Saturday, July 05, 2014

CR-1 Visa Case Interview Experience of Coney at U.S. Embassy Manila Philippines

My wife who lives in Caloocan City Metro Manila left at 4:30 AM and carried along this two inch three ring binder full of documents and pictures.

She  took the Light Rail Transit to commute to  the US Embassy at Roxas Boulevard, Manila and arrived at the US Embassy around 5:10 AM. Upon arriving, she found the queue of people intending to enter the US Embassy to be long.

The U.S. Embassy rent-a-cop opened the gate for Applicants at 6:00 AM. Upon checking the Appointment Letter, the guard issued a Form document which will be filled out by Applicant and returned at a window counter at a later time.

The queue for Tourist, working visa, and Immigrant visa applications were separate.

The number was called out four times at four different counters. The manner in which the number was called out was not in sequence rather in a random fashion.

At around 6:45 AM, a clerk called my wife to the first Counter and took some information regarding our petition case. The Clerk checked our Appointment Letter, Petition Case; verified that the Appointment Letter had a stamp from St. Luke's Clinic signifying that a Physical/Medical exam was performed; fingerprint card; and checked my wife's Philippines Passport . She was issued a number and was instructed to take a seat.

Some of the Applicant who queued early at the Embassy were not finished with their Interview when my wife left the US Embassy. A piece of advise is, make sure the Applicant eats a packed breakfast, something for breakfast prior to entering the US Embassy.

At the second window, a Filipina clerk interviewed my wife in Tagalog about our petition case and details of our relationship, marriage.

At the third window, interview was conducted by a young American lady Consul. Interview questions ranged from: What is the profession of your husband? What is the Profession of my wife. My profession is an Engineer. My wife's profession is a Registered Nurse. The Consul's remark is, there is so much demand for Registered Nurses in the U.S. , your husband probably will stop working when my wife is fully employed. My personal response to that is, not in California with the high cost of living in this State, gotta have a two income family to make ends meet. She was asked whether my wife intends to work in the United States to which she replied yes.

Other questions were, details about us both such as our birthday and age. Question such as: why was the wedding conducted in Hong Kong, who attended our Wedding ceremony. At that point , the Consul asked for a picture evidence of the wedding event specifically a group picture showing witnesses i.e. relatives attending the event.

Other questions are whether I had previous marriage to which my wife replied yes. Whether I had children (which is yes) and whether my wife had children as well (which is no). Whether my wife was in a previous marriage prior to our marriage (to which the reply is no). Question was asked about the name of my ex-wife and where is she currently residing.

Question was also asked as to how I became a US Citizen to which her reply is being a child of a U.S. Serviceman in the 50's and 60's, that  I inherited my US Citizenship through my father. Question was asked as to how long I lived in the United States.

Questions was asked as to how and how often did we communicate;  how long have we known each other prior to marriage to which the reply are: through SMS Text messaging, Chat sessions using Yahoo Messenger, Facebook chat, Skype chat with Webcam, frequency is daily if possible, by Letter and greeting cards on special occasions.

The interviewing Consul handed my wife a pamphlet about domestic violence. She was instructed about what to do in case of domestic violence in the home and how to report the case. She was instructed that her status will not be affected if domestic violence happens during the conditional period. My wife replied that the she already attended a Seminar about Domestic Violence conducted by the Commission of Filipinos Overseas, an agency of the Philippine Government.

My wife's impression is that the interviewing Consul felt that her replies to the Interview questions were sincere and the she didn't give her a hard time. She noted that the experience of other applicants were otherwise, that the Consul was skeptical to other applicant's replies and documentation.

At fourth window, my wife was asked to surrender the form that was initially issued to her at the U.S. Embassy entrance. This form asked information as to the address where the Philippine Passport with approved CR-1 visa will be sent to.

She left the US Embassy around 9:30 AM. Since food was not allowed inside the Embassy, she ordered a Burger for brunch at some fast-food joint along the way home, and took the Light Rail Transit going back home.

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