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| Nicaragua |  Review on April 2, 2006: |
rjfg1
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
When I was going through my K-1 Visa Process there wasn't any information on the Managua Embassy in Nicaragua. So I'm going to make my review a little more detail and try to be informative on the whole process. Hopes this helps some of you out there.
After I received my NOA2 (Nov. 29, 2005) from the California Service Center my case headed of to the Visa National Center. From everything that I heard the Visa National Center was suppose to mail my case to the Managua embassy very quickly (2 Weeks or so). So about 2 weeks after receiving my NOA2 I decided to contact the embassy, via e-mail, to ask if they have received my case (Dec. 12,2005). They replied back in about 2 days telling me that they already have received my case. The embassy in the e-mail also gave me our case # and told us that our interview would be Feb. 21, 2006, they also said that they had already mailed my fiancee the materials she'll need for the interview (Packet 3). I was rather disappointed that we had to wait so long for our interview date, I was hoping that my Fiancee would receive her interview sometime in January.
I arrived to visit my fiancee in Nicaragua on January 12, 2006 and her packet 3 material from the embassy still had not arrived. I was rather worried since it had been about a month since the embassy had e-mailed me telling me that they had already mailed out Packet 3. Maybe the problem was that my fiancee lived in Chontales and the Nicaraguan mail system rarely goes out there. Thankfully a few days later the packet finally arrived at her house.
Packet 3:
The materials that came inside the envelope included the following items:
- Forms DS156 & DS156K (Very simple forms to fill out)
- A check list of items that my financee had to bring to the interview (Medical Exam results, Police certificate, 2 passport type fotos, Birth Certificate (from the Managua National Center!!), forms DS156 & DS156K, form I-134 (affidavit support), proof of relationship and the $100.00 receipt for the interview fee from bancentro.
- Appointment Letter (stating the date of the interview)
- A list of Certifiade doctors for the medical exam
The Medical Exam:
About 2 weeks after receiving our Packet 3 we headed to Managua for my fiancee medical exam. The medical exam was pretty simple, we paid $180.00 and the whole process took about 2 hours. In the clinic she had to fill-out a form and answer some question about her health, they also took a blood sample and gave her 4 Vaccine shots that they said are mandatory. Then they sent us to a different clinic for her chest x-rays (whick took only 30 minutes or so). We then came back to the clinic and handed them the x-rays and they told us to come back in about 2 hours to pickup the results of her exam.
When we came back later the exams results were ready and my fiancee had passed!!! The whole medical process was very profesionally done, in no way at all was my fiancee every told to take her clothes off nor did they ever had examine any private areas.
The Police Record:
Since my fiance lived in Chontales we had to go to the department's capital city of Juigalpa. There we went to the Police Station and ask for a "Police Record", the women attending there ask us for her I.D. card and told us that the Police Record would be ready in 24 hours. Apart from the long wait at the police station it was a pretty simple process.
(Note: before going to the police station you have to go to Bancentro and pay 35.00 Cordoba fee for the police record, you'll also need an ampilified copy of your fiancee I.D. Card (front & Back)).
The I-134 form (putting together the information:
The I-134 form is the one this embassy uses for your Affavit of Support information. My I-134 package included a letter from my employer that stated the title of my position, the length of employment and my annual salary. I also had a letter from the bank (wellsfargo) that simply stated my name along with account number and the current balance of my accounts. Along with the two letters I also included my W-2 for the last 2 years (the embassy later told me that they require 3 years), I also had recent payroll check stubbs (but at the interview I forgot to submitt them).
The Interview:
As previoulsy stated our interview was on Feb. 21 at 8:00am. We traveled that morning from Chontales to Managua and ended arriving about 40 minutes late to the embassy. Luckily for us there was no line to get into the embassy. When we presented our papers to guards outside they seen that we were arriving late for our K-1 interview and quickly hurried us along.
When you first go into the embassy you have to pass through Airport types of security measures. Once you are inside they have a waiting area for a preliminary screening process where they ask you questions regarding your visit and then they inspect your paper work to make sure they you have everthing you need before going into the Actual Main waiting room for your visa interview. Since we were late to arrive there wasn't to many people ahead of us. From what I witnessed in this prelimanary screening process they did not reject anyone from going to the Main Interview waiting room.
When it was our turn to get attended during this prelimary screening they seen that we were late for our K-1 interview and did not ask us any further question and they quickly proceeded to escort us to the main interview waiting room. We passed another group of people in an outside waiting area (I think these were people who were there applying for a regular Tourist Visa)and then we had to pass another type of Airport type of security before they actually let us in to the Main Interview wating room. Once we were inside they told us to take a seat and our name would be called.
The people that worked at the embassy were behind a glass window. The embassy had about 8 or so windows that were attending visa request (4 for Non-Immigrant visas(tourist visas) and 4 for immigrant visas (ie K-1)).
We waited for about 2 hours before we being called up to a window. The lady there had our case in hand and told us to hand over to her our paper. First the DS-156 & DS156k Forms, then my fiancee birth certicate (We had gotten her birth certifcate from our town's Mayor's office and the lady at the embassy told us that she needed a birth certicate from the Managua National Center. Luckily they let us submitt the birth certificate that we brouhght), the medical exam results, Police Records, Proof of our relationship (we submitted some picture, e-mail records, telephone records and some of my passport entry record from my prior visits) and finally our I-134 packet (with all the items mentioned aboved). The lady reviewed all of our paper work and told us to take a seat.
We again waited for about 1 1/2 hours before being called again, this time at a different window and by a Men. When he called us up to the window he simply asked me in english several easy question about our relationship.....when and how did whe meet?, Have either of us ever been married? If either of us had any children. After answering his question he gave us a card/slip which is for the Nicaraguan Mail Service and told us that our case was approved!!! and that her passport will arrive in the mail with the Visa inside. With the card that he gave us we went to the a table that is for the Nicaraguan Mail Serice that was setup inside the waiting area. We handed the lady the card and she told us that we can pickup her passport along with the packet 4 at the juigalpa Post office in about 4 days. She gave us a pickup slip and told us to present the pickup slip and her I.D. along with the equivalent of $8.00 in order to pickup her items at the post office.
Basicly the interview process at the embassy is pretty straight forward. If you have all your papers in line then I do not see a reason why you should have any problems. The hard part is just gathering the paper work. I did not give it a 5 rating because the waiting time at the interview is pretty bad.
Note: We noticed that almost everyone applying for a immigrant visa was approve (out of about 30 cases I think only 2 were denied).
I hopes this helps and best of luck to everyone out there.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #496