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| Frankfurt, Germany |  Review on September 17, 2011: |
Nina & Oliver
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I had my interview on Sept 15. My wife had filed the I-130 on June 24, and on Sept 13 I received the letter with the invitation to the interview.
I had an appointment for 8:30. I reached the consulate at 8:20. The line for non-immigrant visa was quite long, but in my line there were just two people in front of me. I got into the consulate at 8:26.
First up was counter 23, where I was greeted by a nice enough woman, who took my passport and asked me to go pay my visa fee at the next counter (she was German). At the cashier's window, the gentleman clearly only spoke English. I paid my visa fee and went back to window 23, where I had to hand in my receipt. I received a note telling me how to arrange my documents:
- Birth certificate (original and copy)
- Divorce or death decrees (original and copy, where applicable)
- Marriage certificate (original and copy)
- Police certificates (original, in order of residence, Germany last)
- Affidavit of financial support
- Stamps, € 4,25
I bought the stamps at a machine in the waiting hall, arranged my documents and then waited for about an hour before my number was called up again. I went to window 20 and a nice, young German lady went through my documents with me. Since for the longest time I was not really sure how things worked regarding the documents: If the documents are in English or German, you do not need a translation of them! I did not bring translations and that was totally fine. My documents were alright, I addressed the envelope for them to mail me my passport and my medical records were there already (I had done it end of July). The lady told me that everything looked find and that the consul would talk to me shortly.
While I was waiting, I could see the consul talking to the people in front of me (mostly military wives). She took her time, but seemed friendly enough. One man took over 30 mminutes, not sure what was wrong there.
At 11, my number came up above the consul and I walked up to the window. She tried pronouncing my rather difficult German last name and I commended her for the job. We talked about German names and the difficulties of the German language. I then had to swear that all information was truthful and she took my fingerprints. After that, she asked when we got married and where my wife was. Then she wanted to know what I was doing, and when I told her I am a constitutional lawyer, she rolled her eyes and said that I was doing that so that others, like her, did not have to do it. When I told her my wife was a philosopher, she started laughing and said that that seemed to fit. Then she teased me about being nicer than my job description made her expect me.
She then looked at the affidavit of support, said that was fine. Then she read the affidavits of bona fide marriage that our friends had provided, smiled and said: "Boy, you really didn't trust me to give you the visa." I said that we just wanted to be sure. And she said that that was making things a lot easier. She then wanted to know where Nina and I met, and whether her family was present at the wedding. She then asked me about my prior marriage, and what I was planning on doing once in the States. After that she looked at the photos we had handed in, commented on them ("That is cute", "Ah, nice couple", etc.) and then said I was going to have my visa within 1-2 weeks. She congratulated me, said that we seemed very happy, and that she wished us all the best.
And that was that. I was out of the consulate at 11:17. All in all a very pleasant experience, nothing to be afraid of at all.
I had read that they tend to "rubber-stamp" applications in Frankfurt, but I did not feel like that was the case. They were thorough, but friendly. Also, I really appreciated that they gave me an early interview appointment, just like we had asked them for when we handed in the I-130. Very professional, and very service oriented.
Nothing to be afraid of.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8332