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|  Review on December 12, 2008: |
VivaBaños
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Consulate-Guayaquil.
I followed the advice posted here and attended the interview in Guayaquil with my husband. We were approved, but in the process experienced some delays. All of the communication at the Consulate happened in Spanish. Here's what happened:
We waited 3 hours to be called to the first window. At this window, the Consulate folks told us that NVC had incorrectly approved us not using a joint-sponsor. The Consulate said that I needed to send the Consulate original documents from a joint-sponsor to be approved, that sometimes the NVC doesn't check every detail and it's the job of the Consulate to make sure all's in order at this last stage. The clerk helping us at this window was very patient and thorough, explaining each and every detail so that we could send correct and complete documents to not have a further delay. This was disheartening to hear!
Following the joint-sponsorship news, we had to wait to do fingerprints and then the interview. It's nerve wracking hearing other folks go up for interviews, because only little curtains divide the interviewees from those waiting to be interviewed. We had a very successful interview when it came to that stage in the day and they commented on the amount of evidence that we had. The man that interviewed us made several jokes and that helped ease our nerves somewhat and he ended up talking about Baños and the pictures of my family with my husband's family more than anything else. We were approved, pending the submission of joint-sponsorship papers. They gave us the DHL directions for mailing the paperwork with passport to the Consulate and a number to call to verify that the case had been received and was being processed.
Unfortunately, DHL Express Ecuador held up our case by a week at this point. The joint-sponsorship papers were in Ecuador within 3 days of the interview, but DHL delayed it's delivery by 8 days. I was fuming! After jumping through that hoop, we finally got the package sent off to the Consulate. As you can imagine I did not want to use DHL after their shoddy service the first time, but it's the only service the Ecuadorian Consulate uses. I called the Consulate 2 days after it arrived there and was informed that I should not call back before 2 weeks had passed. I didn't have to call back because within 8 days it was sent back to us. We knew that because of the DHL text messaging service (only to US numbers) that I signed up for online.
Yet again DHL Express Ecuador delayed us. The truck from Guayaquil arriving in Ambato was robbed. That is to say, the truck with my husband's passport, US visa, and the sealed envelope for presentation at the POE was stolen. DHL is so irresponsible they did not tell me when I called them over the course of two hours inquiring about the arrival of the package to their office--NOR did they call the Consulate to report the robbery. Upon learning about the robbery which was a full 2 hours after having spoken with them by phone that morning and many hours after the incident had occurred, I rang the Consulate to tell them. They of course had heard nothing of this and needed to confirm with DHL. And so began another tortuous process for us.
We had to travel around gathering all the necessary documents to submit a new DS-230, new I-864s and I-864a (luckily my joint sponsors had sent multiple copies all signed and ready to go), as well as secure a new Ecuadorian passport. (FYI: in Quito to get a passport there is a new requirement as of the last few months that you need the certified fingerprints that you can only get at the Registro Civil in the southern part of the city.) All the while we had to fight with DHL to get them to cover more than just the cost of replacing the visa ($400) and passport--but for them to pay for all of the legwork it takes to get the other documents in Ecuador. They were terrible, but upon mention that I mailed Día a Día (ecuadorian news outlet) an email about their mal servicio, they coughed up the very conservative estimate we'd originally proposed.
We got everything together in a week and in my steadfast refusal to ever use DHL again, we made our way back to the Consulate, exactly one month after the initial interview (more than 10 hours by bus). During the robbery fiasco I explained that I would not use DHL again and that I wanted to present the documents in person and have it printed the same day. They agreed and politely answered every phone call I made to the Consulate directly--we had our own representative after the robbery! They'd advised that I call the day before we were going to arrive and so we did. We arrived on a Friday when they don't normally schedule interviews so the place was eerily silent. One or two folks came in but it felt completely different than it had a month before being packed in like sardines. We presented the documents all over again and we had to pay the $400 again. They explained the headache we'd face at the POE because of the stolen documents and said that we could wait or return at 1:30 for the visa and other docs.
By 2:30-3 we were walking out of the door with the passport, visa, and sealed envelope to present at the POE. Oh yes, and upon starting the process with USCIS all the way through the POE my Senator's office has been involved and called the Consulate on our behalf when all of this craziness occurred with DHL. Could be a useful piece of advice for others in this process...
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3715