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| Guayaquil, Ecuador |  Review on January 11, 2010: |
seananda
Rating:  | Review Topic: K3 Visa
There is obviously some difference in consular experiences based on the person doing the interview and the particular circumstances of your case. We had a horrendous experience. I advise everyone to be as prepared as possible and take nothing for granted. This consulate will often contradict itself, and make errors that can delay a case.
We arrived around 8:05 for an 8:30 interview, and subsequently waited outside 2nd in line until at least 9:00 until more space was available inside for immigrant visas. Maybe getting there a little earlier would have been a good idea?? We went up to the upstairs room that was quite chilly. They were calling names, but if you didn't understand when they called your name, an employee came and called you. Up to this point everything was okay. My wife got called to the caja or cashier to submit most of the standard forms like the police record, her DS-156, birth certificate, marriage certificate, sealed medical record, and the evidence of our relationship. They told me I had to sit down and wait in the immigrant visa waiting room (downstairs near the interview booths 1-4 and window 5). I said that I had prepared most of the documents and wanted to stay, but they said I should wait in the other room, and I could join my wife during the interview afterwards. After my wife gave them 800 pages of emails and chats and 240 photos, they said that was enough. We had a lot more evidence, and my wife mentioned this to them. Meanwhile I was coming back a few times to check on my wife. It turns out they were doing a fairly lengthy interview, and asked far more questions than in the supposed "actual" interview, which came later. They asked my wife how we met, when we met, when we got engaged, married, etc. When and for how long were my visits (all 8 of them including this one). They really asked a lot about the dates of the trips and entered them into the computer and verified this against my passport. They also asked where I learned to speak spanish. How we got to know each other over the long distance (webcams, chats, emails, phonecalls). When my wife came back to be with me in the waiting area, I was fairly mad already that they had interviewed her without me, and hadn't accepted all of our evidence.
Next my wife was called to window 6 to give fingerprints. My wife has a skin allergy, so her fingerprints don't show up.
We then waited another hour or so and got called up to do our supposed actual interview. We were interviewed by a young American woman, maybe 23 or 24 years old, she wore a ring on her wedding finger, blond hair down to her shoulders maybe, spoke spanish okay, but had a hard accent (just the thought of her voice and frowns makes me cringe now...). She sounded angry even over the intercom. I feel sorry for anyone who has to interview with her. She asked us if we spoke Spanish or English together. She frowned when my wife said that she didn't have fingerprints because of her allergy and that it wasn't her fault. The consular said it didn't matter, it made the case more difficult.
Most of the questions were surrounding the primary special circumstance of our case, the fact that my wife's passport with her American tourist visa was stolen in 2000, when my wife was maybe 19 or so. The problem is that it wasn't reported to the police until 2007, and according to the consular officer this is a "gran problema." We gave the reasons for why it wasn't reported until 2007, and the consulate asked us to get a document called "movimiento migratorio" from another governmental office. We already had it and pointed out that the visa was used one-way from the states to Ecuador in 2000, and later from Costa Rica to Ecuador. My wife never made those trips and we submitted documents showing that she was working and studying during this time. The consular officer was really acting like we didn't deserve a visa. This is all horrible because my wife and I are really honest people, and the consulate treats you like a criminal when you were the victim of a crime. During this time the consular officer also asked to see our wedding rings, and asked if we had bought them here or in Ecuador. (They had asked this of my wife, before, actually.) The consular officer frowned when we said Ecuador, for some reason. The consular officer seemed to be working hard to verify my wife's identity, I think, because she kept asking how old my wife was at such and such a date, but it was always like in 1998, a long time ago, maybe like a couple days before my wife's birthday, so we really had to think about it.
At the end of the interview the consular officer said we should go ahead and pay DHL, and they would either send us the approved visa, or further instructions. They said they needed to review our case further, and that there was nothing more they could do today. Our lawyer who used to work at the consulate said they were probably just verifying the validity of the documents we submitted, especially those related to the presence of my wife in Ecuador when the visa was used illegaly. Our lawyer in Ecuador thought we would get approved since we have a legitimate case, but that it might take a few more months.
We registered the tracking number on DHL so that we would get an email when our visa or instructions are sent to us, but this didn't work properly. When we got home and the shock of the experience wore off a little, we remembered that they hadn't asked for the I-134 affidavit of support. This was their mistake, since it is obligatory to submit the I-134 before approving a visa. I emailed the consulate to ask about this, as I didn't want the review of our application to be delayed. They said the I-134 was required, it HAD to be delivered by DHL only, not in person, and that they would review our entire application a week after receipt of the missing documents. Of course it took 4 emails back and forth with them to get all those details. We eventually received our approved visa a week after I left Ecuador. The consulate definitely reviewed my wife's attendance at school when the visa was stolen.
I would say that outside of the people accepting evidence and doing the interview most folks at the consulate were really friendly and helpful, except for maybe the guard that pushed me with his baton to be in a single file line when I moved out of line to find out what he was trying to tell me. oops. The folks interviewing were really intense, didn't seem to care, definitely didn't do their job completely. They did tell us that we had submitted enough evidence to prove our relationship, but I should have asked about every document I still had in my hands at the time, to see if they still needed it. You can't trust that they will ask for all the documents.
My main advice is to be as prepared as possible, and then to try and relax and be at peace. We can only do our best, hope for the best, wait, and treat ourselves and our partners well. This can be tricky amidst the stress of the interview and dealing with the unknown, but we have to believe that valid cases will be approved, eventually, right?
Do take as much evidence as you can think of. We had way too much, but it never hurts and you never know what might come up in the interview. The consulate had previously told our lawyer that the denuncia that we had filed with the police regarding the stolen visa was fine, and that as long as it is filed it is considered pardoned, the date was okay. Obviously it wasn't so simple, and depends on who the consular officer is. I was thankful my wife had prepared other documents as back-up proof regarding this. When we submitted the I-134 via DHL, I also included letters from a senator, state representative, and supreme court judge. Our consular officer wasn't interested in these, but it made me feel better to submit them. My wife had submitted a letter attesting to her good character from her uncle, who was in the Ecuadorian police. I don't know if these turned the tide, but the consular officer definitely had us convinced that our evidence regarding the stolen visa didn't carry much weight with her.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5525