|
|
| Bogota, Colombia |  Review on November 10, 2011: |
OnMyWayID
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We arrived at the embassy at 8:30am for our 9:00am November 9th interview. The lines were very long - hundreds of people. We walked past all the people to line #3 (the line for immigration) and there was a total of zero people in the line. Perfect! The woman controlling the line put green stickers on our shirts and we were let right in. Our electronics were confiscated at the security checkpoint.
Once we were in there was of course more lines. One with about 150 people and the one to the left which had zero people. We went to the line with zero people which was for immigration visas and we were then told to stand in front of one of the windows by the person controlling the lines.
There were two people doing the "pre-interviews" at these windows. I had read in the past that they give you a folder and a list of documents and to organize while you are line but they appear to have changed the procedure for the CR/IR visas. The person in the window has your documents organized and they ask for documents they need... As I said there were two people doing pre-interviews. One was very nice and smiling the other one was.. well lets say the opposite. I was hoping for the nice one but we got the other one... She immediately told me to leave and asked my wife a few questions that were not making her very happy (mostly confirming information in the forms but being very rude about it). She collected the documents that we had not already given them: the medical results, baptism certificate, vaccination papers, and one police report from the Dominican Republic. I was summoned to the window after a few minutes and the woman told me there was a problem with my divorce papers.. They were a copy. she wanted the originals. I told her I did not have them and she was again not happy. We argued back and forth for a few minutes about the divorce papers and finally she decided she was done arguing - she told me "We are done, go sit down and wait for the interview". She then talked to my wife for a few more minutes and then she came and joined my in the waiting area.
I was really nervous now for the second interview.. Nothing to do but wait.. We waited for about 90 minutes and watched people going in for their interviews.. Most came out looking happy. I did not see any other couples while were were there and there were not many people in the waiting area.. Maybe a dozen or so.. Finally we were called to window #4 (the immigrant visa section has five windows for the final interview but only two were in use on our interview day).
We both went to the window and my wife picked up the phone and was immediately asked to get her fingerprints scans and sign the second part of the DS-230 that was sent to the NVC. She was then asked 10 questions, the usual ones you would expect:
o) Is the person standing next to you your husband?
o) Where does he live?
o) What does your husband do for a living?
o) Your husband was previously divorced, How long ago?
o) Did you live in the Dominican Republic? How long? You met your husband there? What city? How did you meet?
o) What was your job in the Dominican Republic?
o) How many times has your husband visited you?
o) Does your husband speak Spanish?
She then said she could not find my divorce papers.. I was about to have a heart attack and then she said "oh wait, here they are!" and with that we were approved!
We were given a paper with a URL to arrange for the visa to be mailed via DHL (now free or there is premium service if you want it delivered to a specific address instead of picking it up at one of the DHL stations).
So.. We entered at 8:30 and were out at noon. Not too bad. The woman at the pre-interview was really the only negative.
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8686