Consulate Review: Madrid, Spain
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
November 23, 2012 |
| Embassy Review : |
Visa approved!
Like many others here, I overthought the interview entirely and it was much simpler and painless than I thought. The security guards were very friendly and allowed me to leave my cellphone with them, which I wasn't expecting. There wasn't a queue outside the embassy nor at the reception, and the waiting area only had a dozen or so people there. I was called up after about 15 minutes.
I was seen by two people; a nice Spanish lady who spoke good English and took my documents, and then an American consul who conducted the actual interview. The only documents she asked for were: Passport, visa payment receipt, birth certificate, police certificate, fiancee's I-134, medical packet, and she took my fingerprints. Nothing else was asked for, even though I brought my fiancee's original birth certificate and divorce decree, and cosponsor I-134 incase we needed it.
The interviewer was initially cold, but asked a lot less questions than I thought. He first asked me to sign my DS-156K and swear an oath while I held my right hand up. He only asked:
1. How we met
2. When we met in person, and where
3. Who's going to support us
4. What job does she have
5. What job do I have
There were a couple smaller questions related to my answers of the main questions, but there weren't any problems. He mentioned my girlfriend only made $7000 last year, and I replied that she started her job in June, and got a raise at the start of the year that should be reflected in her pay slips I included. He looked, and it seemed to satisfy him.
At a few points he stopped and called the first lady I dealt with over, mentioning "problems", but it turned out he just didn't realise that the police certificate was given at the embassy and not the NVC, and then couldn't find where my payment receipt I'd given to her was.
After this his demeanour changed and it felt a lot friendlier, he looked through my folder, closed it and said "Well, your visa looks good to go!" I couldn't believe my ears so I asked if that meant I was approved, and he responded yes, and then laughed at the relieved expression on my face when I said thank you. He then said I was free to go, and I thanked him and left.
On the way out, the security guard instructed me to go back inside to the booth, and I was immediately terrified something was wrong, but it just turned out he forgot to take my fingerprints. He saw how nervous I was and asked, and I said I was expecting the interview to be a lot worse, and he laughed and said "You thought we were going to bite huh, well we didn't! Now you can go on Facebook and say how nice we are, we rely on that!". I thanked him again and left, retrieved my phone from the security office, and immediately called my fiancee to tell her the good news as soon as I got outside.
The only thing that tempered the whole experience was the clerk at Banco Santander messing up my visa payment. I gave him the instruction sheet given in the Packet 3, and he didn't read it at all and just wrote down 128 euros. I told him that must be wrong, so he checked again and wrote 152. I was nervous at this point and should have demanded it be 192, but I choked and let him do it. It turned out it was wrong, and when I returned the next day to rectify it, he tried explaining that all the transactions he saw in the embassy account were either 128 or 152 euros. I told him that doesn't make sense, because 152 is nowhere near $240, he eventually scrolled past a payment of 192 euros, and at that point realised his mistake.
He talked with his coworkers, who then informed me that they can't get the payment back, and the only thing I can do is pay a new one and request the old one refunded from the embassy. I wasn't happy about this, I had taken just enough money that I'd need and didn't have another 200 euros sitting on me, and shouldn't have to as it wasn't my mistake. They were very apologetic, but maintained there was nothing they could do, and were nice enough to write me a letter from them saying what happened to take as proof.
I ended up having to get my fiancee to Western Union me another $240 from our savings at 8am her time, so that I could pay the visa fee early in the morning before the interview. I was later informed by the lady at the embassy that I could have just paid the difference there - something I'd love to have known, especially as I emailed the embassy itself who responded saying I had to pay the fee again as well. I left this here incase the same happens to anyone else.
Aside from that it was a great experience, I was in and out of the embassy in under an hour, and it happened so fast I had to catch up with what happened. I hope this review helps! Feel free to PM if anyone has specific questions about anything. |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0