administrator

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay in making our report. With traveling plus my lay-off, it's taken me a bit to get to it. So without further ado.

We were the first ones in line at the consulate. As others have mentioned, there is an elevator going up to the 10th floor. We tried to get into it but were told by an employee we had to wait until the security guard came down to get us. I would advise that it is worth getting there at 7:30 am. I know that sounds early, but as the others have said, for every immigration visa person ahead of you, you are adding about 30 minutes to 1 hour to your wait time. And let me tell you, waiting in the consulate is not heaps of delightful fun.

I was hoping I could accompany my SO up there, but wasn't sure if I could. We got off the lift and another DV lottery winner smartly suggested we line up at security in the order we were lined up before we got on the lift (nice of him since he was the last in line!) There was a gaggle of Americans who had their passports stolen who nearly got ahead of us, but they complied after listening to him. The security lady asked if we were both going in for the DV process. I said no, that I was his affidavit of support and showed her my U.S. passport. She seemed fine with that. We then went up to the 59th floor for the second security screening and the guard was nice and said, "Ah, you're the lucky winners!" I left my video camera and digital camera there and got a claim ticket.

We got into the consulate right before 8 am. Took a ticket and were 002, but I think someone had screwed up and taken 001 beforehand (there were a couple of people who snuck into the elevator I think), because there were no other immigration applicants before us. Right at 8am, we were called to the infamous window 1.

I just sat there, watching and very nervous…couldn't even enjoy the view because it was raining that day and there WAS no view. I was very surprised at how long the lady took at window 1. My SO thought that it was only 10 minutes, but in actuality, he was up there about 25 minutes. Every applicant after us took approximately that long too. By about 11 am, when we were nearly out of there, they were processing numbers 005 and 006. Again, keep in mind that there was no 001 processed that day…so go EARLY! (and don't let anyone cut in front of you. ;o) )

My SO had the basics. Handed the entire stack to the lady, and we had little post- its to mark where each item was. He had his high school certificate instead of work experience information (which he had in his "extras" red folder). He was questioned on whether it was a proper South Australian high school certificate, and he just said yes. That seemed to be enough. He also only had his latest bank statement with his most recent balance. Now, I normally do not think that would have been enough, but my I-134 was VERY complete. It included letter from the bank with date opened, avg and current balance. Then cover sheet from me noting deposit amounts for 12 months. Then under that there were the actual statements from the last 12 months. Letter from my employer followed, with most recent paystub attached. Lastly, I added 3 years worth of tax returns. The clerk did not ask him about his finances, but did ask where my letter from my employer was. After looking again, sh! e found the post it marking the letter

Also, NO problems with an unsealed medical. OC region gets two lists for document order. We, like everyone else, used the longer list that was specifically given by the Sydney Consulate (I realized they sent a separate list when I read the word "queue" and knew that we don't use that word here in the U.S., so I told my SO to go with the Sydney consulate order list). The longer one lists the medical and starts off with 2 photos (they only need one, but DO get the photos done – 2 inch by 2 inch or 50mmx50mm) passport, etc.

Things seemed to be going ok, but then I heard my SO say "That is what they gave me." Uh oh! I tried to hear what she was saying but it was difficult. Finally when he came and sat down, he told me what the trouble was.

My SO's police report had the following written on it:

"It should be noted that positive identity cannot be established without fingerprints. No guarantee is given that the above information in fact relates to the bearer of this certificate."

From previous posts, you may know that we had a problem even GETTING the Police Report. For some reason they couldn't find his application to process. So he went and applied again (this time with a new form which came into effect on April 1) and they special handled it for him. The first time he went in, he paid for his fingerprints and they gave the fingerprints back to him. THIS was their mistake. The fingerprints should have stayed with them and the Police Check should have been done by prints, NOT by name as it was done in our case.

So the tip here is make sure your fingerprints are attached with your app. "A NPC WITH fingerprints requires an additional charge not subject to any concessions. You MUST ensure your fingerprint form is FIRMLY attached to the NPC application form."

Current costs are $42 for the NPC and an additional $91 when included with fingerprints. Again, this is for South Australia.

Ironically, after the interview, he found his application, where it said Police checks by name are "usually sufficient" but in special cases, like for a visa, more positive identity may be required. We just rolled our eyes and cursed a bit. We had gotten a call the day before from SA police asking where his fingerprints were so they could do the check. He said they DID his check, and was this going to be a problem? They said "Uh, no…you're fine." :-\

My SO told me they had to call SA police to verify his police report. With SA being a half hour behind, that meant that we would now have to sit and wait an hour (it was 8:30 by this point) for them to get in contact with SA police, which opened at 9 am.

So we sat and just watch all the grilling going on. It was like a backyard barbeque in there! Interestingly, none of the immigration applicants jumped ahead of us in the interview. They seemed to be only interviewing work visa applicants in window 3 for the time being.

Our name for window 3 finally came up. The questions asked of my SO were:

When do you plan to go to the U.S.? What do you do? Can you explain a little more? Have you been to the U.S. before? When and how long did you stay?

Then, the rest of the questions were about me (which I warned my SO they might be, since I was his support and they would want to see if there is a real relationship)...

How do you know your sponsor? What is your relationship? When did you meet? Where did you meet? How old is she? What does she do? Can you explain more what she does?

My SO drew some giggles from the rafters when he told the interviewer that we were "very close friends." The guy repeated, "very close friends? What do you mean." I think my SO just repeated "VERY close friends" looking the interviewer straight in the eye. He smiled and seemed happy with the answer.

My SO said his interviewer, a young man, was very nice. He asked each applicant how they were doing, and my SO when he was asked said "I'm nervous, but OK." It was kind of endearing. Also, behind the interviewer was an older woman (maybe the infamous Judith Martin) who was feeding the interviewer questions. I am not sure if he was new or something. I also saw them in the background going over cases before the applicant was called up.

Anyway, after the questions, he was told to sit down. "What'd they say?" I asked. "Nothing," my SO said.

I was confused. So far I had read that either they tell you right then and there you are denied for X reason or that they tell you all seems to be in order and they will call you when your visa is ready. We were confused but just sat and watched others. I kept hearing the interviewer tell others (the work visa people) that they would be called to window 6 when their visa was ready, so I began to pray that 002 would be called to window 6. His interview was done at about 9:40.