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| Juarez, Mexico |  Review on January 10, 2012: |
carlajesse
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I just wanted to write about my experience in Cd. Juarez, since it helped me so much when preparing for my interview.
Background information: My fiancé and I have been dating for almost 5 years now and got engaged on April 30, 2011, we started the whole process in May 1st, 2011; got approved on September 27, 2011; got the interview on January 3, 2012 and got the visa delivered on January 5, 2012.
HOTEL
I arrived on Sunday, January 1st, 2012 and stayed at the Ibis Consulado hotel which ended up being a great hotel for its location. It is right in between both of Medical Clinics and is about 3-5 minutes’ walk to either of them. There is also a small mall in front of it with breakfast joints, lockers and offices that take passport pictures and offer you the forms needed for the visa.
MEDICAL EXAMINATION
On Monday 2 I got early and got to the Clinica Medica de la Frontera. I picked this one because I heard it was the biggest one and assumed that meant they would process people faster.
I got there at 5:45 showed my papers. They asked me for: my passport, letter of confirmation of appointment and my vaccination records.
NOTE: You do NOT need the letter of confirmation or vaccination records for the medical exam, but they will initially ask for them. If you do not have the confirmation letter I HIGHLY recommend you get it in the Embassy, you will need it for everything else.
I didn’t had my confirmation letter, since it was never sent to me or my fiancé. I was still able to get the medical exam done (although I had to go through several people and explain that my confirmation of payment explained it was a K-1 Visa), but I was told I would still need to go to the Embassy and ask for the letter.
1)Chest X-ray
Once in, you wait for your Chest X-ray exam.
a. They will separate Men and Women and you will enter in blocks to undress from the waist up.
b. They will give you a tunic for you to wear.
c. They will call your name and place you in the correct position for the X-ray
d. You go back to your changing cubicle.
NOTE: Take the tunic with you since you will use it for the final examination!!
2)Blood Test
a. Wait again in a waiting room until they call you again. (They call you in groups of 10)
b. It takes around 5-10 minutes between each group.
c. Once in, they will scan a flask and if your name comes up they will call your name and extract blood.
3)Physical Examination
a. Wait again in waiting room until they call you again. (They call you in groups of 5)
b. It takes around 15 minutes between each group.
c. Once in they will seat you as a group and take your pressure, weight and temperature.
d. They will ask you questions about when was your last pregnancy (if any), your age and at what time is your appointment with the embassy.
e. Then you’ll make a line and test your eyesight.
NOTE: If you use reading glasses bring them with you!
f. Then you will be assign a private room, they instruct you to get completely naked and use the tunic you used for your X-Ray.
g. A female doctor will knock on the door and will ask you the following questions:
i. Have you been in prison in Mexico or the US?
ii. Have you consumed any drugs?
iii. When was your last period?
h. She will then check ears, eyes and neck.
i. She will ask you to open the tunic and she will quickly check your breast, touch your stomach and see quickly in between your legs.
j. Since it is a K visa they will NOT apply any vaccines
4)Payment
a. They will ask for your name and will tell you how much to pay. It is supposed to be $190 plus taxes, which ends up in $210.
b. They will tell you at what time to come back for your results
5)Pick-Up
a. You will be sent to the waiting area and they will call people in groups of 10.
b. When they call you go to the line
NOTE: They will give you the black plastic envelope with a stapled CD which contains the copy of your X-RAY. DO NOT open the CD or Black envelopes!!!
CSC APPOINTMENT
Tuesday 3. Since I didn’t had my confirmation letter I went for it to the consulate. I lined up and the guard asked for my papers, I explained I needed to get my confirmation letter and he then told me to go to line 3. I waited there for about 5 minutes when a guy came and asked what my problem was. I told him I needed my confirmation letter and he took my letter of approval, he continued to ask people in line for papers they needed.
After 15 minutes another guy came and he started calling our names, he then game me back my letter of approval and confirmation letter.
