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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on June 19, 2010: |
moleary
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We arrived separately on Monday afternoon. I flew into El Paso and took a cab to the Holiday Inn, then a couple of hours later took the hotel shuttle to the Juarez airport and picked up my fiancee. We took a cab back to the hotel and had dinner at Barriga's next door. Great food, service and atmosphere. We ate there every night. We would recommend the Holiday Inn. Clean. Helpful staff. Security. Free breakfast. Free Happy Hour Tues-Fri. Nice 2.5 star hotel. We felt completely safe there.
Tuesday morning we were up early and walked to the CMI clinic. We arrived at 6:15. The guard told me I would probably be waiting for a couple of hours so I walked back to the hotel. At 7:40, my fiancee called and said she was finished and on her way back to the hotel. By the time I got the elevator and went downstairs, she was coming in the front door.
She said the process was very well organized. They ask for her passport and appointment letter, address in Juarez or the hotel name and room number, and phone. They took her picture and gave her a wristband with barcode and a card with a barcode.
Once you begin, they scan the barcode and give you a printout of process. That travels with you and they put the different test results on the printout…Blood, vision, physical exam in private room (you are asked to strip naked and given a paper hospital gown), asked about any contagious diseases in your life, broken bones, scars, look for tattoos, ask if you are diabetic, hypertensive. Measure height, weight. Then they ask you to get dressed from the waist down and they take you for a chest xray. She had a front and side xray done - but the other people she saw only had a front xray. For K-1 (no vaccinations), you finish getting dressed and go to cashier. She was told to come back at 2:00 for the results.
Oh yeah, males and females are separated, including children from their parents (not infants). Also, if kids need vaccinations, they will not give them until the parent is present. Kids do not have to strip naked, only to their underwear, and they will not let kids leave the clinic alone.
We walked across the street to the Banamex at the mall. This is the part that pissed me off. If you have pesos, pay the fee in pesos. You will pay the equivalent of $350 in pesos. However, if you have dollars, they will first sell you pesos at the day’s rate, then charge you the fee at the buy rate, so I ended up paying $388. They used a rate of 13 to the dollar. They won’t take dollars.
When we returned to the clinic at 2:00 to pick up the results, they did not have hers. She went inside and was told that there was something on her lung that they needed to check. They wanted to have an ultrasound done to determine if what they were looking at was liquid in her lung. They scheduled an appointment for her at 4:30 at a radiology clinic about 15 minutes away by taxi. The doctor met us there, did the test, made a CD and a report. It took less than an hour, and we had to pay separately for the ultrasound. We were told to come back to CMI the next morning at 7:00.
So, the next morning we got up and went to the clinic. She was told that everything was fine, that the area they were looking at on her lung was just scar tissue from an old automobile injury where a broken rib had abraded the lung. They needed some time to complete her report with these new results so we went to Denny’s to eat breakfast and then back to the clinic. A little after 9:00 she had her medical envelope and CD and we headed for the consulate. We’ll add here that everyone at the clinic was very professional and courteous. Additionally, they were conscious of her appointment time (even though we had an open appointment). They wanted to make sure she was out of the clinic in time to get into the consulate the second day as originally planned.
It took us from about 9:15 to 9:30 to wait in line to get inside the consulate and go through airport style security. They are serious about the list of things you can’t take in, so leave everything but your documents and ID at the hotel. At the end of security, your ID is entered and you are given a number. We were told where to go wait - behind one of the buildings they had a covered outdoor waiting area, with huge ceiling fans and water mist that actually did a very nice job of keeping the area comfortable. You sit there and watch a flatscreen monitor that displays your number and the window you should report to. We saw numbers from 1 into the 7000’s and it made little sense to us. At first it was confusing because we would see a number, for example 5113 -> 55, and 20 minutes later see 5113 -> 63. Eventually we figured out that the same screen is being displayed inside, and as people move from one step to the next, their number gets put back up on the screen.
Eventually our number came up (after waiting about an hour and 15 min) and we went inside. There was still someone at the window we were supposed to go to but we did not have to wait long. We stepped up to the window. The Greeter was very nice and asked for the DS 156. She basically went through the list of required documents, original birth certs and divorce decrees. We had forgotten to bring the letter of intent to marry (though we had already each provided one with the 129F). She said no problem and filled one out with my name and handed it through the window for my fiancée to sign. We had front-loaded the 129F petition with relationship stuff and we were not asked for anything else. She asked for proof of financial support and I gave the I-134. She said that was fine. I had all the other stuff - bank statements, letter from employer, letter from bank, mortgage, house appraisal, tax returns, check stubs, w2s, etc but she didn’t ask for any of it. She saw the 134, pointed and said that will do. After signing the 156 and 156K and something else, we were told to wait to be called for fingerprinting. We waited about 5 minutes for that. My fiancée was fingerprinted then we sat back down and waited another 15 or 20 minutes for the interview. As we waited, we could see that some people were rejected because they did not go to the DHL line after their interview, but rather just left looking very upset and in some cases, crying.
Those 20 minutes were long, waiting, knowing that the interview was next. She felt confident she could answer anything they asked, but you still never know what it’s going to be like. We talked and laughed and just kept our mind off things. Then her name was called to another window. We got up and went over. There was a US officer there with our file in front of him. He was very polite. Here are the questions he asked:
How long have you known each other? Over 4 years
So, you work for xxx company in yyy city? No, I work for xxx company in zzzz city (trick question)
What do you do there?
Have you ever been married? No
Do you have any children? No
Ever had any problems with the police? No
Ever had any problems with immigration or been denied a visa? No
Do you have your B1/B2 visa? Yes (handed through the window)
OK - here is the DHL form. Take it to the next line and you should be able to pick up your visa in the morning.
So that was it! We were walking back to the hotel by 12:00 noon. It helps if you are prepared. I can’t tell you not to worry. Only you know if you have everything in its proper state of affairs, and even though we reviewed everything the night before, we still forgot that damn letter of intent to marry!
I would advise anyone to frontload their 129F petition as much as they can, otherwise they can expect a longer interview. We had everything in there already for proof of ongoing relationship - photos, phone records, frequent flyer statements, emails, passport stamps. We didn’t have to provide anything extra, even though we had it ready.
It’s generally safe there. You’ll see patrols occasionally. Don’t go for a walk after dinner and don’t go out after dark. Be careful but remember why you are there. Good luck!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6240