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|  Review on June 8, 2009: |
mamaronga
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We came in taxi and arrived at 6:30 am with all our papers. We were staying at a very cheap hotel that we recommend, Hotel Chile which is on Portete and Chile right on the Plaza España ($7 a night, with a fan). We had to come a day early because you can ONLY pay the $131 at Banco Guayaquil IN Guayaquil itself, not in Quito or anywhere else, so definately plan to come a day early, and a day that the banks are open! We waited in the non-immigrant line, which was fine, but we later realized we could have waited in the resident visa line which was called in first and went faster. They made my fiancée (Ecuadorian) leave his fanny pack behind because it was too much like a “bag”. Note, they don´t let any type of bags or purses or backpacks in! I carried my passport in a very small passport pouch. Other than that we just carried our papers in our hands. We entered without any problems, no one questioned me entering (even though they announce many times that ONLY visa applicants can enter, but it isn’t true, no se asusta!). We were told to go upstairs to wait. It IS frigid in there so DO bring a SWEATER. The building is a LOT smaller and a LOT less intimidating than I had imagined. We waited like 1 hour to be called down to the windows. There we waited more because no one was at the window we were called to. Finally a woman came and was looking at our I-129F. She was interested in one of our photos and asked about it. Then asked a few more questions, like, if I have been living in Ecuador since January, and in what year we met. She asked for the forms (DS 156, DS 156 K …ONLY ONE COPY OF EACH ONE!... with the police report and birth certificate, The medical report, the proof of paying banco Guayaquil, etc…) Surprisingly she did NOT ask for the Affidavit of Support. She did NOT seem very familiar with our case, as if she was looking at it for the first time. NOTE: I had solicited a letter from my Congressman stating his support for our case, which he then emailed to the consulate the week before the interview, and in addition I printed a copy which I turned in ON THE VERY TOP of all our forms. It is important to note that the lady actually READ THE LETTER from my CONGRESSMAN (a surprise because she barely skimmed all the rest). So it´s very possible that the letter had an effect and we HIGHLY RECOMMEND soliciting a letter from your congressman. Then we sat down. 10 minutes later she called us up again. Told us to go to another window to take finger prints. We did that. Then we sat down and waited another 45 minutes or so, watching folks leave with their purple DHL slips and wondering what would happen next. Finally we were called to another window where there was a U.S. er. She asked if we had submitted the Affidavit of Support. I told her, no, because no one asked for it. I handed it over to her explaining that I was the sponsor and that there was a co-sponsor also. She flipped through to the Co-sponsor page and asked if it was my father, and I said yes. She only skimmed the document like 10 seconds. She made my fiance swear an oath and then said “You´ve been approved”. We were shocked, because we had expected an INTERVIEW but there never actually was one. We were also surprised because the DS 156K asks for evidence of relationship and so we gathered a ton from the I-129F date until the present… photos, receipts and everything, but the NEVER ASKED FOR IT. I guess they thought the evidence presented in the original I-129F was sufficient? Which of course was only so much evidence because of all the great advice we got on Visa Journey about letters of support and all that jazz. So yeah, it was rather anti-climatic, we were ready for some mean people and hang ups but it all went surprisingly smooth for us, luckily! But I don´t think that it´s average for it to go smoothly. We either had a lot of luck, or thanks to tons of painstaking hard work, and advice from Visa Journey, our I-129F was sufficient enough to convince them (along with my presence at the “interview” which is OF COURSE absolutely FUNDAMENTAL that the US citizen goes to the interview), and-or my congressman´s letter helped as well. It´s also possilbe that they saw our giant stake of papers-evidence and just didn´t want to deal with it all! Hehe. My advice to everyone going to Guayaquil is be very cautious and very over-prepared. Submit TONS of evidence in the original I129F, including 5-10 letters of support from your side and 5-10 from your significant other´s side. In the supplemental to the I129F when you explain if you´ve met in person in the last 2 years, write out all the dates and details and highlight them. They do read this supplement at the Consulate so it´s an important document. Lots of photos of course. And a letter from your congressman. If you do this all and follow all the steps carefully, hopefully they won´t give you any trouble. Also, the Packet 4 takes FOREVER to come. It came in the mail 1 week after the visa did! How funny. So as soon as you think it should arrive (a few weeks after it leaves the NVC), email the consulate and ask if they have your petition. If they do, hopefully they should write back saying the same thing that the Packet 4 letter says but mentioning that if you don´t receive the letter you can use this email instead. So print the email, prep everything in Packet 4 and make the phone call. DON¨T WAIT FOR THE PACKET 4 in the MAIL! It takes way too long, like 1.5 months, and it´s the same thing as the email they send. So anyway, we got out of the Consulate at like 10:30am, went to DHL, and that was that! Big weight off the shoulders. Tracking the DHL isn´t fun because the status it gives you online doesn´t make any sense. But it arrived in one week anyway. So all in all we luckily had a good experience, but I think it was due largely to being over prepared, having giant stacks of evidence, and thanks to a lot of really good advice on Visa Journey. So do your research and be cautious. Good luck to all!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4538