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| Auckland, New Zealand |  Review on September 19, 2008: |
KimandRuss
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Wednesday 17th Sep 2008
My interview was for 10 am in the morning and have to travel 4 hours to get there so i started out very early on in the day, Auckland tends to have a few busy times with regards to traffic, early morning and late evening, so i gave myself an extra hour to deal with that and finding parking.
parking itself in Auckland is pretty easy, alot of parking all over, just look for the big blue and white parking P's and follow the arrows. i managed to find a place just a few mins walk away from the embassy.
the embassy itself was nice as easy to find, has a big american flag sticking out of the building. walking in there was three elevators, one seemed reserved for consulate business but i was told to take one of the other two elevators to the third floor. As soon as you step out of the elevator you are confronted with security and you move to your left and line up and wait to be admitted. I arrived ~45mins early and it was noted by the security guard who had to ask as to whether i should be admitted or not. sometimes you are asked to wait until your appointment time, as there is no seating around the security area you could be standing there for a while.
for my interview i got dressed up in a shirt and tie and dress pants, but really i was over dressed for the occasion, a nice shirt and a pair of jeans would have done me fine, at no stage do you go and sit down for a one on one and it is a lot less formal then i would have expected considering the detail you have to provide for all the forms  .
once inside i waited in the line i was told by the security guard for about 10mins only to be told i was standing in the wrong line and was directed to another booth (booth number 3). but since the woman maning booth 3 was not there it was actually best to wait in line where i had. the first woman collected all the documents and arranged them, making sure all the forms were there, she asked a couple form related questions and took my fingerprints then asked me to take a seat and wait to be called up to another booth. that whole process took about 10 mins itself.
there was another short wait while another couple of people were seen before me before i was called up to the window. i do believe it was the same woman who alot of other people have referred too, a tall blonde american woman, very friendly, and very good at making you feel at ease. made the whole thing a lot less arduous. the first thing she did was correct any errors in finger printing from the previous woman then started to go through all the froms. then she handed over the DS-156K and made me raise my hand andswear that the information i provided was correct to the best of my knowledge. She asked alot of general questions about how we met, where my fiancee grew up, about her family, when i planned on going there (i told her i already had a ticket for next wednesday but that it could be changed if required), what i was going to do for work, if we had planned the wedding yet, nothing to specific and all really just casual conversation, i found myself pro offering alot of information and generally doing most of the talking. After such a long wait you really just want to tell someone :P.
One thing we had clarified before hand with regards to my application was whether i required a police cert from australia. We were told that i would not require one if i had not live there for at least 12 months, this is what is stated on all the forms you are required to fill in and send back and was also clarified by the e-mail we recieve from the consulate (e-mail address and other embassy info can be found under the embassy info link) but during the interview i was asked for it and told i should have gotten one, i related to her that we had checked and she reassured me it would probably be fine and in the end it was but that whole "probably be fine" line had a few little bells ringining in my head.
further proof of our relationship from the petitionee side didn't seem to be required but was readily accepted with a smile, so i assume although you may no need it it is a good thing to provide, our proof of further relationship consisted of screen shots of chat boxes and e-mails, as well as updated and signed letters of intent.
After all the info was collected and the courier pack handed over she said it would probably be posted tomorrow or friday and be there by monday, and although she didn't say "approved" i got that impression from her and her manorisms. At the end of the interview she went over all the requirements of the visa, stating that i had to be in the country before the visa expired, that it was a one time entry visa, and once there i had to be married within 90 days.
After that i left the "booth" area and made my way back past security and promptly took off my tie and felt alot more relieved. all and all the whole process took less than 45 mins and i was out of there before my schedualed interview time. on my way out there was one woman trying to get in who had been late for her interview time which held her up even more while the guards decided whether she could go in or not, so it pays to be early, you probably wouldn't need to be as early as i was but at least 15-20 mins is plenty of time to get through the security measures.
all and all it was a very good experience, we personally felt it was more of a non event then all the other experiences we had had so far but i think alot of that came from just how easy and efficiently it went through. make sure you have all your documents and you wear a smile and you really shouldn't have anything to be worried about with this stage of the process.
i recieved my visa in the mail on the friday after my interview and tracked it using the courier tracking system.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3358