My wife and I just had the interview on Thursday at the US embassy to get final approval for her spouse visa, and I wanted to pass on what we learned about the interview portion of the process for anyone else who has to do the interview now or in the future.
To be clear, the interview was on March 8, 2012 for a spouse visa. Anyone reading this long after the date will need to keep in mind that things may have changed since then. Also please keep in mind that this is for a US visa. It can, and most likely will be at least a little different for a visa to another country.
The steps that I outline to get ready for the interview should only pertain to a spouse visa. Do not blindly follow these steps in any case, but especially if you are getting another immigrant visa other than a spouse visa since I can only relate the experience that we had.
-----
We received our notification from the National Visa Center (NVC) near the end of January informing us of the date for our interview. According to other people I have spoken with that are going through this process, it seems that the interview will usually be 3 to 6 weeks after you receive the notification. With the notification you will also receive a list of the papers that the NVC has received from you, including whether each document was the original or not, and whether you will need to bring it with you to the interview.
You will need the paper from the NVC in order to get into the embassy. If you lose it, they will most likely let you in with your passport, but in these cases, it is always better to be prepared.
The embassy should then send or email you instructions about the medical exam and how to get your papers ready for the interview.
Instructions can also be found online at the following links:
Medical Exam (Spanish and English):
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/medical/BNS-MED-MULT-0001-1108.pdf
Preparing your papers for the interview (Spanish and English):
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/supplements/BNS-SUP-MULT-0001-1108.pdf
FAQs about immigrant visa interview appointments:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3744.html
Pre-Medical Exam:
Before you can get your medical exam, you will have to have a blood test and an x-ray done as well as make sure that all your vaccinations are up to date.
If you do not have your vaccination records, you will have to have another blood test to check you antibody levels and see what shots, if any, you will need. This blood test can be done at any medical studio of your choosing, but I would confirm that point elsewhere because it could always change in the future.
The blood test and the x-ray for the interview may only be done at one office:
Diagnóstico Médico:
Junin 1023 (Between Av. Santa Fe and M. T. de Alvear)
Phone: 4827-6300
http://www.diagnosticomedico.com/site/index.php
Again, this may change in the future, so always check with the embassy or online beforehand.
You do not need to make a prior appointment to get these tests done. You can walk in and you will be given a number. This process can take a while, so give yourself enough time in the day to do it. It should not take more than a few hours max, but there can always be something slowing it down.
The results and the x-ray should be ready to pick up within 24 hours.
Note: If you are pregnant, you will need either the permission from your ob/gyn or from the doctor who will be giving you the interview in order to get the x-ray. However, the x-ray can be waived by the doctor who will give you the physical as long as they do not think it is needed, so check before you try to get an x-ray done.
Medical Exam:
For the actual medical exam, you will have a choice of four different doctors. The doctors are authorized by the embassy to give you the exam. The list of doctors are available on the link provided above.
For the medical exam, you will need the following:
1) Passport
2) Argentine DNI
3) Passport photo that meets the regulations
4) Vaccination records (or the antibody test results as well if you need them)
5) The printed instructions (from the link above)
6) Blood test results and x-ray.
When the exam is over, the doctor will give you the results in a sealed envelope. If it appears to have been opened, the embassy will reject it, so make sure that you do not open it. Our envelope was stamped and stapled.
Getting Your Papers Ready:
The embassy requests that you bring the originals of all the necessary papers and documents to the embassy. However, if you sent the originals of any document to the NVC (who has forwarded them to the embassy for the interview) you will not need to take the originals with you to the interview. The instructions that you will received from the NVC notifying you of the interview date will also detail which papers they have received and whether or not it was the original and if you need to bring an original to the interview.
In our case, we found their list confusing, and went ahead and took originals of everything, birth certificate, marriage certificate and so on, to the interview just to be sure. However, they did not accept one paper for the interview, since they had all the originals from the NVC. But it really is better to be safe in this case. If your papers are not in order, they will not approve your visa at the first interview and you will have to wait to be assigned a new interview date.
