Visa Application Interview at US Consulate
The consulate visa interview is the last hurdle prior to obtaining a Fiance Visa or Spouse Visa. Below is my video that explains what happens when your Fiancee attends her Interview at a US consulate or embassy for a final decision on your Fiancee Visa petition for immigration to the USA.
Each applicant must schedule an appointment at the consulate, and convince the consular officer that theirs is a “bona fide” genuine relationship, and that the purpose of the Fiancee Visa application is solely for sincere marriage.
This video is for couples who are applying for a fiancee visa for immigration to the United States and who wish to prepare for the visa Interview at the U S Consulate in the fiance’s country.
This information is general, not specific to any particular embassy and will provide an accurate idea of what to expect.
Should you be interviewing in Manila, I have recorded another video that describes the Manila visa Interview process in exact detail.
My name is Fred Wahl I am the matchmaker from HeartofAsiaOnline.com
Over the past thirty five years I have helped thousands of couples find each other.
I’m not an attorney. I cannot give legal advice. I do hope however that you will find this video entertaining and informative.
Let’s talk about the chain of events so far. Aabout four to six months ago you submitted your I-129f petition to USCIS homeland security.
Eventually, USCIS approved the petition and sent you a notice telling you the good news. Also at the same time, they passed your petition on to the US Department of State, to their offices in Vermont called the NVC or National Visa Center.
About a week or two later, NVC sent you a letter, telling you that they had received your file and are forwarding it to the US Embassy that is situated closest to your fiance.
The letter tells you that you should standby and wait for the embassy to contact her directly with further instructions.
The consulate attempts to contact your Fiance directly and provide her with instructions and government forms.
They usually send these via postal mail. Sometimes now, Embassies are also using email and refering the Fiancee to go to the Embassie’s website to download the documents from the internet.
Sometimes they try to reach her by telephone. In some countries the postal mail is terrible. Items regularly get lost or stolen. In some of these countries the only dependable solution is for your Fiance to physically go to the embassy and pick up the package of instructions in person.
If your fiance has not received an email from the consulate after a few weeks, you should contact the consulate directly to chase the status.
The packet (or packets there may be more than one) that she receives, picks up, or downloads should contain general instructions and checklist from the Embassy, government forms, details on where and how she should pay the visa application fee, details on where to get the medical at the clinic that’s been selected, approved, by the consulate and finally details on how to contact the Embassy and schedule her interview.
The required forms that she should fill and then bring with her to her appointment at the Embassy, or sometimes mail to the embassy (if that is what they request): are the DS-157, DS-156, DS-156K.
There is some variety among the different Embassies and some Embassies also require the DS-230.
The instruction packet will tell her exactly what to do and will have copies of the blank forms within it.
Each Embassy requires that your fiance bring with her, her passport, and birth certificate. Also she must contact per local police authority and obtain a police clearance certificate. This basically should show that she has no criminal record. And if after she was sixteen years old she ever lived in any other countries she will also have to obtain a police certificate from each country that she resided in.
To be eligible for a Fiance visa, the Fiancee and the american Fiance must both be free to marry.
If the Fiancee has been previously married she must bring with her an original or certified copy of evidence to prove that her previous marriage was terminated: such as a divorce or annulment decree or death certificate.
In some countries it is the practice of the local government to issue a Certificate of No Marriage. This document shows that the fiance has always been single. If your fiancee’s country issues such a document the consulate will want to see it.
And finally, in some cases the American Fiance is also asked to provide at the visa Interview original proof that he is free to marry too.
The american sponsor must prove that his annual income meets the minimum income requirements to be eligible for a Fiancee Visa.
To do so he must give his Fiancee his signed affidavit attesting to his income along with proof of the income such as his recent tax returns, a letter from his employer confirming what his job is and what the salary is, and three to six recent pay stubs. She will bring all these along with her to the consulate.
