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| Korea |  Review on December 17, 2008: |
neonrain
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
On the day, all interviews are scheduled for 8:30am. They allow the petitioner to attend the appointment. We arrived at 8am and went right in, of course showing the appointment email to get in (they take your cellphone, like most other embassies I'm sure). You need to go up to the third floor and take a number. Then we waited and they only opened officially at 8:30. When they called our number we went to the window to hand over our documents. Make sure the documents are in the order of the checklist given in packet 3.5. I had mine all nicely arranged in plastic sleeves, but took them out since they didn't need them. So advice would be to simply have them in the correct order, copies of everything paper clipped to originals. The consular worker will go through it, check things and give back the originals. Then asked to take a seat and wait for fingerprinting. I was called a little while later and they took all my fingerprints. The fingerprint guy was quite friendly and funny. Then some more waiting. I was called up a little later and asked to go to the cashier to pay the fee. They accept dollars, credit cards or won. At the moment, the exchange rate is terrible and in the embassy it's even worse so we just paid with my husbands US card. Then some more waiting. We waited for quite a while then. Our file probably took longer to go through because our circumstance is a little different (I suppose). The other couples, the husband was involved with the military, and we are not, we are english teachers. We also had a joint sponsor affidavit of support, so I'm sure there was a little more to look at. At the time, waiting, I was sure they were in some way discriminating against me as a non-korean or something, but I was just being paranoid haha.
I was called up to the window for the interview. My husband came with me but was asked to stand a few steps back, but we were expecting that (I warned him on pain of death, no to speak unless spoken to). I swore the oath, then the man asked some questions: How long had we been married? Where and when did we meet? Where did we get married? Why in South Africa? Have I been to the USA before? Where will we live when we go to the US? When do we plan to go? and Do I enjoy teaching in Korea? (that one was random, probably trying to make some sort of small talk) then he said well, your visa is approved, it will be couriered to be within 5 days. I was also told that my chest x-ray had to go with me to US and be handed in at immigration along with the heavy brown mystery envelope. We walked out at 10:20.
I recieved my passport and the envelope and instruction paper (they really say "congratulations for getting your visa" on the info sheet haha) today by courier, only 2 days after the interview. I am most impressed by how efficient they were.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3724