It does not matter how you file your papers before you go to the interview. You can put them in a nice, hardback folder or a clear case or whatever you want. You will be given a folder from the embassy to put your papers in for the interview. So do not worry to much about getting any points for presentation.
Evidence:
Evidence is very important. They need to be able to verify that you have a true relationship. They ask for receipts from money transfers, rental contracts with both names on it, emails, letters, and photos of the two of you. I was told that you can not bring to many photos. We took almost 200 and they accepted them all. You will receive everything back at the end of the interview, so if you already have enough photos printed, you do not need to reprint them.
The photos should show both of you in your relationship at different time periods and in different locations. In our case, since we have a daughter, they also recommended that we bring photos of us (either one of us or both of us together) with her.
Arriving at the Embassy:
Our interview was at 9am. We were one of 5 appointments scheduled for the 9am time period so there it is first come first serve. So if you do not want to stay through the other interviews, try to get their a few minutes early. But they will not let you in more than 15 or 20 minutes early.
When you get there, go to window 5 outside, which is for immigrant visas. You do not have to stand in line like everyone else for a tourist visa. The person in window 5 will ask for your passport or the paper that you have form the NVC with the interview date on it and check your name off a list and give you a paper to get into the embassy.
If your husband or wife is going with you to the interview and they are American, they will have to check in at the window for American citizens and show their passport to be allowed in.
After you go in, and pass through security, you will be asked to stop at the little building to the left of the walkway to scan your fingerprints. Only the people interviewing for a visa have to have their fingerprints scanned.
After that you will have to proceed to window 5 (inside the embassy this time). You will have to check in at the front desk and they will give you a number (ours was I850 and we were first) and a folder for the papers and tell you what to do.
Then you will get your papers ready and wait to be called.
The first time you are called to window 5 (window 5 is a small separate area with a door that can be closed) you will be asked to hand in your papers and any evidence that you have so they can get ready for the interview. The person who collects your papers will not be the same person who interviews you (at least in our case). The person spoke Spanish with my wife.
After you have done that, you will have to go back out into the waiting room and wait to be called again while they collect the papers from the other people who have an interview appointment. Then they will take a few minutes to get ready. In our case, this was the worst part of the interview, we had to wait over an hour and a half to be called for the actual interview. It was FREEZING in the room so you may want to take a jacket even if it is a hot summer day. You can buy a coffee or bottle of water and some snacks in the waiting room if you need to.
The Actual Interview:
The actual interview, for us, was not bad at all. The person that we had was nice and friendly with us, and he did not jump right into the interview. He gave us a few moments to come in and get settled. He spoke calmly and clearly so my wife did not have any issues understanding him.
It is possible that the interview can take place in Spanish. So it seemed at least. He said that since my wife's English was good, that he would go ahead and do the interview in English, which leads me to believe that it can be done in Spanish if it needs to be.
The questions were normal. He did not ask us anything crazy. He asked us the following:
- If my wife had ever been in any legal trouble
- About how we met. This was the only thing that he wanted any extra details on.
- Where we will be staying.
- A few questions about my parents since they are co-sponsors.
- Our current job situation.
- Our plans for work when we are back in the states.
- Our plans for the delivering our son in the states. He did ask a few other general questions about the pregnancy, more to understand the travel situation.
- If we had the passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate for our daughter.
That is all that I can remember. Our answers were simple for the most part. They recommend to give simple answers and only give more details if they ask for it, which was the case with us. In our situation, more than half of the questions were directed at me or left to either one of us to answer.
Once he was finished with the questions, he explained what the purpose of the interview is for, and he mentioned three points:
1) To confirm that the papers were in order
2) Insure that we are not attempting to fraud the US government
3) Make sure that there are no ineligibilities to prevent us from having the visa.
After that, he told us that the visa was approved and detailed what we had to do after that.
