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| United Arab Emirates |  Review on March 22, 2010: |
Raccoon
Rating:  | Review Topic: Direct Consular Filing
Hello all! My husband and I had our IR-1 interview today (DCF) at Abu Dhabi, and I'm posting our experience here for anyone who will be interviewing there in the future, since there’s a big lack of DCF info for this embassy in general. I’ve included lots of small details for anyone else out there (like me) who is very visual and likes to imagine how things look and work beforehand. Just to clarify, I’m a US citizen with more than six months residence in the UAE and my husband and I married here. He’s an Indian citizen. Also note that for Abu Dhabi, you will bring all of your documents to this one interview – even the I-130 and the I-864. It’s a very different procedure from other embassies.
Our appointment was scheduled for 10am and we arrived 20 minutes early. There are two lines outside the door – one for non-immigrant and one for immigrants. We sat there for less than a minute before being called to the security check. At the check, they took our mobile phones and were not happy about the big messenger bag I had, but it was filed with our documents so they let it pass. We had water bottles too, and they made us take sips from them to prove it was not something dangerous!
The interview room is long, with a bank of darkened windows along one side, and seats on the other. First we stayed on a short line and gave our appointment letter and were given a number. We sat for approximately 15 minutes before we were called to submit our application. I had all of our papers organized in a stack with a cover letter, so I just slid that under the window and we went back to sit while the CO checked through the stack. She was polite and efficient. I saw that other applicants did not have their papers organized, and so they had to stand at the window handing papers one by one to the CO. Anyway, when the officer was finished checking our application she gave us a number, and that’s when the real wait began. By the way, they’ve removed the vending machine from the room, but there are water fountains. So bring any snacks or drinks that you think you might want.
Two hours later our number was called. The second CO was very friendly from the start. My husband took an oath to tell the truth and signed the DS-230. Then his fingerprints were scanned. I thought maybe I would be asked to sit while he was interviewed, but we were able to stay together at the window the whole time. The CO asked my husband three questions: how long have you been married, where did you get married and how we met. Then she asked me a few more, such as where I work in UAE, if I plan to leave the UAE now and where we plan to live in the US. I showed her my resignation letter as evidence of our plan to leave, and some emails from jobs that I’ve applied to stating they received my application. She was satisfied with all our answers and evidence. She never asked to see any other evidence, such as our photos, greeting cards, etc. (Side note: we’ve been married four years).
One thing that the CO said to me several times was how happy and impressed she was with the organization of my application. I really believe that influenced her in a positive way and made the whole experience much better for all of us! She mentioned that she sees many shoddy applications, where it just seems that the people don’t care. So my advice is to take your time and do it as neatly and thoroughly as possible.
At the end, the CO smiled and said to my husband that he passed. Then she gave us a blue form (221 g) asking for his police clearance, since that is still under process at the Indian Embassy. When we get the police paper, we’ll have to mail it to the US Embassy, and my name will have to be checked under the Adam Walsh Act (which could take 4-6 weeks). After that, we’ll have to check the embassy website for my husband’s case number, and when it appears, we’ll come back on a Sunday at 10am to get the visa! We’re hoping that the check will take less time.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5823