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|  Review on March 7, 2011: |
pnewton
Rating:  | Review Topic: Direct Consular Filing
Well, it’s finally my turn to contribute a detailed entry about how the visa process has gone for us here in CDJ! This is SUPER detailed, so bear with me! Haha, I just want to give back to everyone at the forum who helped me so much through this process that I figured I’d write down everything to the last detail! We met so many people who had used a lawyer (and many didn’t really have great experiences with them), and I felt so fortunate to have been able to ask all of my questions directly to everyone on the forum. It was stressful at times to get the paperwork ready, but with the help of everyone here, we were able to do it.
Here’s some background info on us just before I jump into the details:
-We’ve been together for 5 years, did long distance during college and I lived in Monterrey for a year and a half. My husband always visited the U.S. on a tourist visa and when I was in Mexico, I got an FM-3 work visa, which allowed me to file using DCF.
-We got married in August 2010, started the visa process on Sept. 2nd, 2010, and were approved on January 6th, 2011. It was incredibly fast—4 months!—and we’re grateful for that.
Arrival
We left Monterrey in the late afternoon on Tuesday and much to my surprise, the plane was absolutely packed! The flight was smooth and uneventful, and when we arrived, we saw a large plane for the Policia Federal, with lots of agents on the ground, which made us wonder—hmm…coming or going? Well, anyway, we got off and waited for our luggage. One thing that was slightly amusing was that we were all waiting for our luggage to be taken off the little cart and a federal police agent came with a drug-sniffing dog. They first put all of the luggage out and then the dog walked all over each piece, sniffing away! It was actually kind of cute and while I’m sure the crowd just wanted to get their luggage and go, there was some laughter.
After we picked up our luggage, we went to an ATM in the airport and took out some more cash, just in case. We knew that we should have done this in Monterrey, but were so busy, and the airport seemed like it was pretty safe. Then, we went to the taxi stand, ordered our taxi, were met by a guy at the door who led us to the correct taxi and off we went. The ride was maybe 15-20 minutes and I’m sure the taxista was used to having airport passengers with wide saucer eyes looking out the window at the city! All in all, it felt pretty normal—there was some rush hour traffic, and it largely felt like a normal city. Admittedly, we’re always a little jumpy around big trucks and SUVs, especially those that have totally tinted windows and are without license plates, of which we’ve seen a few of in our stay. However, again, I think it did take us a little bit aback to see normal life go on in the city, after reading so much about the violence in the past year.
La Quinta
We got La Quinta around 5:30 and there are definitely lots of other people here getting their visas also, as I imagine is the case in most of the hotels near the Consulate. We checked in, got to our room, which was clean and nice, and ordered in some pizza for the night. It was pretty laid-back, all in all! The hotel seems to be pretty full right now, and the shuttle always is either coming or going. The only down-side that I saw was that because of so many people in the hotel, we experienced some longer waits for pick-ups. It really just depended, but of the 5-6 times we used it, we had to wait 20-30 minutes half the time for a pick-up from the grocery store or the Consulate area. Other times, the shuttle happened to be in the area or was free at the moment and we had quick pick-ups. Also, a side note—the breakfast spread was also far better earlier in the morning than later!
I’d say that staying there worked out just fine, but if we had to do it again, I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing what the other hotels were like that were right next to the Consulate. I don’t know if they have shuttle service for DHL, the airport or the border, but if they did, I would also check into them for the sake of comparison.
Medical Exam
After reading from other couples that my husband would first have to go and get his letters from the Consulate before heading to the clinic, he left the hotel at 6:30. He said that there weren’t a ton of people there in line at first, but then more and more people came. He said that while he was waiting in line, someone from the Consulate came and asked him what he needed. He gave her his passport and she came back with his letter a few minutes later. He said he only got one letter, and was able to keep it after the clinic. It basically says that the US Consulate is ready to begin the final processing of his visa and at the bottom it has an area where it says: “Visa Appointment” and then his info on that and next to that, “Medical Appointment”, with no information under date and time.
He went to the Clinica Internacional (the yellow one) by 7:10 am. Apparently, upon entering, there were some of those annoying people as mentioned by La Gringa, who were trying to “help” him and others. One guy told him that the clinic was already full and signaled him to head into some other place that according to my husband looked like a restaurant. He got rid of him pretty quickly and headed straight for the clinic. They asked him if it was his first or second time there. They also asked him for his passport and they gave him a number. He waited 5 minutes in the waiting room with the other people who had arrived there before him. He entered with the letter, his passport, the hotel info, his cell phone and his wallet. Then, the guard came and took everyone to the other clinic, Servicios Medicos de la Frontera. I’m not sure if this was because the first was full (?) but it apparently wasn’t confusing.
