|
|
| Ukraine |  Review on June 3, 2009: |
O&V
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We were at the consulate around 9am, the interview was scheduled for 9:30am. A little plot of land before the consulate was filled with visitor/business/student/exchange visitor visa-seekers, about 200 people all together. There were two-three local people, apparently consulate-hired security people. They behaved like very important people, at least by the way they were treating the crowd, shouting commands and directing the crowd. Almost like herding a crowd of prisoners... No machine guns, though, which was comforting.
We went to the beginning of the line, where there was an inconspicuous sign "Immigration visas and US citizens". We identified ourselves to the guard, who basically said "Come back at 9:25am and someone from the consulate will come out and pick you up." Outright lie. At 9:25 the same person showed up, checked that were were on the list, and told us to go through the door when the green light above the door lights up. So we did. We entered the consular section at 9:30 after leaving our cell phones at the guard desk and going through a metal detector.
Inside the consular section, the first thing one sees is a huge crowd of visitor visa-seekers. One has to manage around the crowd to proceed to the end of the hallway where there is a little room (total capacity 13 people) for immigrant visa applicants. We had about 15 minute conversation with a nice lady who took our documents. She was unhappy that we did not have joint photographs (I had copies of my airline tickets and a copy of my passport showing numerous entries to Ukraine) but she took copies of my telephone bills showing numerous calls to my fiancee's phone. Document-taking took about 15 min. By the way, even though consular instructions ask for originals and copies, the only copy we actually needed, was a copy of my fiancee's birth certificate with translation.
We then proceeded to wait. In about 30 minutes my fiancee was called for fingerprinting that took about 5 min. All-in-all we were ready for the interview around 10:15 am, Yet we ended up waiting until 12:15 om for the actual interview.
The seats in the waiting room are extremely uncomfortable. Nobody behind the glass seemed to care about the people in the waiting room. There were two other couples waiting for either the fiancee of spouse visa. One was denied due to ineligibility (two year home country residence clause), another was granted. In addition, there was a young woman who quickly got her visa, a lady who brought her elderly mother for immigrant visa interview, and a few US couples dealing with adoption documents and visas. Together with us, this morning there were 6 applicants total.
I fail to understand why, but we were waiting almost exactly 2 hours for a call from the consul for the interview. He definitely was not in a hurry. We were dead last. The interview itself lasted about 30 seconds. My fiancee was asked to raise her right hand and affirm that everything that is written in the forms is true. So she did. Then the consul asked what do I teach. After which he said "You are all set" and handed a pink slip to my fiancee.
We went to a plastic tent located near the entrance and paid 60 UAH for a courier delivery of my fiancee's passport. By about 12:40 we were out of the consulate.
My overall rating is 3 out of 5, which can be broken down as follows:
Consular staff:
- 5 when they are talking to you (taking documents, fingerprinting, etc.)
- 1 when they are moving behind the glass, going about their duties.
Facilities/room:
- 1: waiting room sucks. There is nothing to do over there. You cannot take much of a reading with you, and there is nothing to read inside. TV shows a set of short clips about the USA. The content is totally stupid and gives no idea to a potential immigrant about what the USA really is.
The interview:
- 5. It was really easy. The consul is a nice guy.
Summing up and assigning equal weights to my four grades, the overall rating of this consulate is only 3 out of 5.
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4501