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| Sydney, Australia |  Review on October 25, 2011: |
Katie & Trev
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My interview was at 9am, and I didn't want to spend a night in Sydney so I flew down at 5am that day. Which meant getting up at 2:30am. I landed in Sydney and headed for the airport link train. I bought the $25 return pass, and headed for St James station, as that's the closest one to the MLC centre. It was roughly 15 minutes by train, the train was PACKED though!
The MLC Centre:
It's a short walk to the MLC centre - it's easy to spot. I went into the bottom floor and there was a guy sitting alone at a desk, and lots and lots of elevators in a big circle room. Basically you turn left the second you get in the door. and then it's the first elevators on the right. You press the button upto floor 10, then follow the signs to the Consulate. It's basically turn right and follow the building, it's Suite 1010.
I went in and showed my passport and appointment letter to the security guard. Who then took my bags (I had a handbag, and a bag of evidence) and put them through a scanner, I went through the metal detector and then had to surrender my bags - They wouldn't even let me take the bag of evidence, I had to take all the paperwork out, lol. He gave me a ticket with a number on, and told me to sit down on a chair. Then another security guard came and put me and another girl into an elevator and wooshed us upto level 59. The elevator is FAST! My ears popped going up. Then you turn right when you go out of THAT elevator and then there's ANOTHER security guard behind a desk, who takes your passport and looks at it, then hands it back, then she asked me if I had a cellphone on me and I said no, then she said I can go through. The door is heavy, but not THAT heavy. Then you press the top button on a wooden box for your ticket, and sit down. and wait.
The interview process:
Once you have your ticket, you sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. My appointment was 9am, I was sitting in the consulate at 8:25am. I didn't get seen by ANYONE until 9:20am. FINALLY they buzzed me over to desk 3, you stand infront of a window and the person is on the other side. First she asks you for the documents that they ask for on your packet 4 letter. I handed over my passport, passport fee, envelope, and letter of intent. She takes my documents and then tells me to sit down.
So I sit down again and wait until she buzzes me back up again. She now has all my paperwork, and hands me back my original police check, and birth certificate. She takes my fingerprints. She THEN informs me that I need the LONG version of my birth certificate. As England has a long and short version. I'm like "Um. I wasn't told I needed the long one' and she said that it's RARE that they overlooked something like this, but I wont need to come in for another interview, and I can send it in later. Anyway, she then says everything else looks good, and the fact they overlooked it probably means everything else looked good so they forgot! Then she told me to sit back down and wait for my final interview.
So I wait some more. and some more. People get buzzed all the time. I see my file (K1 visas are in pink folders! :D) I waited. and waited. and waited. I had been watching some officer there do some other K1 visas, she kept asking basic questions to everyone, and I was like "Sweet, I can answer these easily!". Then she went away and a guy came back. Then I got called up. He asked me how I was, I was EXHAUSTED and probably looked it. He made me swear that everything I said, and had written, was true. Took my finger print of my index finger on my left hand.
I got asked:
When did you meet?
How did you meet?
What does he do for work?
What does his mom do for work?
When did he finish high school? (This one caught me off guard, and I had a total mind blank. I kinda' ummmm'd and aaahh'd and said I couldn't remember. Then he said "When you met, was he at school?" and I said no.)
When did you go to the US?
Did you overstay?
How did you know you want to marry him?
Where did you stay when you visited him?
What was meeting his family like?
What's the age difference between you two?
I answered as best I could. He then went quiet for AGES and was typing for AGES and I was like ughhh have I been denied?
Then he too, mentions the long birth certificate. and says that he can't send me the visa until they have it. So I say "So am I approved?" and he said something like "Pretty much, yeah. I trust your answers, but can't issue you the visa until I've seen your birth certificate. Congratulations on your upcoming marriage" then I said "Oh don't worry, I'll be sending it the second I get back to Brisbane!!"
So I've been approved but not approved, if that makes sense? I was in the actual consulate for HOURS though. Over two hours. Not because of the birth certificate thing, but they were so, so busy. They apologized for the fact they missed the birth certificate thing, but because I had to rush around like a crazy lady for THEIR error, I'm only going to give them 4 stars. It was good though. 
(updated on November 1, 2011)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8589