At the second clinic, they gave him another number and then he waited about 20 minutes before getting his picture taken. After that, they asked him for the hotel’s phone number and his cell phone number. Then, they took everyone in a group to another room where they were divided by women and men. He had to have his chest x-ray taken, in which he had to take off his shirt but kept his pants on. After that, they took the group to another room where everyone waited for about an hour. Here, his blood was taken. Then, they were weighed, had their eyes examined and their blood pressure checked. He says it could have gone quicker, but the doctors and nurses were chatty with each other.
Then, he was taken to another little room where he was asked to take off everything except his boxers. The nurse arrived after that—she checked his eyes, his mouth, asked if he had tattoos, taken drugs, if he had ever been arrested, what he studied and what his job was. He was asked to then lie down on the examining table and to pull his boxers down. She looked at him for a few seconds and then had him pull his boxers back up, stand up and walk to the wall. He said the floor was really cold and had trouble walking on it, and the nurse asked him if he had problems walking, and he told her it was just the cold floor. He was told to put his clothes back on and then was given his injections. He paid $350, which was $4,300 pesos, and he paid with a debit card. He held onto his receipt and was told to come back at 4 pm to get the results. He called me to send the shuttle, and they took about 15 minutes to get him.
We spent time here at the hotel, and even though I hadn’t anticipated us going out, people were taking the shuttle to the mall and ATM machines, and we decided to go to the nearby grocery store (S Mart). It actually was really helpful to get food and water for the room. The only thing was that the shuttle took a while to pick us up again and I was nervous as we waited behind the glass doors for a good while.
After that, my husband took the shuttle at 3:30 to the clinic to get his results. During both his medical exam and the picking up of the results, he chatted with other people going through the process. Everyone that he had talked to was going through the process after having spent some time undocumented in the U.S., so we’re yet to meet others who have the same situation as us, but I’m sure they’re out there! He said that you really do have to be there at 4, not after, because they start calling out numbers then. He got the packet quickly, and then crossed the street to get his two pictures taken at a plaza in front of the clinic. He had already had them taken in Monterrey, but I wasn’t sure that the paper was glossy enough (nor was I sure that this really mattered!), so we decided to get them taken again. The quality of the pictures taken here was definitely not as good, as it was taken with a regular digital camera, but we wanted to be safe. He’ll take all four of the pictures to the interview and see what they prefer. After he got the pictures, he called the shuttle and this time, it came really quickly. It really does just matter on how many people need it at any given time.
Interview
On the day of the interview, I ended up going with my husband to the Consulate, assuming that I was going to be in the waiting room. Truth be told, I was curious to see what it looked like and wanted to make sure he got in ok, but we got there, I realized it probably would be better to go back to the hotel. The waiting room building was a little further down the street and I’m sure it would have been a boring wait, as he was in the Consulate from 1:15 pm until about 5:30 pm. I got the shuttle back and it took some time for them to pick me up (about 25 minutes). There were lots of people outside of the Consulate, mostly looking like they were waiting. There were a few vendors and to my surprise, the whole area had lots of restaurants and cafes close by. I imagined the Consulate being more isolated, but it was really busy over there, with a fair amount of traffic, people and lots of businesses.
My husband was with another guy from the hotel (Grangkm’s husband, actually! ) and they were in line. Someone from the Consulate came and asked them if they had already received their stamp on their papers, and they hadn’t. They were instructed to go down to the Sala de Espera building on the corner and get them.
They returned to the line (which was pretty short), and then they were taken into the building and went through security. My husband had left his watch here at the hotel, and only had all of the documents and his wallet with him. For some reason, the security guard checking thought that he had chewing gum on him and was determined to find it—hah, no such gum existed! Because of this whole gum thing, he actually was the last one to get his number and the last one to be processed.
After security, he got his number and then they all went to a room/patio area that was technically outdoors but had a roof with heaters on it. Apparently, there were lots of people there who had been waiting from different appointment times earlier in the day. There was a big screen in which all of the numbers were changing. He was waiting there about 30 minutes. Each time the numbers changed, there was a little noise. When it was his turn, he was asked for his passport, tourist visa, the medical packet, pictures and birth certificate—an “official” copy and a photocopy. He had 3 different options for the pictures and to be honest, none of them of them were really that glossy! They told him to choose which ever one he wanted.
