Consulate Review: New Delhi, India
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
July 18, 2012 |
| Embassy Review : |
I am the petitioner, and I went with my fiancé for his interview, which was scheduled for 8:15 a.m. We arrived outside the embassy around 7 a.m., which was probably too early, but we didn't regret it because there was never a moment when we felt crunched or nervous about time. We were allowed in around 7:45.
What happened next was pretty basic, so I'm not going to go into much detail. Basically, we went where we were told to go whenever we were directed to do so (our token number was called, or staff pointed us in a certain direction), and in this manner, we entered the embassy, my fiancé gave his fingerprints, and we were eventually called to a window to submit documents. The correct demand draft amount was INR 13,920.
Most of our documents were in order, but based on the experience, I have some advice to offer future Delhi Embassy interviewees:
1. Birth certificate: I was SUPER nervous because my fiancé does not have a birth certificate, and we didn't think to apply for one until it was too late. Thus, in place of a birth certificate, he submitted: (1) a Xth pass school certificate, with his name, parents' names, and date of birth on it, and (2) a letter of no record of birth registration from the relevant municipality, with his name, date of birth, and place of birth. THESE DOCUMENTS PASSED. In case they didn't, we had also gotten an affidavit from a notary signed by both his parents that stated his name, parents' names, and date and place of birth; however, they did not ask for this document and we did not give it to them.
2. Form DS-156: For some reason I missed this... we didn't have it prepared when went for the interview, so they had us fill it out once we were there. It wasn't a problem. But just for future reference, on the website, it asks applicants to bring: "Two completed DS-156 (non-immigrant visa application) forms, and one completed of DS-156K (PDF 56.6KB) (supplemental form for nonimmigrant fiance(e) visa applications). Do not sign the DS-156K supplemental form until instructed to do so by the Consular Officer."
3. Police Certificate: This was the only form that was a problem for us. My fiancé obtained his certificate from the passport branch of the regional police office in Chandigarh, but the embassy needs a certificate from the regional PASSPORT office. Apparently these are different offices? As it says on the website: "All Indian IV applicants aged 16 and above, residing in India, should obtain police certificates from the REGIONAL PASSPORT OFFICE." However, this is only noted on the page of the Delhi Embassy's website particularly about K-1 Packet 4 - if you look at the page for immigrant visa applicants, it says "regional police office." GAH!!! You think it would kill them to make the website a clearer/consistent?
Anyway, after going through all the documents, his interview went smoothly. We had prepared by practicing lots of general questions (when did you get engaged, what are some marriage plans, have you met her parents, etc.) but actually, they asked questions that were much more specific to our case, and from the way my fiancé describes it (I wasn't allowed at the interview window), it was much more like a conversation than an interview. From what he told me it went something like this:
Q: How did you meet?
A: At ___ design studio in ___, India.
Q: What do you do?
A: I'm a fashion designer.
Q: And what does your fiancée do?
A: She's working on her PhD in anthropology at ___.
Q: So how did an anthropologist end up working at a design studio in India?
A: The studio where I was working was involved in social development projects, and she came with a social entrepreneurship program when she was in college.
...And then I'm not sure what question the CO asked (sorry, this is second-hand from my fiancé), but somehow my fiancé ended up telling him that I've been to India 7 times and that I speak fluent Hindi. Apparently the CO was a white American guy who speaks Hindi, so he seemed to appreciate this information (apparently there was some laughing and smiling — from the way my fiancé tells it you would think they became buddies). And then it was over. Like I said, it sounded more like a conversation than an interview. The CO told my fiancé congratulations, your visa is approved pending final submission of the proper police clearance certificate.
So we got a white 221(g) for the one document and left after the CO assured us that they would issue the visa as soon as we submitted it. My fiancé got right on the bus to Chandigarh and arrived there yesterday afternoon. He submitted an online application for the police clearance certificate (FYI apparently you can do that — visit this website: http://passportindia.gov.in/) and he is getting his certificate this morning. He's planning to come back to Delhi this evening and we'll submit the certificate first thing tomorrow morning to VFS. We know there's a VFS office in Chandigarh, but we figure it will be faster (what with postal service in India) if we submit it to the Delhi office.
I'll let you know what happens once we submit — they said it will be 4-5 days after VFS receives it before we get the visa? Here's hoping!!! javascript:emoticon(' ') I'll be posting a second, very angry review if this information turns out to be incorrect.
Final note: My fiancé did in fact submit documents to the VFS office in Delhi 7 days before the interview, and they told him his police certificate would pass. I mention this because I am fed up with VFS and in fact, as an American citizen, I am infuriated that my government is outsourcing work to an uninformed, useless bureaucratic monkey. Submitting documents early to VFS did not mean that we had any kind of assurance that we had submitted everything or even that we had submitted the correct set of documents (I'm not even talking about whether or not the documents would be approved — I'm talking about the fact that VFS doesn't know the different between the regional PASSPORT office and the regional POLICE office). I intend to register a letter of complaint with the Delhi Embassy, because I think the US Embassy needs to be accountable not only to American citizens and their fiancés/spouses, but also because such carelessness is an unjustifiable, unnecessary demonstration of American power — yes, non-US citizens around the world will bend over backwards and put up with all sorts of shit to get visas to enter the US, but that doesn't make it right for the US Embassy to force them to do so. Because of the discrepancy between the people at the Embassy and the monkeys at VFS, I'm giving the embassy a 3 rating.
Also, a lot of reviews here offer hard and fast advice: be prepared in this way, do this, have this, get this, etc. but my advice is to relax a bit and let things happen. There is no way my fiancé and I could have been more prepared, but in the end we still had one document out of place. There is an element of luck involved here, and you're not going to know until you do it. I can make guesses as to why we were successful (minus the pending police certification), but in the end I don't really know what combination of documents in my fiancé's application got him an approval (just like everyone else posting here).
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll update my timeline when we get the visa. Thanks for everything — we couldn't have done it without VJ — and good luck to everyone else about to jump through these hoops!!! javascript:emoticon(' ') |
| Rating : |
Moderate |
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