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| Ankara, Turkey |  Review on October 17, 2008: |
camistanbul
Rating:  | Review Topic: Direct Consular Filing
My husband and I arrived a few days prior to his interview so that we could take care of his medical exam. We were concerned that it might take more than 1 day to get the results back, but we had everything in hand after a few hours (and thus had a lot of time to kill in Ankara -- ugh!).
The day of our interview, we arrived at the Embassy and waited outside ofor ~10 minutes before the guard let us in. He checked my bag and asked us a few questions, then we walked over to the door. A woman immediately came up to us and asked us for more photographs (!) which was NOT part of their I-130 checklist. We panicked, but fortunately my husband had some extra photos with him. Definitely bring extras just in case. She took our information and then we went inside to wait. Apparently, at this point they should call your name and you go up to pay the fee. This didn't happen for us. The next time we were called was for the interview.
The woman who interviewed us told me (USC) to go sit down. My husband did his interview in English and it went very well. She asked a lot of the typical questions, "Where did you meet?" "How long have you been together?" etc. We were married just a few months prior to the interview, so she asked about that but we had been living together for ~2 years, so she didn't question it too much. We had gathered LOTS of evidence of our relationship -- put together a book of photos, brought bills, papers, etc -- she didn't look at ANY of it. After a few minutes, she said it was approved! We were flying!
We left the Embassy and as we were walking away, we realized they had never asked for the $400 fee! We went back, but the guard outside said "If they didn't ask for it, you didn't need to pay it." Huh??? He wouldn't let us in, so we left and wondered what happened. We left Ankara and then emailed the Embassy, telling them what happened and that we just wanted to make sure all of our things were taken care of. My husband was paranoid that the $400 would come back at some point and haunt us. The Embassy emailed me back 2 days later and apologized for the mix-up and that yes, we had to pay the $400 by going to Fortisbank or going back to the Embassy. Well, there's no way we wanted to go back to Ankara again, so we went to Fortisbank and told them we needed to pay $400 to the Embassy, so could they issue a "blok cek" to us for that amount. They couldn't. Apparently, they were only authorized to issue $355 blok ceks for the I-130 application. Ahh! SO I called the Embassy and explained the issue. We wanted to pay the $400 but the bank would only issue $355. Typical Turkish bureaucracy! The woman I spoke with at the Embassy was sympathetic and apologized, then told me that they would take care of it and call me back. I didn't hear from them for 2 days, then they called and said that they had spoken with Fortisbank and now everything should be OK. She also said if we had any other problems, not to hesitate to call them again. They were extraordinarily nice and I appreciated that they helped us. We went back to Fortisbank and apparently, because of our case the Embassy and Fortisbank worked out a new deal so that they can issue "block ceks" for ANY amount -- not just that $355 I-130 fee. Whew!!!!
Anyway, paid it, sent the check to the Embassy and a few days later they sent us a receipt via UPS. Despite the mix-up at our initial interview, I really felt like our dealings with the Embassy were positive and they were VERY helpful. 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3467