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| Guangzhou, China |  Review on November 13, 2011: |
Ryan H
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
On the day of document intake, my wife and I arrived at the Consulate about 45 minutes prior to the scheduled admission time. People were already lining up outside the building. Once applicants are admitted to the building, they go into the immigrant visa area and are given a number. I had made an appointment with American Citizen Services the same day as my wife's document intake day to have an updated EOR letter notarized. The original EOR letter I sent with the petition was 2.5 pages; however, IMO, for an EOR to be useful for your spouse to give to a CO to look over during an interview, it needs to be one page. Since the payment window was in the same room as where the IV applicants were waiting, I went back into this room and sat with my wife while she waited for her number to be called after I had the EOR letter notarized. She was sitting with some other people that she had gotten acquainted with in line. There did not appear to be any rhyme or reason to how the numbers were being called, numbers being called were skipped around, it seems random. Once a number is called and the documents submitted, an applicant will have to wait until their number is called a second time and then go up to a window for fingerprinting.
On interview day, we arrived at the Consulate approximately 15 minutes before applicants were to be admitted. Prior to admission, I placed the EOR letter with my passport and handed both to her and she placed them along with the rest of the evidence we had. After she went in, me and another petitioner who was there with his fiancée talked with each other, this really helped pass the time. His fiancée came out and she had been approved, I congratulated them and they left the building! I waited next to the much talked about coffee shop in this building which is near the escalator where people come down after leaving the Consulate offices. While waiting, I spoke periodically with another petitioner who was there with his wife (my wife and I became acquainted with his wife in line the previous day). Eventually my wife came out and from the look on her face, all seemed well; still, I asked her how it went and she told me the good news!!!
My wife was asked the following questions (in no particular order):
Who is petitioning you?
What are the names of his parents?
Is this your first marriage?
Is this his first marriage?
Does he have children?
Do you have children?
Is your husband waiting on the floor below?
What is his brother's name?
What is his brother's job?
When did you get married?
Did his family come to the wedding? Why not?
Are you a member of the Chinese Communist Party?
Have you ever been to the United States?
And then she was told that she had been approved and was given the approval sheet (they are on white paper now). She thanked the CO and came down. She mentioned the CO that interviewed her was very nice. The CO did ask to see our pictures and my passport (CO looked through both).
When I filed, I sent a heavily frontloaded petition to USCIS. Copies of what I had sent plus additional evidence gathered after filing was brought to the interview. My wife and I also prepared for the interview in the days leading up to it.
Many thanks to the VJ and CFL communities for you help, expertise, guidance, advice, and encouragement! I will always be grateful!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8702