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| United Arab Emirates |  Review on February 7, 2012: |
cathy-o
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-5 Visa
Yippee! We've been APPROVED! Have to pick up our passports stamped with the visa in 2 days.. My husband and I were both sponsored by our son working in USA.
We went to the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi at 6.45 am. Around 8am the security let us in and took away all mobiles, handbag allowing only our important docs and passport. We were no. 3 in the queue. In about 10 mins we were called to a window where the consular officer returned all our original certificates. Initially she asked for our indian police clearance seeing that we had lived in India. However when we told her that we are no longer indian citizens but canadian, she cancelled that request as India does not provide police clearance to non-Indians.
We were then told to go the next window for our finger printing. That took about 2 mins and we were told to wait for our number to be called again for the interview which was conducted at the window. At first we were upset as many who were in line after us we being called for their interview before us. But it soon occurred to us that they were all being called to speak to the consular who spoke to them in farsi. There was one window with a english speaking consular. we were the second in line at that window. The male consular was friendly and surprised firstly to come across Canadians wanting to immigrate to USA (he said it was not common in UAE) and secondly, to know that our 23 year old son had sponsored us saying we look too young to be parents of a 23 yo. That was sweet of him. We told him that we are married 26 yrs. The pic you see here is my husband and myself taken last year at our 25th anniv.. We felt good about the compliment and that the interview got off to a good start.
He said that our son was earning well enough to sponsor us, but my husband had taken his bank statement just in case, as our son has only been working since last July and was unable to submit the 2011 income tax return. It was a good idea as he wanted to see our bank statement too and decided to keep it with the other documents. We told him we would be looking for jobs when we get there, but also we have a home rented in Orlando FL and one rented in Dubai which will provide the money we need to live in USA. He was satisfied that we have enough funds.
He asked where we plan to live in USA. When we mentioned Pennsylvania and that our younger son goes to Penn State Uni, he was noticeably delighted and even more chatty after that, saying he studied there too. He told us that State College, the town where the University is located is a wonderful place to live. We agreed and told him that we have already rented an apartment there in anticipation of our arrival. He was sad when he mentioned Joe Paterno of PSU who died recently - the long time football coach at PSU. After that he reached for the pink slip and wrote '2 visas' on it telling us to return in 2 days to collect our passports with the stamp. He said that we would need to enter USA within 6 months. We will be leaving at the beginning of May. We are ECSTATIC about this wonderful news! What a super experience! Not a hitch! Thank you Lord Jesus for your love and hearing our prayers! Thanks to our son Billy who meticulously handled all the paper work (my timeline is wrong by the way as I don't know exactly when the NOA1 and NOA2 were done) Billy handled it all in USA. Thanks to my friend Chuward who wrote to wish me good luck. I had lost my password yday and was unable to thank u Chuward. Not many here in VJ are in the IR5 category so i guess i didn't have too many wanting to compare notes with me. Any way being a part of VJ gave me a good idea of what to expect reading other people's reviews and concerns. Thanks Sol for writing to me - I hope you and walt are happy.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9122