After that, they tell you to wait for your interview. The embassy has a pretty big waiting room with vending machines and a photo booth in case you didn’t take your picture. After some time waiting, your number gets called again at a screen. This time a very polite and friendly lady did my interview; she made me raise my right hand and swear that all the information in my application and interview was true and correct. She asked simple questions like “How did you meet your husband?” “What does he do for a living?” “Where do you plan to live in the U.S.?” “Besides Brazil and Portugal, have you ever lived in any country for more than 6 months?” “Have you ever stayed for longer than 6 months in the U.S.?” “Were any of you married before?” “Does you or your husband have any children?” “Have you ever been to Mexico?” The last one was pretty weird, but since I had lots of trips in my DS-260 travel history, my guess is that she was trying to see if I was lying about anything.
I was packed with all the financial documents from both my main sponsor and joint sponsor (paystubs, tax transcripts, bank statements), pictures, flight tickets, hotel reservations, letters, etc., and they didn’t ask for any of those.
After some silence for two minutes while she was scrolling on her computer, she smiled and said congratulations; your visa is approved! I was so nervous that my sweaty hand left a strain on the desk of her window ?
Now this is the useful part for everyone who is not an EU citizen and is flying to Paris to attend the interview: Since I don’t have a Portuguese Citizen Card, my Brazilian passport is my only travel document to fly/travel back to Portugal, that means it would leave me stranded in Paris if they kept my passport and sent it all the way to Lisbon.
Thankfully, the embassy is pretty aware of that. They allow you to keep your passport to board your flight back home, and as soon as you get back to Portugal, you just have to mail your passport back to the embassy. I asked for a piece of paper with the address, but they also have this information available online at the NVC website.
I mailed my passport through DHL as soon as I returned to Portugal on 01/11; it arrived in Paris on the 15th, but the embassy was closed because due to a National Holiday, they finally received it on the 16th. The cost to ship the passport was around 60€. At CEAC, my status stayed in Administrative Processing right after my interview until it changed to issued on 01/22. I got an email from the embassy on the 26th (Friday) stating that my passport left their office, and I received my passport with the visa on the 29th (Monday), so it was pretty fast!
That’s pretty much it; after some long waiting, this whole journey is finally over. If you have a simple case (no criminal records, no previous overstays in the US, etc.), don’t fear! My husband and I didn’t have any called "strong evidence" (joint lease, joint bank accounts, insurances, etc) since we never got to live together. We relied on our application solely on pictures, travels we took together, cards sent on special dates, and affidavits from family members because that’s what we had to prove we have a relationship. If you have a real relationship, you will know every question they are gonna ask you at the interview ?
Good luck to all of you!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #32917