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| Warsaw, Poland |  Review on May 23, 2009: |
Agnieszka
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I had a CR-1 interview in Warsaw in May 2009. The interview was scheduled for 9.30 and even though they say in the papers that coming early will not get you an earlier interview, that's not true. We were there at 8 (I attended the interview with my husband) and they let us in right away and told us to get a number. There were 4 people (1 was the whole family) with earlier numbers, so we were 5th in the line. First we were asked to present our documents and a Polish lady checked them and asked some simple questions, for example whether I entered the US knowing I would be getting married. For those of you who don't know, if you get married on a tourist visa and then you go back to your home country the answer should be NO. We didn't plan it, so it was true for us:-) The lady was ok to us, but she was quite nasty to a woman who came in with her mobile phone token (the security gives it to you when depositing your phone) and thought that was her line number. The poor woman looked really scared and honestly, how are you supposed to know what to do if they don't give you any instructions, just let you in the lounge.
Then they asked me to wait till my number shows up again. They took my fingerprints and then we paid the fee. All of those things happen in the same room only at different windows, so you don’t have to go anywhere. Then we waited quite a bit. During that time we could hear other interviews. That sucks a little bit, as everybody can hear what you’re saying and you have to speak loud, as it all happens through the glass. The first guy was on older fellow and they only asked him to raise his right hand and swear what he said in the papers was true. Then he signed the application and got his DHL slip. The consul was a younger woman, she sounded very nice and congratulated the guy. I was very happy for him! It sounded like he’d been waiting for years. One girl had to present the copy of her mother’s green card and the consul lady took a while to check it (that was a different lady) then the girl had to sit down again and wait and then she had to go to a different window for something but finally she was asked again to the original consul lady and was told everything was ok. The next applicant was an older woman and she was sent away because she didn’t have the original I-864 from her daughter. The consul lady said the copy was not enough and asked her to come again. She was very apologetic and helpful, but the older woman seemed disappointed and tired. No wonder, I guess. After that lady nobody was asked for a while, so I got a bit nervous, as our number was next. Then a new window opened up and our number showed up above it. The consul was a guy and I bet it was his first time doing a visa interview. He looked confused and stressed out and those two consul ladies were telling him what to do or say. He was trying really hard to speak Polish (actually read it from a hand out). We made it clear he didn’t need to but he clearly wanted to. He didn’t ask me or my husbands any questions, just told me to raise my right hand and swear all I was saying was true. Then I signed, he said everything was ok and that my passport would be sent to me within 5 business days. Then he asked the other consuls if he should tell us that I have 6 months to enter and they just said ‘No, they know’, so he looked at us and we said ‘Yeah, we know’, so he asked me when we were planning to leave and we said July and that was that. The whole embassy visit took 2 hours, but most of that was waiting. The interview itself was no more than 5 minutes.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4443