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| Dublin, Ireland |  Review on October 22, 2010: |
Larysa
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Overall I had a pretty good experience with the embassy in Dublin. My interview was at 1:00 in the afternoon on Tuesday the 28th of September. The embassy itself is in a pretty awkward location, there isn't much around apart from the various pubs, bistro and coffee shops nearby. It can be a long wait at one of those places if you arrive too early for your interview. I live in Wicklow and relied on the bus to get up there for my interview. I would recommend that you do a dry run to get a feel for traffic and such if you are traveling from outside the city. If you can get a lift there or can drive yourself all the better, but there isnt much in the way of public parking around that area of ballsbridge. Arriving at the embassy I went up to the little window and gave my name to one of the security guards, he motioned me to wait over to the door on the right hand side, this was about ten to one, a few minutes later three people lined up behind me and asked if I was waiting to get in for an interview. The guards started bringing us in one at a time, me being the first one. The security is similar to that which you find in the airport, in other words you empty your pockets, turn off your phone etc and put it in the tray to be passed through the x-ray machine. They look at your passport, take your name and make sure you're on a list to get in at that particular time. They may or may not ask you to take off your shoes, I was dolled up in a suit for my interview (a bit overkill I might add) and was asked to take my shoes, jacket and belt off to be passed through the machine. The second time I went to the embassy (to pick up my corrected passport) I was wearing my casual clothes, jeans and t-shirt and runners, I was only asked to take off my belt. The guards will give you a little tag to put around your neck, this also acts as a receipt to get whatever belongings back when you are leaving. After you leave the entrance you're given directions on where to go for the interview. Across the garden and up the ramp to the right by the way! There is usually a security guard waiting on the inside of the door to grant you access and another metal detector to walk through once you enter. The guard on duty will ask if they can help you, simply state your name and tell them you're there for a visa interview, depending the type of visa you have applied for you will either tell the guard that it is for an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa. The majority of people on this site are looking to move to the States to live so they will be immigrant. Then take a seat and wait till your number is called to a specific window, depending on how busy it is you could be waiting as little as ten minutes or as long as an hour. They will take the required forms from you at this time including your birth cert. I made the mistake of not having the original with me at the time and had a poor copy instead, this wasn't acceptable and so I had to mail the original back in. I was instructed to sit back down and wait again, in the meantime the other people that were there went through the same process. On my next call up to the window I was asked for some other forms and then instructed to sign them, I cant remember off the top of my head but I think it was the DS156 and 156k. Then instructed to sit down again and wait some more. On my next call up I was asked to pay the fee of 350 dollars 287 euros, make sure the bank draft is the exact amount. On my next call up I was asked for my envelope with the required amount of stamps. Just so people know, you wont be able to find an envelope of the specified size in the instructions of packet three, its an American size 12x14 inches. I got my envelope in Easons on O'Connell, it was a padded one and measured 12 and a bit by 16 inches. At this point I had to leave the embassy and run across the road to get some more stamps since my package was quite big and heavy. Upon re-entering the embassy I gave the extra stamps for my envelope. After waiting a little longer I was then called for my actual interview. The area where all the windows were was open onto the waiting area so everyone can hear pretty much everything that goes on, plus you may have someone standing beside you at another window so its not very personal. If you happen to be tall (I'm a good bit taller than average) you may want to stoop down a bit to talk into the little speaker on the side of the window so the embassy staff can hear you clearly. This is the point at which you'll get grilled about your relationship and be asked for evidence etc.
Questions I was asked:
How we met.
What I did (work wise)
Where I proposed.
Where we were going to get married.
Where I was going to live.
If I intended to work in the States and what I intended to do. (told the lady I had two engineering degrees and so I intended to find work in that area)
I think that's all the questions I was asked. The only form of evidence I was asked for was some photos of Larysa and I together. The lady picked out two photos from all the ones I gave her and asked where they were taken, funnily enough they were both taken in the pub where I worked. The only problem we encountered was that my middle name was spelled wrong on the visa in my passport. I found this out after I received my visa in the post, it was quickly rectified after getting in touch with the embassy. You should receive your envelope in the post with your visa shortly after your interview. I got mine the following monday. Once you get your envelope open it and you'll see a smaller orange envelope (DON'T OPEN THIS) inside and some sheets with instructions and information. You hand the orange envelope to the customs officer when you enter the states again. Overall we had a pretty good experience with the visa process and the embassy in Dublin. The only problem I had personally was that the phone system for calling the embassy was very un-helpful, trying to get through to an actual person is way too much harder than it needs to be.
Simon
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6756