You will be given a paper with instructions on how to register with DHL so they can delivery your passport. You will have to leave you passport there so they can give you the visa. Once it has been stamped and the packet of information has been put together, they will mail it to you.
You will also have to print, scan, and email a copy of the receipt from DHL to the embassy before the embassy will pass the packet and your passport along to DHL to be delivered.
They claim that it will be delivered to you within two weeks, but he did say that it generally takes one or two business days to get ever thing ready and once they give it to DHL, it will usually be delivered with in three days. But do not count on this. Count on the two weeks to be sure that you have the passport before you travel.
And with that, you are done
My Recommendations:
- Have the originals of all the documents available for the interview just in case. If you are missing a paper, you will have to wait for another interview turn and that could take weeks. Better to be safe than sorry.
- Go with your American husband or wife. I honestly feel that the interview went easier since I was there with my wife.
- If you have a baby or a young child, take them with you. There is no better evidence for you relationship than that.
- Use a lot of photos. Make it so they cannot have any doubt about the validity of your relationship. A lot of photos, at different times in your relationship at different locations.
- Stay relaxed at the interview and while you are waiting. If you go together, talk to each other and look like you are a couple with a relationship because there will most likely be people watching to see how you are with each other. If you sit stone cold next to each other, you'll give them reason to doubt. And in the interview, I can tell you that the interviewer was defiantly paying attention to how we interacted with each other and how I interacted with the baby.
-----
It is my hope that by posting all of this, people who have to go through this process can be a little more relaxed going into the interview. I know that I was nervous, not because I was worried about being denied, but because I did not know what to expect. I have purposely gone into a lot of detail specifically for that reason.
From this experience I can say, that if you have the papers in order, are legally able to go (you pass the medical exam, you haven't committed a serious crime and so on) and you can show that you have a relationship, then you will be approved.
If anyone else has any other questions, please post it here or send me a PM. I would suggest sending a PM so I will get the notification in my email.
And lastly, to anyone going through this process, good luck! I know that the process can be trying and frustrating at times, but it is worth it in the end!
To be clear, the interview was on March 8, 2012 for a spouse visa. Anyone reading this long after the date will need to keep in mind that things may have changed since then. Also please keep in mind that this is for a US visa. It can, and most likely will be at least a little different for a visa to another country.
The steps that I outline to get ready for the interview should only pertain to a spouse visa. Do not blindly follow these steps in any case, but especially if you are getting another immigrant visa other than a spouse visa since I can only relate the experience that we had.
-----
We received our notification from the National Visa Center (NVC) near the end of January informing us of the date for our interview. According to other people I have spoken with that are going through this process, it seems that the interview will usually be 3 to 6 weeks after you receive the notification. With the notification you will also receive a list of the papers that the NVC has received from you, including whether each document was the original or not, and whether you will need to bring it with you to the interview.
You will need the paper from the NVC in order to get into the embassy. If you lose it, they will most likely let you in with your passport, but in these cases, it is always better to be prepared.
The embassy should then send or email you instructions about the medical exam and how to get your papers ready for the interview.
Instructions can also be found online at the following links:
Medical Exam (Spanish and English):
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/medical/BNS-MED-MULT-0001-1108.pdf
Preparing your papers for the interview (Spanish and English):
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/supplements/BNS-SUP-MULT-0001-1108.pdf
FAQs about immigrant visa interview appointments:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3744.html
Pre-Medical Exam:
Before you can get your medical exam, you will have to have a blood test and an x-ray done as well as make sure that all your vaccinations are up to date.
If you do not have your vaccination records, you will have to have another blood test to check you antibody levels and see what shots, if any, you will need. This blood test can be done at any medical studio of your choosing, but I would confirm that point elsewhere because it could always change in the future.
The blood test and the x-ray for the interview may only be done at one office:
Diagnóstico Médico:
Junin 1023 (Between Av. Santa Fe and M. T. de Alvear)
Phone: 4827-6300
http://www.diagnosticomedico.com/site/index.php
Again, this may change in the future, so always check with the embassy or online beforehand.
