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| Israel |  Review on January 25, 2010: |
jcg303
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I don't know how the process goes with other consulates, but our experience with the consulate in Jerusalem has not been very good at all. First, we tried to request a specific interview date to coincide with my office's end-of-year shut down, which was denied. Instead, we were given a date in early December after explicitly saying that we could not make it in early December, as Nirit was out of the country. So we had to reschedule for Jan. 19, and I took a week of vacation and made travel plans to attend the interview with her. We got to the interview 45 minutes early and stood in a short line. Upon reaching the front of the line, we were directed to a window where we produced our interview letter. The man behind the window scanned a sheet and found Nirit's name and told her to go inside to the reception area. I, however, was told to wait outside, which is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard. Why would a U.S. consulate deny entrance to a U.S. citizen for any reason, much less the interview for his fiancee's visa??? I showed them my passport, explained the nature of our appointment, everything. In the end, I was forced to wait outside the building for 2 hours. Nirit and I prepared a stack of documents an inch thick - all of the required forms, all of the forms from previous steps, further evidence of our relationship, etc. Nirit took it inside and presented it to the woman at the main window, who was exceptionally rude. She spent most of the time waiting before meeting with a few people. In the end, it wasn't enough. I did not have a copy of my 2008 tax return, which apparently is a requirement. So we rescheduled for ANOTHER date - Jan. 28. Then, we went back and checked the instruction that were sent in packet 3. It does NOT indicate that tax returns are required. They are merely one of the potential pieces of evidence that can be used to verify income. I guess it didn't matter that I had five other pieces of evidence. Speaking of the instruction sheet - what a joke!! In the corner of the form, there is a date stamp showing 08-91. It's hard to read, though, because it looks like the form has been recopied about 20-30 times. The lines are crooked and off center, there are blotchy copy marks everywhere, and the font looks like something from an IBM typewriter circa 1962. Is this what my tax $$$ pays for? My 9 year old cousin can produce a better looking document than that. The only reason for 1 star is that they do respond to emails in a somewhat timely manner. Other than that, the level of quality throughout the visa process has been less than satisfactory.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5597