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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on September 27, 2011: |
monyfer
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
These reviews were so helpful to my fiancé and I when preparing for his interview that I really wanted to take the time to post one as well. I did not attend the interview, but I will recount my fiancé's experience at the interview in Ciudad Juarez. I decided not to attend due to the high expense and the fact that I would not be able to go in with him to any of the appointments, and the fact that I was a little wary of crossing the border from El Paso to Juarez myself (it is way cheaper to fly from anywhere in the US to El Paso and cross than to fly to CDJ directly).
My fiancé flew from Mexico City to Ciudad Juarez on a Sunday. He arrived Sunday evening and took a taxi to Hotel Ibis, which is ideally located a few steps from the medical clinics and the consulate. He spent some time scoping out the area, where the ACS office was, etc. He went over to the mall across the street which he said was cool. He went to bed early since he had the medical exam early the next day.
MONDAY:
MEDICAL: He woke up early and got to the clinic (Clinica Medica Internacional) around 5 a.m. A guard had told him that Monday's are the busiest days, and this was after a Mexican holiday on Friday, so he expected it to be extra packed. Even though the clinic opened at six, he said there were already people waiting in line when he got there at five. The line got longer and longer. Finally, they split some people off and sent them to other clinic (Servicios de la Frontera or something). This ended up being fine because he got in the other clinic right away. I won't get into great detail on this as others who have been there already have, but anyway they took blood, a vision test, a chest X-ray, asked him some questions about drugs/tattoos/etc. and then the (female) nurse gave a VERY close examination to his male parts. Kind of unsettling if you ask me, but ok. Anyway, he was in and out very quickly - it only took like an hour or so. They told him to come back at 2pm for his results.
He killed time for a few hours then went back a little before two to pick up his results (like 1:30 p.m.) there were already a ton of people waiting. He said they called the results in three rounds of ten and he was the second of the last round! So it is not first come first serve by any means.
ASC: He went to the ASC appointment at 3:40 pm. He said there were a TON of people waiting outside. They put appointment times on the door so you can't go inside until your time is posted. Then you go stand in line, show your documents (DS260 confirmation, passport, invitation letter, appointment letter). He said he had to wait like over an hour just to go up to the desk and do the fingerprints and photos which only took like ten minutes.
TUESDAY
INTERVIEW: He got to the consulate around 6:30, his appointment was at 7:15 a.m. They let him in right away, reviewed his main documents, then he got a number. They called him for all his pertinent forms. We brought a ton of financial support - letter from employer, paystubs, W2s, past IRS tax returns, letter from bank and bank statements...they didn't want any of it except the letter from employer. They took and made him sign the DS156, 156K, Promise to Marry, etc. Then he sat for a little while and got called up to the window for the interview.
This is very important because what happened here to us was NOT the norm we have read about it. I had not heard of it before and wish I would have. THEY DO NOT ALWAYS GIVE YOU A DECISION AT THE INTERVIEW. Everything I had read, I thought you would hear approved or denied or administrative processing at the interview. Not so. My fiancé said the officer asked him questions - the usual ones like how we met, how old I was, have we met each other's families, do we have kids together, etc - and some not so usual ones like, do I live in a house or apartment? Do I have a pet? What is the pet's name? He said the officer did not look at him the entire time, was very serious and just typing away on the computer. He brought a TON of evidence - photos, ticket stubs, etc, and asked if the officer wanted to see him and was told "that won't be necessary".
So after all this, the officer tells him "I am sorry sir, I cannot see the information necessary in the system right now." so my fiancé was like "what does that mean? Am I approved or not?" again the officer said "Sorry, I can't see the necessary information right now. Check DHL in a few days. If you told the truth you will be fine".
So of course the next week was utter agony of not knowing if we were approved or denied. We expected him to call me from Juarez happy and he called with that news, I was so stressed and broken hearted. I researched this more after it happened to us and have heard of it it happening to a few other people at Juarez where they cannot see something in the system and do not give a decision and later send the visa. Or even one person who later received an AP slip by DHL. It was hell not knowing and so sad as my fiancé had expected to hear "Congratulations, welcome to the US, you are approved" and he didn't hear that and was all alone there. We were so stressed out for a week, but luckily a few days after the interview we got a DHL number and the DHL package arrived and it was the visa...so...thank goodness!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8396