You do not need to make a prior appointment to get these tests done. You can walk in and you will be given a number. This process can take a while, so give yourself enough time in the day to do it. It should not take more than a few hours max, but there can always be something slowing it down.
The results and the x-ray should be ready to pick up within 24 hours.
Note: If you are pregnant, you will need either the permission from your ob/gyn or from the doctor who will be giving you the interview in order to get the x-ray. However, the x-ray can be waived by the doctor who will give you the physical as long as they do not think it is needed, so check before you try to get an x-ray done.
Medical Exam:
For the actual medical exam, you will have a choice of four different doctors. The doctors are authorized by the embassy to give you the exam. The list of doctors are available on the link provided above.
For the medical exam, you will need the following:
1) Passport
2) Argentine DNI
3) Passport photo that meets the regulations
4) Vaccination records (or the antibody test results as well if you need them)
5) The printed instructions (from the link above)
6) Blood test results and x-ray.
When the exam is over, the doctor will give you the results in a sealed envelope. If it appears to have been opened, the embassy will reject it, so make sure that you do not open it. Our envelope was stamped and stapled.
Getting Your Papers Ready:
The embassy requests that you bring the originals of all the necessary papers and documents to the embassy. However, if you sent the originals of any document to the NVC (who has forwarded them to the embassy for the interview) you will not need to take the originals with you to the interview. The instructions that you will received from the NVC notifying you of the interview date will also detail which papers they have received and whether or not it was the original and if you need to bring an original to the interview.
In our case, we found their list confusing, and went ahead and took originals of everything, birth certificate, marriage certificate and so on, to the interview just to be sure. However, they did not accept one paper for the interview, since they had all the originals from the NVC. But it really is better to be safe in this case. If your papers are not in order, they will not approve your visa at the first interview and you will have to wait to be assigned a new interview date.
It does not matter how you file your papers before you go to the interview. You can put them in a nice, hardback folder or a clear case or whatever you want. You will be given a folder from the embassy to put your papers in for the interview. So do not worry to much about getting any points for presentation.
Evidence:
Evidence is very important. They need to be able to verify that you have a true relationship. They ask for receipts from money transfers, rental contracts with both names on it, emails, letters, and photos of the two of you. I was told that you can not bring to many photos. We took almost 200 and they accepted them all. You will receive everything back at the end of the interview, so if you already have enough photos printed, you do not need to reprint them.
The photos should show both of you in your relationship at different time periods and in different locations. In our case, since we have a daughter, they also recommended that we bring photos of us (either one of us or both of us together) with her.
Arriving at the Embassy:
Our interview was at 9am. We were one of 5 appointments scheduled for the 9am time period so there it is first come first serve. So if you do not want to stay through the other interviews, try to get their a few minutes early. But they will not let you in more than 15 or 20 minutes early.
When you get there, go to window 5 outside, which is for immigrant visas. You do not have to stand in line like everyone else for a tourist visa. The person in window 5 will ask for your passport or the paper that you have form the NVC with the interview date on it and check your name off a list and give you a paper to get into the embassy.
If your husband or wife is going with you to the interview and they are American, they will have to check in at the window for American citizens and show their passport to be allowed in.
After you go in, and pass through security, you will be asked to stop at the little building to the left of the walkway to scan your fingerprints. Only the people interviewing for a visa have to have their fingerprints scanned.
After that you will have to proceed to window 5 (inside the embassy this time). You will have to check in at the front desk and they will give you a number (ours was I850 and we were first) and a folder for the papers and tell you what to do.
Then you will get your papers ready and wait to be called.
The first time you are called to window 5 (window 5 is a small separate area with a door that can be closed) you will be asked to hand in your papers and any evidence that you have so they can get ready for the interview. The person who collects your papers will not be the same person who interviews you (at least in our case). The person spoke Spanish with my wife.