They sent back to the patio area to sit and wait after that. He waited another 30 minutes. Then, when it was his turn, he went to pay ***And here’s an important thing—His Mexican debit card didn’t work, as it was Visa “Electron”. *** It worked fine at the clinic, but not at the Consulate!! We had totally not anticipated this, and he did have some cash on him, but definitely not enough! The consular agent told him that he had twenty minutes to run to an ATM and get the money out, which he did. He literally ran, with all of his documents and photo album under one arm, across the street towards the mall (crossing on the pedestrian bridge) and found a Banamex ATM outside, by Liverpool. How stressful! He ran back with 6 minutes to spare, had to go through security again (ughh!) and had the cash ready. He went directly back with the same agent, made the payment ($5252 pesos) and sat down again.
He waited about an hour again, and this time, he got a snack from a little stand that was inside. There are also bathrooms that you could use. He was called to do his fingerprints after that. Finally, they had everyone who was waiting (about 15 people) go inside. At this point, they told them that the interview was next. He was the absolute last (aww!) because of the gum incident, and he had a very nice agent interview him. Actually, he said that everyone he was in contact with was really nice. He felt like the interview got off on the right foot, as he joked around in English with her beforehand about being the absolute last. She asked if he preferred to do the interview in Spanish or English and he opted for English. These were the questions he received after having to swear that he was telling the truth.
1. So you’re ______ (his name), right?
2. How did you meet your wife?
3. When did you guys become a couple?
4. So, your wife is from Minnesota, right? (A trick question!) He corrected her.
5. How did you see each other when you were both in college? (He said we always visited each other during every break we had and explained a lot on this time.)
At this point, they started to discuss the trips that he had made to the U.S. Because we’ve been together for 5 years and made MANY trips, he started confusing the years! She actually got out the sheet that we had attached in Packet 3 and helped him along with the correct years!
6. Does your family like your wife?
7. Have you met her family? What are her parents’ names and what do they do for a living?
8. How many siblings does she have? (He also said their names, too.)
9. When was your wife born?
10. How do you like ______ ? (The city I’m from and where we’ll live)
Then, she said, “Ok, you’ve been approved.” Yay! She told him to go to DHL, where he turned in a paper and paid for the service (around $120 pesos). And that was it! He left and found a pharmacy nearby where there was a public phone and called the shuttle.
DHL Pick-Up/Border Crossing
It seems we haven’t lucked out in this department! My husband was approved on Thursday afternoon, and the package didn’t arrive Friday or Saturday, so he’s still waiting. I had to return to the U.S. for my job, and wish I didn’t have to leave him, but we’re crossing our fingers that it will come on Monday. DHL is closed on Sunday. Some people we met at the hotel were able to pick up their visa as soon as two days after and a few people are going on a week of waiting!!
My husband was told he would probably have to wait 2-4 working days, which means that it really should be in by Tuesday at the latest, but when he last spoke to DHL, they told him even up to Thursday was a possibility. He debated going back to Monterrey and then coming back to CDJ, as DHL told him that they can keep the visa there for 30 days, but he decided to stay and just finish the whole process before leaving. I’ll update the forum once he finally gets it and crosses!
As for me, La Quinta arranged a taxi for me to take me across the border and to the El Paso airport. It was $70, which may have been a bit expensive, but then we didn’t have to worry about anything. They said that they have two trustworthy taxi drivers from El Paso that they call for these types of airport drop-offs, and it went totally fine. The wait at the border took about an hour and 15 minutes by car, and only those passing on foot were able to get through really quickly. It was the Cordova bridge, and it felt safe to me. In retrospect, I probably could have had the shuttle drop me off at the bridge, walked with my luggage and then just gotten an El Paso taxi on the other side (there were plenty), but because I was crossing alone and weren’t sure about safety, we opted for the taxi driver to take me the whole way.
General Safety/Food
This was a big concern of mine and the cause of a fair amount of nervousness before the trip! And all in all, I would reiterate what the others have said—we felt safe in our hotel and safe enough whenever we took the shuttle to someplace close by. We never heard or saw anything that scared us. We checked the news daily on the El Diario website and things happened in the city, but the city really is bigger than I had imagined and we never heard anything.
We even ventured out more than I thought we would, with grocery store trips (S Mart and Walmart are close by) and drive-thru restaurant runs. We had Papa John’s and food from a nice Italian restaurant delivered, and then my husband asked the shuttle to take him to Wendy’s one night to pick up some food for us. We weren’t too comfortable going anywhere to eat, but other people doing the process at the hotel definitely went out to eat, or out to church on Sunday morning. The order-in food options do get limited and we definitely had our fair share of Ramen noodles and microwaved flautas!!
One other thing—while it was reassuring to see lots of regular people out and about, going about regular life, I did think that the stores and restaurants were really empty compared to what we were used to in Monterrey. Maybe this in part due to the fact that Monterrey is so big and heavily populated, but I do have the impression that people move about their business briskly in the city instead of taking their time.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7230