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| Montreal, Canada |  Review on August 29, 2010: |
Kevbev09
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Got to the consulate at about 5-10 minutes before 7. I was first there but only just.. less than a minute later another guy wandered up. He kind of snuck ahead of me in line while I was saying goodbye to my mom, but I think he was just trying to get out of the wind, it was a bit chilly. A bunch more people showed up pretty quickly. The security guards opened the doors at about 7:30 or shortly after, the guy waved me up back in front of him thankfully. So the guard asked me what I was there for, I said \"a visa interview\" then he asked to see my application and I was like \"er what? which part of it? you mean the appointment letter?\" he said yes, the letter, so I gave it to him plus my passport. Got through security fine, got my \"brown card\" and my A, went and sat down in the waiting area.
About 7:50 the guard started taking the A-E folks, some of the others panicked because they had no letters but were assured they\'d get to come up next. There were 2 couples, another single (male) and a trio, I think a couple with their daughter. One of the couples was French and they got called ahead of me even though I had the A. Anyway my turn came at window 11, she pretty much emptied my first folder but gave me back most of the tax papers that I wasn\'t sure about. I didn\'t have my name written on the passport photos but she said that was fine, she was really nice and friendly as has been said before.
She sent me over to pay my fee \"before the crowd\" but I didn\'t beat the crowd. The cashier was not the regular lady I guess, she said she couldn\'t accept my payment unless I had exact change in US dollars or paid in credit (and the credit system is apparently not reliable either.) Said she would have to go downstairs to get change, and she was trying to get through a good bit of the line first, so I just paid in credit and it went through fine. She congratulated me afterwards.. sigh.
Went back to window 11, gave her the paper that said I paid and she took my fingerprints. I had to do it twice because I pressed too hard with my fingers I guess. Then went back to the main waiting area and ended up having a loooong wait which didn\'t help my nerves. The French couple got interviewed before me, but they were only in there for a few minutes.
Finally I got called to my interview, it was after 9 by this point. It was just the one guy asking questions but there was another man standing half in the doorway holding the door open, was kind of distracting. Here\'s what I remember being asked:
How did you meet your fiance?
When did you first meet in person?
Where did you meet?
Where does he live now, and where do you live?
Have you set a date for the wedding? (I said no, we are getting our rings first, and then asap after that)
What do you do for work?
Where does he work?
Have either of you been married before?
Do either of you have children?
Then he asked if I had any recent pictures to show him (he had the ones from our original app there) I said, he doesn\'t like having his picture taken but we did have a few. They were mostly taken by his parents the 2 times we went down there for Christmas. He grew a beard the second year and had lost about 40 pounds, but apparently that wasn\'t an obvious enough difference, the guy said \"these look like they\'re all from the same trip.\" I said \"no, they\'re not, they were taken 2 separate Christmases with his family\" then before I could explain further he said \"how often have you been down there?\" I thought he meant to see his family so I said \"just twice\" then he said \"why only twice?\" I said \"well it\'s an awfully long way, they live in Georgia\" He seemed a bit confused and said \"I meant, how often do you come to the US?\" and I said \"oh, every week or so\".
Then he moved on, asked if I had ever been denied entry, I said yes, the first time I tried to visit him, and explained that I had resumes with me and they thought I was planning to stay in the US and look for work, I tried to explain that it was an OVERSIGHT, not deliberate at all.. I had a folder of ID papers that I had been carrying around since I moved and I completely forgot that the resumes were in it, he didn\'t seem to accept that though, he said it looked bad. Good lord is that going to haunt me forever?
I don\'t remember any more questions, he had me put one of my fingers on the red square but it didn\'t accept the first one, so he changed to a different finger which worked (I hate fingerprint scanners).
Then he said, we are going to put your case in administrative processing, etc, I was so confused and asked if I was missing something, basically he said \"no, I have to do some homework on your case, it shouldn\'t take too long\" He asked if I needed to take my passport back for any reason that I would need to go to the US for something, so I asked him for a time frame, he basically said it shouldn\'t be longer than a week or so, not really any longer than if they had approved me and then my passport was slow going through the mail or something, but that he would contact me if he needed more information. He said I could email if it took too long, but he said \"give me a few days before you start panicking\". I asked if I would be contacted when it was approved and he just said \"no, you\'ll get the visa in the mail then\".
That was pretty much it, he handed me a couple papers \"explaining\" why I wasn\'t approved, circled the email address for me and the mailing address if they needed more information, and left the room. I walked out in a daze wondering what had just happened.
I kind of got the feeling today based on his questions that he wasn\'t satisfied that we have a real relationship, but I had plenty of other proof which he didn\'t ask for, including phone bills showing roaming charges with me in Kevin\'s town.
*Note, AP lasted 103 days before visa was issued, NOT COOL after he led me to believe it would be around a week. Both Kevin and I sent several emails to the consulate, NONE were answered, most requests for info from his senator and congressman went unanswered, a request for change of address took ~a month to be updated. DoS was not informed immediately when visa was issued...etc*
(updated on August 30, 2010)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6538