After you have done that, you will have to go back out into the waiting room and wait to be called again while they collect the papers from the other people who have an interview appointment. Then they will take a few minutes to get ready. In our case, this was the worst part of the interview, we had to wait over an hour and a half to be called for the actual interview. It was FREEZING in the room so you may want to take a jacket even if it is a hot summer day. You can buy a coffee or bottle of water and some snacks in the waiting room if you need to.
The Actual Interview:
The actual interview, for us, was not bad at all. The person that we had was nice and friendly with us, and he did not jump right into the interview. He gave us a few moments to come in and get settled. He spoke calmly and clearly so my wife did not have any issues understanding him.
It is possible that the interview can take place in Spanish. So it seemed at least. He said that since my wife's English was good, that he would go ahead and do the interview in English, which leads me to believe that it can be done in Spanish if it needs to be.
The questions were normal. He did not ask us anything crazy. He asked us the following:
- If my wife had ever been in any legal trouble
- About how we met. This was the only thing that he wanted any extra details on.
- Where we will be staying.
- A few questions about my parents since they are co-sponsors.
- Our current job situation.
- Our plans for work when we are back in the states.
- Our plans for the delivering our son in the states. He did ask a few other general questions about the pregnancy, more to understand the travel situation.
- If we had the passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate for our daughter.
That is all that I can remember. Our answers were simple for the most part. They recommend to give simple answers and only give more details if they ask for it, which was the case with us. In our situation, more than half of the questions were directed at me or left to either one of us to answer.
Once he was finished with the questions, he explained what the purpose of the interview is for, and he mentioned three points:
1) To confirm that the papers were in order
2) Insure that we are not attempting to fraud the US government
3) Make sure that there are no ineligibilities to prevent us from having the visa.
After that, he told us that the visa was approved and detailed what we had to do after that.
You will be given a paper with instructions on how to register with DHL so they can delivery your passport. You will have to leave you passport there so they can give you the visa. Once it has been stamped and the packet of information has been put together, they will mail it to you.
You will also have to print, scan, and email a copy of the receipt from DHL to the embassy before the embassy will pass the packet and your passport along to DHL to be delivered.
They claim that it will be delivered to you within two weeks, but he did say that it generally takes one or two business days to get ever thing ready and once they give it to DHL, it will usually be delivered with in three days. But do not count on this. Count on the two weeks to be sure that you have the passport before you travel.
And with that, you are done
My Recommendations:
- Have the originals of all the documents available for the interview just in case. If you are missing a paper, you will have to wait for another interview turn and that could take weeks. Better to be safe than sorry.
- Go with your American husband or wife. I honestly feel that the interview went easier since I was there with my wife.
- If you have a baby or a young child, take them with you. There is no better evidence for you relationship than that.
- Use a lot of photos. Make it so they cannot have any doubt about the validity of your relationship. A lot of photos, at different times in your relationship at different locations.
- Stay relaxed at the interview and while you are waiting. If you go together, talk to each other and look like you are a couple with a relationship because there will most likely be people watching to see how you are with each other. If you sit stone cold next to each other, you'll give them reason to doubt. And in the interview, I can tell you that the interviewer was defiantly paying attention to how we interacted with each other and how I interacted with the baby.
-----
It is my hope that by posting all of this, people who have to go through this process can be a little more relaxed going into the interview. I know that I was nervous, not because I was worried about being denied, but because I did not know what to expect. I have purposely gone into a lot of detail specifically for that reason.
From this experience I can say, that if you have the papers in order, are legally able to go (you pass the medical exam, you haven't committed a serious crime and so on) and you can show that you have a relationship, then you will be approved.
If anyone else has any other questions, please post it here or send me a PM. I would suggest sending a PM so I will get the notification in my email.
And lastly, to anyone going through this process, good luck! I know that the process can be trying and frustrating at times, but it is worth it in the end!
