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| Peru |  Review on May 19, 2009: |
mcarthey
Rating:  | Review Topic: K3 Visa
Overall the process went smoothly. Our appointment was scheduled for 8:45am and we arrived to find a short line at about 7:45am. Inside the small foyer we were asked to give up our cellphones and a bottle of suntan lotion we had forgotten. Once we were sitting, we only waited about 20 minutes before they called us to provide a few of the papers we had with us. I (husband) am from the US, and my wife is from Peru. They spoke entirely to her at this point. We sat and waited approximately another 45 minutes before they called us to another window. At this point, they requested a few more supporting documents and the medical records and pictures we had brought. The woman asked my wife a few basic questions about our relationship and where we met. She was speaking entirely in Spanish and since my Spanish is not so good, she asked a few questions in English when she realized I didn't understand very well. She only asked me one question about why I hadn't visited very often (money issues) and she was satisfied. Sitting again, we waited for quite a while... probably nearly an hour and a half. At this point we were called to another window where a very nice man, speaking mostly in English (since my wife is fluent), asked us questions about each others families and further expounded upon the earlier questions. He gave his congratulations and gave us the visa!  The entire final questioning and processing took about 15 minutes. It was relatively stressful with all the waiting, but we weren't really worried about anything. I believe I only saw a couple/few other Americans out of a couple of hundred people, but I think I was the only one that wasn't speaking Spanish. We questioned my being there, but believe it did help since the woman had asked for clarification from me. In the end, I'm glad I was there to support my wife and start everything out smoothly. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind and love.
I think the process could be streamlined since there were 5 windows for the earlier processing and only 1 for the final questioning. Since the earlier processing only takes a few minutes and the final takes nearly 15, it seems backwards to have so many windows for the earlier processing. Overall we were there for about 3 hours.
After we were awarded the visa, we were provided a sticker with a number on it. We had to go outside the small building we were in and went to another small area (still inside the embassy grounds) where we filled out a small form for DHL (the courier). We only had to pick a location/address from the nearly 20 DHL locations available in order for the embassy to send the visa/passport.
Overall it was a decent experience, but I'm glad it's over and my wife and I are *finally* together and can start our happy lives!
Please feel free to ask any questions you'd like since it's hard not to become an "expert" during this entire process.  
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4408