Consulate Review: Dominican Republic
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
January 23, 2015 |
| Embassy Review : |
Although we were approved and obviously very happy, I must confess the interview experience was very disturbing and totally bizarre. I explain in detail below.
We arrived at the Embassy at about 5:15am. Already about 25 people in line. There are 3 rope lines set up to the far right side of the entrance for immigrant visa applicants. Around 6:30 they opened the door and announced that everyone needed to form one line. This caused some confusion and a little panic for some folks as everyone scrambled to merge into one line without falling further back. Hint: It really does not matter what place you are in line so don't worry. I explain more below.
At the head of the line, before you enter, they are now checking for your VAC Appointment Confirmation page. So have that ready in addition to your usual embassy interview letter. Once they see you have both letters, they send you through to the security line. No big deal there, No phones or electronics of any kind. We only brought our thick accordion folder with all of our supporting documents and our identification. Nothing else, so security was a breeze.
Once you pass security, you walk through a courtyard to the Consular Services building set to the left. When you enter that building they check for your P4 and VAC Appointment Letter and staple a to those a ticket with a number. Numbers start at 100, we had 116. From there you have a seat in a large waiting room with many wooden seats that span 30 receiving windows. There were some folks that did not have the VAC appointment confirmation as this was new this month and a lot of people just didn't know. Those folks were all sent to window 1 early on, around 7am to get fingerprints taken. If you had gone to the VAC before the embassy appointment you had already had your prints taken and could now skip that at the embassy. Also starting around 7am was what I will call the "check in" process. At this time they call the tickets in order and you go to the window indicated on the large monitors. We had no problem seeing and hearing the numbers as they were called and we could see them on the monitor. Within just a few minutes they reached our number and we went to window indicated. They had about 10 windows checking everyone in.
The check in was easy. We turned in a fresh copy of my wife's police certificate along with the medical records received from the medical appointment the week before. The guy at the window was nice and asked just a few questions to clarify our case (married before, who has kids, etc). These were not interview questions. After about 5 minutes at the window he had all he needed, and told us to take a seat and wait again for our number. We watched as every person from the morning group was checked in. No one was called up again until they checked everyone in and everyone was reseated.
Starting around 8:30 they began calling folks up again. This time was for the interview. For this time they did NOT call people up in order of their ticket. The numbers called now seemed random. But I think I did see a pattern that folks with young children and elderly went quickly. So far things had gone really well. Our nervousness was subsiding a little as we waited as the process seemed so smooth and we were so well prepared. I had a huge folder that contain fresh originals and copies of all of our civil documents, copy of my AOS along with my tax information and W-2s, tons of photos, copies of all my airline tickets, joint credit card statements, western union transfers, whatsapp text histories, hotel receipts, and more. I had visited at least once a month since April of 2012 so we had a ton of evidence and our confidence was rising. This is when things turned absolutely bizarre.
We were finally called after about an hour. Around 9:30. Although we were nervous we approached the designated window with smiles. That ended abruptly. The consulate officer was an american woman in her mid to late 50s who seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face. My wife, out of habit, said "Hola" y "Saludos" which went completely ignored by the scowling CO. She opened the conversation by glaring at me and asking me if I understood spanish, I said that I did, but that my spanish was not great and would prefer questions in english if possible. This seemed to really set her off. She let out a huge sigh, dropped her pen, and said in an angry tone "Fine! I will do this first in spanish for her, then in english for you." She proceeded to swear us in all the while with the most angry look on her face. I clarify here. She was not serious, Nor stern. Nor skeptical. She was outright expressing distaste and hostility. Rude would be an understatement, It was shocking and it did unnerve my wife and I. Maybe that was her plan. I do not know.
She started with me and asked me where I met my wife and when. Who was there at the time. She asked me if we planned to have kids in the future. That was it! 4 questions. All the while with the biggest scowl on her face.
Then she asked my wife completely different questions in spanish. She started with what my wife did for work. My wife replied that she was a student. The CO than said "What else?" My wife repeated she was studying english at the university 3 times a week and that was all. She did not have a job. The CO's eyes got really big and she said in a snotty tone "then how do you pay your bills??" My wife said that her husband (me) paid her expenses. The CO replied angrily "REALLY?" and rolled her eyes turning her attention to the computer screen and appeared to take some notes. Then she turned to me and sternly said "how long have you been paying her expenses?" I replied about 2 years to which she asked "how do you pay those expenses?" I said that I bring some cash every time I visit and I also transfer money with Caribe Express when emergencies arise. I also said my wife has a credit card that I pay. At this moment the CO looked absolutely shocked and said "WHAT??!...you gave her a credit card??" I said "Of course, she is my wife" to which to the CO replied. "Wow, that's not very intelligent!" She rolled her eyes again and typed more into her computer.
At this point I was angry, but I kept my cool. I was prepared for probing and personal questions, doubtful looks, skeptical attitudes and more. I was not prepared to be called stupid and insulted to my face. But we both stayed calm.
She then asked my wife another question but my wife couldn't hear it very well. She politely asked the CO to repeat the question. The CO said "Seriously?" rolled her eyes, then proceeded to shout the question in slow motion so that everyone in the building could hear. It was so embarrassing! She had asked my wife if she had family in the states. My wife replied no. An honest answer. The CO said "REALLY?" in english and my wife didn't understand. She just repeated that she had no family in the US. The CO just shook her head and mumbled "i don't believe this!" as she turned to her monitor and typed again.
At this point the CO asked for my passport. She looked through obviously taking note of the 30+ entry stamps into the DR. She seemed to get really upset at this point. She glared at me and in the snottiest tone asked "you really flew here all these times for HER?" and rolled her eyes. I replied "yes, I love her and she is my wife and I'm lucky I had the opportunity to that." She rolled her eyes again and replied "whatever."
She then asked for photos. I had printed out photos, about 4 to each 8 and 1/2 x 11 page, about 20 pages that spanned all my visits and the wedding. Birthdays, xmas, ad more. Many of our photos were with my wife's family, and some with my kids who visited with me in the DR. She handed them back without a question or a word. Just more scowling and typing in her computer.
At this time the woman turn to us, forced a weak smile and said, welcome to the United States, your visa has been approved. We were shocked. She never looked at anything else but a few pages of photos and my passport. She didn't ask any more questions about my visits, my wife's family, my children, personal incidentals...nothing. Only the few things I noted here about when we met, my wife's lack of work, and my financial support. But, we said thank you politely and left quickly. we were stunned over how angry and rude the CO was. The whole interview was only 10 minutes.
Thinking back, this may have been her tactic to throw us off. I'm not sure. But I think this CO is just one miserable human being that hates her life. Difficult, probing and even embarrassing questions were expected. But just being insulted, talked down to, and belittled was not.
Overall a nice embassy facility, but I'm happy it is behind us now. We are trying hard to forget that horrible woman.
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| Rating : |
Good |
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ver 5.0