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| Bulgaria |  Review on December 24, 2011: |
pumpkinseed
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I found other people\'s reviews very helpful before my interview, so I will try to post this in as much detail as reasonable.
I arrived at the U.S. Consulate in Sofia about 20 min early, but they let me in right away because it was snowing heavily and I was already all covered in snow and desperately trying to save my bag of documents and evidence from getting wet. I went through security (they were nice and professional), they took my electronics and sent me on my way to the interview building.
When I entered it was almost empty - apart from me there were only 4 more cases. That gave it a nice relaxed feeling as opposed to the crowded noisy room full of people with crinckly bags when non-immigrant visa interviews are being held. I sat down and waited for the guy on the chasier desk to come out of somewhere so I can go and pay. After I did that they called me for fingerprints. The pay desk guy and the fingerprints lady were both polite. After my fingerprints were taken, I sat down to wait for my interview.
I was called in about 10 min by a Bulgarian emigration officer to do the prescreening of documents. He asked for the forms, the civil documents, the financial documents, the medical etc. and he looked pleased that I had everything in order and I found it right away, because while I was listening to other people going through pre-screening, it seemed that they\'ve all forgotten or confused a document or two! Apart from this hardly noticeable satisfaction, he was very serious and didn\'t smile much. He was still polite, I just think he was either bored with his job or acting professional, or both. He had a checklist in front of him where he was checking down what he has already collected. When he was done collecting my documents, he proceeded to tell me that K1 applicants are required to have proof of relationship with their petitioner and he asked me if I brought some - for example pictures. I told him I did and handed a stack of papers with about 70 pictures I glued onto regular paper and also several screenshots, letters and postcards. I mentioned what I have included in the stack and showed him that I had a lot more for proof, but he said what I already gave him is more than enough. He added all the documents and the proof of relationship to folder with the original i-129f petition that my fiance has sent to USCIS. The folder was pink which I though was funny. He proceeded to ask me just a few questions:
- If I\'ve ever been to the U.S.
- Where did we meet and what did we do there?
- If my fiance has visited me in Bulgaria.
I think I spent not more than 10 min with him. I answered briefly but giving him some details, like when was the last time we met and where etc. so I think that left him no questions, so he said OK, please sit down and wait for your interview with the consular officer.
I sat down facing an interviewing window which turned out to be the one where the consular officer will hold the interviews so I got to listen to 3 interviews before mine (they were not k1\'s). He was young - in his early thirties - and looked very nice, smiling and joking with people. That eased my nerves a little bit. When it was my turn, he took the big pink folder, opened it and took the forms and other documents for the interview, made me sign one of the forms and put the others in order. Then he got to my stack of evidence and joked about how many pictures I brought. He flipped through them and commented in a joking manner: \"Is your fiance Canadian or American?\", referring to some of my pictures which were taken in Canada and I explained that we just took a trip there and my fiance is indeed American. He smiled and said that he had all the documents he needed and that he is convinced that our relatioship is genuine. He told me they will send my visa in 2-3 days. I thanked him with a huge happy grin on my face and then I left.
The interview was very easy and people were nice! After all the worrying about my previous non-immigrant visa refusal, about the co-sponsor situation, and what not, it turned out to be all ok! And it\'s such an amazing feeling to finally be over with the dreaded interview!
Good luck to all of you who will have their interview in Sofia!
(updated on December 25, 2011)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8934