There are still more items for her to bring to the interview. She received an appointment letter and that confirms the date and time for interview she needs this to get into the embassy on her interview day, plus a few visa photos and the receipt showing that she paid the visa fee.
It is also a good idea to prepare a letter signed by the Fiance as well as one signed by the American sponsor confirming that the couple is still engaged and still plan to marry once she arrives into the USA.
Finally, she should bring with her the various proofs she has gathered that show that the couple is a genuine, bona fide couple.
There are various proofes of a bona fide relationship. The Fiance should bring in whatever she has: such as photographs, samples of correspondences, travel itinerary showing that her American sponsor came to visit her or the two of them traveled together, telephone bills, histories of emails or chat sessions.
If there was an engagement: proof of the engagement such as the receipt from buying an engagement ring, photos of the party, or invitations that may have been sent to relatives and friends.
If the proof is a bit thin, then perhaps affidavits from people that the couple know, ideally those in a position of trust such as ministers, politicians, employers that know both of the couple and can attest that they are sincere couple but really don’t have any reason for misrepresentation.
And finally, if the American sponsor has been sending monies to his fiance on a regular basis, proof of those transfers is a good item to bring to the interview.
Once the fiance has everything ready or can reasonably estimate when the final documents will arrive, she should contact the embassy, in the way that the embassy requested (that could be by mail or fax or telephone or in person) to tell them she is ready to have her interview.
Then they will schedule an interview and send her a document, a letter confirming exactly when and where.
For some embassys they have a system where the American sponsor can pay eighteen dollars using his credit card, that gives him the privilege of telephoning the embassy directly to talk to someone at their American Fiance hotline.
He can talk to the embassy three times if he wants, to answer and ask all his questions. The most important feature is he can sit down and talk with the scheduling clerk to put his Fiancee onto the the embassies appointment calendar.
This may be the best eighteen dollars any american Fiance has spent.
Once her interview is scheduled she should attend a medical at the clinic designated by the consulate.
This should be accomplished at least a week prior to the interview. When she goes to the clinic she should bring with her proof that she is a Fiancee Visa candidate. That’s usually the letter that the embassy sent her. Plus her passport, any vaccination records she may have, some visa photos, and she’ll probably need cash to pay the clinics fees.
When the big day arrives she should arrive at the embassy early, bringing with her all the documents and evidences that she needs.
There will be security checkpoints long lines and she should mentally prepare herself to stay calm and poised, for the potentially long and frustrating day.
Some consulates recommend that the American sponsor attends the interview if that is the case you should do so, but today many of the consulates, most even, perhaps due to terrorists, will not even allow the American in the door.
He’ll have to wait outside the embassy for his Fiance to return with the final results.
Eventually your fiance’s number will be called and she’ll be asked to speak directly with the consular officer.
Perhaps they will be together in a cubby or perhaps facing each other through thick glass panels.
The consular officer will ask about the time-line of your relationship and ask detailed questions about the courtship, proposal and about each other.
It is very important that you and your Fiance discuss and practice at the questions and answers in advance, so that your Fiancee will be relaxed and knowledgeable.
And in case you are both separately asked the same questions, your answers will be identical.
I have put together about one hundred and twenty typical questions and if you want to get a free copy please visit VisaCoach.com and subscribe to the free Fiance Visa Secrets newsletter. The questions will be automatically sent to you.
Assuming the interview went well your Fiance will be given a pink slip and advised that her visa will be ready a few days later. Sometimes she is instructed to return to the consulate a few business days later to pick up her passport or the passport is sent to her via a delivery service. She needs to fill out the delivery service forms before she leaves the embassy.
Once she receives her passport and visa she can start her trip to the USA anytime within the next six months.
Getting through immigration is one of the toughest obstacles most couples will face.
As a matchmaker my mission is to bring couples together as quickly and reliably as possible, by providing nurturing supportive responsive expert help.
If you’d like to speak about your situation please call me I would be very happy to speak with you directly.
By Fred Wahl