I had my appointment at 12:40 PM and I got there 10 minutes before, but they were still not accepting people in. After they changed the time in the window I was able to go in.
1) Once in they ask me for my:
a. Confirmation letter
b. Passport
c. Appointment time
d. Conformation of DS-260 (paper with bar code)
2) They put my papers in a plastic folder and ask me to take a seat. It took 10 minutes
3) The guard told me to go to a window and I gave the plastic folder.
4) In there they asked to read a paragraph that states that by giving my fingerprints I am conscious that all I’m saying is true.
5) Then my picture and fingerprints were taken
6) I got my passport, my DS-260 confirmation with a sticker in which my day and time for appointment were written and a paper with instructions for picking up the visa. They told me THESE were the papers I would be ask to give PLUS whatever else I wanted to add AND that I needed to be in the waiting area (building in between CSC and the consulate)30 minutes before my interview.
INTERVIEW
I had my interview on Wednesday 3 at 7:15 AM and as instructed the day before I got to the waiting room at 6:45 AM, in there they put my papers in order and told me to sit until 7:00AM (15 minutes before the interview).
1) Once in the Consulate I got in line and told me to line up in row 2. They checked my passport, confirmation DS-260, DS-156 and confirmation letter.
2) I entered the consulate, I placed my coats and documents in a tray I passed a metal detector (like on airports). They told me I was not allowed to bring in CD’s but I told them it came with the Medical results and they let it pass.
3) I was given a number and told to exit a door and go into the next waiting area.
4) Once in the waiting area I waited for about an hour or so hoping to see my number on the screen.
5) When I finally saw my number on the screen I went to the window that correspond me and a man welcomed me.
a. He asked me for my financial support papers so I gave him the Affidavit, Financial records, Taxes and I-384 (or something like that).
b. He then asked me for a copy of both my passports (since I have double citizenship)
c. He confirmed my name and my place of birth and then asked me for and ORIGINAL of my birth certificate
d. Both copies of DS-156 and DS-156K
e. He filled something out and asked me to sign the DS-156K papers
f. He asked me for the 2 passport pictures
g. He confirmed the address where I will be living as well as the contact information for my fiancée
h. He then told me to go sit down and that my number would come up again in the screens
6) 20 minutes later my number appeared again and I went to a different window
a. Another man welcomed me and asked for my name
b. He asked who was asking for me and I told him that my fiance, I told him his complete name.
c. He then asked me to raise my right hand and to swear to tell all the truth
d. He then went on asking several questions as: how my fiance I were, how we met, how had he proposed, where and when was our wedding, how much was it going to cost.
e. He also asked me for my other visas (tourist and student) and my I-20 (compliment of student visa)
f. He then said “Congratulations, you may go now, your visa has been approved”. I was so shocked, since he said it without looking at me, I kind of I stood there for a while and then smiled, thank him and wished him a nice day.
All in all, it was a pretty good experience. For what I had read in other reviews, I was expecting the clinics to be full, but maybe I didn’t found them as such since I went right after New Year’s. As for the interview, it went super smoothly, I was initially nervous that they would ask me something weird like my fiance's security number or something, but the man that questioned me was really nice and all the questions were easy. Also if I could only give one tip it would be to make sure you have the confirmation letter of appointment, if you didn’t got it in the mail DO go and ask for it in the Consulate, it will take some good 30 minutes but you DO need it, it will save you time and worries.
I should also add that we had help from our lawyer and she even though she is used to dealing with consulates and visas, she still had some trouble with the always changing regulations from the Juarez’ Consulate.
Our visa got approved on Wednesday January 3, we got the Waybill Friday January 5 and the visa got delivered to DHL on Saturday January 6. As you can see this was done super-fast, this was probably due to two things: we did it after New Year’s so there were not that many people filling for the visa and we decided for the visa to be sent to a DHL in Ciudad Juarez. We decided to pick-up the visa in Cd. Juarez since there has been several cases in Monterrey were people get their visas stolen.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8984