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| France |  Review on July 12, 2011: |
kimsue
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband had his IR-1/CR-1 visa interview on June 21, 2011 at 1PM. He entered the Paris embassy at 12:50 and was out by 3PM. There were three "stages" once inside.
At the first stage, they took his appointment letter and the number assigned when he entered.
At the second stage, they asked for updated civil documents (only necessary if expired). They also asked if the passport photos he brought were different from the ones sent to the NVC (they weren't), and expressed some doubt about the quality of the photos. They said they would leave the decision up to the CO, who apparently thought they were good enough, since the original NVC photos were used. [On a side note, the photos were taken by a professional photographer in Lyon who was on the list provided by the embassy, but he was totally incompetent and my husband had to personally resize them to meet U.S. standards.] The person at the second stage also asked my husband how long he lived in the U.K. (8 months). This had caused problems at the NVC- they sent an RFE for a U.K. police certificate and I had to fight with them for awhile before they admitted that it was not required because he lived there less than 12 months. Happily, there were no such problems at the embassy.
At the third stage, he had the actual interview with the CO, which was quick and easy. The questions asked were:
When and where did you meet?
When were you married?
What do you do for a living?
What do you plan to do in the US?
Have you ever been to the US before?
When he answered yes to having been in the U.S. before, she asked why it wasn't written on the DS-230 and he had to point her to an addendum (the DS-230 didn't leave enough space for all the times he's been here). She then asked if he had any questions (no) and told him that he should receive his visa in 6-10 days.
As far as appointments at embassies go, the experience was very positive. Almost all of the time spent was simply waiting for his number to get called as opposed to getting seriously interviewed. The CO was polite and efficient and did not ask to see any additional evidence. My husband had to bring a Chronopost 13H 2kg envelope to the interview (this bigger size required for IR-1/CR-1), and the visa arrived 8 days later.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7913