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| South Africa |  Review on September 30, 2008: |
Whippy
Rating:  | Review Topic: K3 Visa
IMMIGRANT VISA INTERVIEW AT US EMBASSY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – SEPTEMBER 2008
All staff at Embassy are fantastic .. from security to the case worker, as well as the interviewer.
Be sure to take along your Letter of Appointment, as even although they don’t specify you need to do so, this is needed at the check-in box outside the embassy to gain access to the building. Upon receipt of your letter of appointment the receptionist will issue you with a number and time when your ticket is issued.
Security will allow only one person in at a time. All battery operated items like a rolodex, mobile phones (switched off before you enter the building), chargers and lighters are kept at security. You are permitted to keep your watch if battery operated.
Prohibited items are scissors (even tweezers that resemble scissors), carpet cutters (Stanley knives) and obviously firearms and knives/weapons and this includes any karate type weapons. If any of these items are found in your possession you will be denied outright access to the main building.
Once clearing security you follow the walkway into a reception area, which has some well-read magazines and televisions. Your ticket number will be read out over an intercom system, as well as displayed on an electronic board. You will stand at a cubicle similar to a bank teller and all embassy personnel are behind a glass screen. You speak into a telephone.
Case worker will request various documents, e.g. passport, original full birth, full marriage, divorce papers, proof of support, copy of paperwork submitted when first filing and proof of relationship (photos). Once original documents are verified, one copy of each document will be requested. They retain the originals of SAP Clearance Certificate and FNB deposit slip, so make copies for your records. You will be asked to sign the DS-156K in front of the case worker and will be fingerprinted on an electronic system, then return to the reception area. Case worker asked my son if he liked his stepfather. Children are spoken with separately, although parents submit their documents. If you are immigrating with minor children, I would advise getting a letter from the child’s other parent stating that they are ok with the child leaving the country, if at all possible.
Once your number is called again you are interviewed. You raise your right hand and swear to answer all questions truthfully. Thumb prints are taken again. Due to time constraints in our instance very basic questions were asked, like where my husband worked, who of his family attended our wedding and their relationship to him, did my son’s father know he was leaving the country, when last he’d seen the boy, details of our previous marriages and children from those marriages.
At the end of the interview your original documents are returned, passports are retained and you are requested to pay a courier fee to DHL at the end of the reception area. Passports and visas should be returned within 5 working days.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3389