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| Bogota, Colombia |  Review on January 4, 2011: |
c.georges
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We arrived at the Embassy at 6:30am and they gave us the green stickers to wear on our clothes in a visible place. We went through security and left our cell phones at the security building and were instructed to the waiting area. The embassy is doing construction in the waiting area so it is vastly different than when we first went there. They have a wall around where the normal waiting area is and part of the covering they have is torn down. Not sure what they are doing (hopefully they are making it more of an indoor type place, more on why later!)
We were all lined up on the north side of the waiting area and they asked the people who had 221 to come forward first. After they instructed them what to do they gathered the rest of us around and told us about the green folders and to put the papers in order and then come back to the person to check that we have them all in order, we then sat down and waited to be called to one of the green windows on the west side of the waiting area. We were called to window 31 within 30-40 minutes. I was not able to be with my wife for this, which was fine as she didn't have any problems. My wife said that she noticed that the lady was highlighting the most important parts of the papers that she gave her for the interviewer to just review over. We then sat down and waited another 30-40 minutes and then were called up to window 2 (on the east side of the waiting area) to get the fingerprints scanned. We were instructed to sit back down again and that we would be called up to pay. We waited another 30-40 minutes and were called up to pay the $404 fee. The person processing told us that we would be called for the interview within 30 minutes to one hour. We waited.... and waited... and waited. We waited for well over an hour and it started to rain. Then it started to hail! The embassy uses a speaker system (that is not good at all) and when it was raining and hailing you could not hear them at all! They need to use screens and the speaker system! Anyway. We were finally called up a little before 2pm! The interview was with an older woman who was not friendly but not rude, just normal. At this point I was allowed to be next to her. She asked my wife how did we meet, my wife told her our whole story from beginning to end without even letting the lady get a word in! She then asked my wife if we were planning to live in the USA, my wife said yes. I saw her starting to put the passport and papers together and wrap up all the paperwork and I knew right then that it was over and we were approved. She told my wife that her visa has been approved and that we need to go pay Domesa!
All in all it wasn't a horrible interview at all, but the wait was really crazy! Worse than the DMV! Total time at the embassy was 7 hours and total time for the interview was under 2 minutes. I am not sure if they were watching us through the cameras while we were waiting just to see how we reacted. But it is over and now we just have to wait for the visa to arrive via Domesa and then make our P.O.E.!
Thank you to everyone and all of the great information here, it has been such a great help!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7023