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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on September 25, 2010: |
TLJohnson
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Here is our experience:
MEDICAL EXAM
He arrived around 5:45am to the CMI clinic and got in line where they took his information and organized people into the line. He waited for about 20 minutes, then he was taken to a window where he showed the woman his interview invitation letter and passport (and any vaccine history), and he was then given his number (96). Then he waited 30 or 40 minutes in a covered area outside with seats for them to call his number. When they called his number, he went to the window and they asked to see his invitation letter again. The woman took down the information for our hotel, his name, and birthday as well. Then she told him to go inside and wait in another waiting room with about 10 other people. He was only there for about 2 minutes when a doctor came in and got all of the men. He was put in a separate room and told to take his shirt off, and they then took him to have his chest x-ray done. Then he was put in another small waiting room by himself, and he waited about 15 minutes for a nurse to call his name. She then gave him a questionnaire to complete about the quality of service of the x-ray technicians (?). Then the nurse asked him his name again, scanned his form, drew his blood, and confirmed his name to scan in the code for the blood she drew (they did not give him a bar-code bracelet as other people have described, so I guess this was just their “quality control”). He was then directed upstairs, where he waited about 5 minutes before he was called for his eye exam. The nurse took his blood pressure as well, and then directed him to another room for his physical exam. He was told to take off his clothes except for his underwear. Then the doctor (a woman) gave him the physical exam, which consisted of a lot of questions about his medical history, any trouble with the police or jail, if he drank, smoke, used drugs, any allergies. Then she spent a lot of time taking down notes and descriptions about all of his tattoos (but he did not have to do anything else because of his tattoos, like talk to a psychologist or anything like that, and she didn’t ask about any piercings either). Then he had to strip all the way for a quick full visual exam. The doctor then told him to go downstairs and pay, but because he didn’t have to get any vaccines, he was done very quickly and the people at the window had not received his information yet. He had to wait about 15 more minutes before he could pay, but that was no problem. They told him to bring his receipt and return at 6:00pm to pick up his results (they were telling everyone different times). He was back our hotel by 10:45am. At 5:50pm he arrived back at the clinic. They did not ask to see his receipt, just his passport. They gave him his documents in a large black plastic envelope with a CD in a packet stapled to the outside, and when he picked it up the woman at the window said “Everything is OK.” He said that everyone was really nice and friendly that worked at the clinic, and that there were a lot of children there (and it seems like if you have 3 or more children with you they put you to the front of the line). Also, a little politeness goes a long way (as usual) with the staff and security there.
INTERVIEW
We arrived around 7:45 am and got into the first line. We showed the interview letter and the man said that only the visa applicant could enter, so I headed back to the hotel (there were no other obviously American people hanging out and my fiancé did not want me waiting outside the consulate). Then, my fiancé was directed to another line outside, which led to another window. Once he got to the window, the person confirmed that he had his interview invitation letter, passport, Banamex receipt, and the DS-156, but they did not take any of those items from him at that time. Then they sent him inside, where he went through security. After security, a man asked him about his appointment time, and he told him that he had an open appointment and gave him the invitation letter, at which point he was given a number. He waited for about an hour and a half outside for his number to be called, and then was summoned to a window.
The woman there asked to see “everything” that he had as far as his documents, because she had a lot of people waiting (which was probably the wrong thing to say because he had so much extra stuff) so he just started handing her everything (a lot of which she eventually handed back): medical information (she only took the black bag and gave back the disk); DS-156 (2, both of which she eventually had him sign in front of her); DS-156K (2, both of which she eventually had him sign in front of her); DS-157 (he gave her 2 copies of this form, both of which she gave back to him without keeping any); I-134 (with all supporting evidence attached); original of his passport; original and copy of his birth certificate (they returned the original); original and copy of my birth certificate (they returned the original); 2 passport photos of him; updated Letter of Intent to Marry for him and for me (both of which she returned); and CDJ-402 Certification of Intent to Marry for him (which she had him sign in front of her). Then he waited for another 15 minutes or so for his number to be called again, and he went to another window to be fingerprinted. It was at least 2 or 2 1/2 hours before his number was called again.
Then his number was called for the interview (which was where he got his birth certificate back). After swearing my fiancé in, the man reviewed our file, and first asked about any other times he had been denied a visa. Then he asked about how we met, how long we had known each other, and if he had proof of our relationship, such as tickets, pictures, or anything else. My fiancé showed him our pictures, boarding passes, and postcards that we had brought (it is important to note that we had brought an extra book of pictures to show but we were not able because everything has to fit under a U-shaped slide-opening in the window). The man went through the photographs and cards pretty thoroughly asking who the people were, where they were taken, and even asking about our nicknames in the postcards. He asked when my fiancé was planning to travel to the US, when we planned to get married, if he had met my family (and specifically my dad), and what my family thought about us being together. He asked how we communicate and how often, so my fiancé showed him our Skype records, text message records, Facebook messages, and email records (I had been sure to print out a bunch of all of these to show the interviewer-thank goodness). He asked how we communicate (what language), what I do for a living, where I live, where we are planning to live, etc. He asked how many times I had traveled to Mexico, and my fiancé said that he seemed really impressed at the number of times that we had seen each other. After that, he said that the visa was approved, and then he explained to him about how the visa works. My fiancé said that the he thought the man was pretty serious but not mean or anything like that.
MISCELANEOUS
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, and thought it was a pretty nice place. My fiancé recognized several of the guests there as consular official trainees, so if they are putting their people up there it must say something for the relative safety of the place. But, no mini-fridge in the room, so don’t plan on keeping leftovers in your room if you don’t want to leave for meals. He had his interview on Tuesday, and our DHL package was not ready until right at closing time on Thursday night, so we were not able to pick it up until first thing Friday morning. So, don’t plan on getting out of Juarez right away. There is a place in the mall across from the consulate (directly across from the Sears) where you can make copies for 1 peso each. Also, we used a driver named George our entire time there that was great (he had been recommended by another VJer). His cell is (915) 274-4511. He charged 60USD to take me from El Paso to the hotel in Juarez, and then it was 120 USD total for a trip to the DHL office, taking my fiancé to the bus station in Juarez, and then taking me back across the border from Juarez to El Paso (all not including tip). He tried to tell us we had to go to the border crossing to have the visa activated (as other people have described), but I was able to explain to him about the K-1 and that it was different, etc. All in all we were really prepared and things went pretty smoothly.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6654