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| Haiti |  Review on May 10, 2012: |
cadyinhaiti
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Before I start, I will say that many, many people were not issued a visa today because they weren't prepared. They didn't have all the documents they needed and were told they needed to come back when they had the correct documents. I am so thankful for this website which helped me so much through this process. And now for the good stuff...
We got to the embassy at about 6:10 (not on purpose! haha! there wasn't much traffic so we arrived VERY quickly). There were already about 25 or 30 people in line. At 7:00, they began letting people in. We went through several "checkpoints" to get into the building. Before you go in the building, there is a stopping point and you must leave all electronics there. You can't enter with phones, cameras, laptops, etc. You have to pay $2 (although, I heard it was $5...we paid $5 and never got change back) to leave your items and they give you a ticket/number to pick it up when you come back out.
After we got through to the last checkpoint, we were instructed to go sit and wait for our turn at the window. We waited for about 30 minutes. When it was our turn, we went up to the window (I had read several people saying they only want the beneficiary, but every time he was called, I walked up to the window with him like I was supposed to be there and they were fine with it.). The first time at the window, a woman asked for his name, phone number, and who sent for him. She asked me if I brought any more photos and I said yes and gave them to her. I had other things I wanted to give her, but we had just heard one of the officers telling a man to only answer the question he was being asked and not to answer more...so I just left it. We were told to sit and they would call us when they were ready for us again.
We waited for about an hour before they called him again. This time, he went to a window where they took his fingerprints. I can't really remember, but I think that was all that they did at that window. Again, we were told to sit and wait for his name to be called.
This time we sat for about 3 or 3 1/2 hours waiting to be called. It was so frustrating because many, many people who were fingerprinted AFTER us were getting called BEFORE us. When we were finally called up, I, again, just walked up like I was the one getting interviewed also. Our Consular Officer was very nice. She asked both of us if either of us had ever been married, divorced, or had children (with each other or other people). Then she said, "Tell me a little about your story...How, When, Where, Why of your relationship." So I let my fiance talk, since it was his interview. While he was talking, she started giving me back all my photos (the ones I sent with the I-129f and the ones I had given earlier that day). She flipped through the whole packet and said it mostly looked like copies, but asked if there was anything else I needed back. She also asked my fiance if he had ever tried for a visa before and he told her yes, twice for a visitor visa, but had been denied. They talked about the time frame of when he had applied for those visas.
Then she took the photocopy of his passport, stapled a little yellow tag on it, handed it to us and said "Take this out to the logistics people and they will give you information about what to do next. I need to keep the passport and the other documents while they are processing and putting the visa in the passport."
I am rating this a "4" instead of a "5" because of the terribly long wait. There may not be any way to improve that, but hoping that no one else has to sit for so long! Bring snacks (no water, they take that with the electronics) because you may be there for 6 hours, like I was! In the long run, however, it was worth it...and will make for great memories!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9657