British Expats - k1-interview in Mumbai/India, any ideas

Copied from google, posted by "carlposter"
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Hi,

My petition for the K1 visa was just approved, I checked the VSC phone
line and it says it has been approved ! My fiancee is in Mumbai
(Bombay), India. I had a few questions that I was hoping someone can
answer.

1. Due to the mail delays, I might not get the 2nd NOA letter for a
couple of weeks. Is there anything I can do to open a provisional file
in the meantime or do I have to wait for the 2nd NOA ?

2. After submitting packet 3, does anyone know how long Mumbai takes
for scheduling an interview ?

3. What do I need to send my fiancee for her interview ? I know about
the letter of intent and the affidavit of support. Do I need to send
her the original certificate of naturalization or my passport ? I had
only submitted a copy of my naturalization certi with my I-129F
application.

4. For the affidavit of support, do I submit I-134, I-864 or both ?
The K1 sites all say I-134, but the Mumbai consulate web site says
I-864.

Finally, has anyone had a recent experience with the Mumbai consulate
? Anything that me and my fiancee should know ?

Thanks a lot to everyone in advance. I dont know if you remember me or
not, but I was the guy who was contemplating blowing up $1500 on a
lawyer, and everyone on this group advised against it. I decided to go
with you people, and yup ! as usual you were right, I didnt need a
lawyer after all !!

Thanks again !
Carl
..REPLY........................................... ..........
Hi Carl, Tara and Debu here:
Debu had his interview in Bombay (scheduled on Oct 6th...visa received Oct 25th). You may have by now done the search on google or here to read of our journey. Don't be frightened, just be prepared that they may shout or demean if they have the urge to. Take the "shock" value away from them and you will feel more secure. There are not many painful events that give joy, so if on the off chance that you get scratched in the process, be strong.

At this embassy, if your fiance and you fall in the "perfect" category it is more in your favor. By perfect we mean...same race, same religion, same age, parental consent, a viable 134 (yes, it is the 134 you need for the interview, and they may ask for 3 years tax returns. Have 3 years' taxes ready, and make copies of all these. Usually they will ask for a copy of last year's tax returns only, but it is better to be prepared with all 3 years).

In response to the provisional file. We heard that Bombay does this. But the phone number for the embassy does not take personal calls. The best way is for your fiance to just queue up at the "public information window" between 8:30 AM and 11 AM (yes! that is the time, there is always a long queue and unless you reach the place by 9:30 AM, you will never reach the window before it closes).
Download the 230 (part I) and OF169 (this is the contents of packet 3) from the Madras embassy site, fill them up and take them with you. Tell the officer at the window the following: "Our petition for K1 has been approved by the Vermont center and cabled to Mumbai" (if this is the case, and i think Vermont does cable the approval). If the officer agrees to take the forms, you hand it over to them. Usually, these people are reasonable and talk politely unless you bother them (some people do by asking silly questions and talking instead of listening). This step of queuing up at the embassy becomes difficult if your fiancee is not a Mumbaikar and has to travel from elsewhere. I fortunately lived in Bombay, I say fortunately as I visted the embassy nine!!! times before being granted my visa.

After submitting the info at the embassy, you e-mail the Embassy asking for the for interview date AND her BMB #. When writing to the Consulate include your name AND hers AND her birthdate. Here you may also ask your Congressional liason to e-mail them asking for them to check when your appointment is. The Embassy is required to respond to Congressional requests in a timely manner (according to FAM regulations). The appointments are also posted on their website (according to her BMB#) http://usembassy.state.gov/mumbai/

After you have submitted the 230 and 169, you know that they are working on giving you an interview date. Sit and wait for packet 4 to arrive by mail. Your interview letter comes in packet 4. Your fiancee has to take this interview letter and her passport to one of the three hospitals (Hinduja, Lilavati or Breach Candy) to get her medical tests done. This part is also streamlined and they take care that your tests go smoothly. Get the medical tests done a week or thereabout before the interview, some people have reported weakness after the vaccinations, certainly the Tetanus is going to be a little painful. Take the report with you to the consulate Don't open the reports(don't even try).

Now a bit about the interview. She has to carry all the correspondence between you and her--letters, cards, e-mails, telephone bills to show to them (and that's about it)And it is very important that you have lots of pictures of both of you together. We did have letters of intent, one was submitted with our initial 129. You should have a newly dated one for yourself, but in her case there will be a form in packet 4, which is a letter of intent and she has to sign that form in the presence of the consular officer, she doesn't need to carry a handwritten letter of intent.

At appointment time, you enter the consulate by showing your appointment letter and passport. Inside the consulate it is very cold, ask her to take a good sweater with her and eat a good breakfast before she goes in. Food is available inside, but supplies do not last long and she may be there for the full day. Once she is in she stands in a queue first and pays the fees and then waits for somebody to call her name. This will be an Indian who screens the application. He/she will ask your fiancee some simple questions-who introduced you to each other? when was the engagement? When was the last time you saw your fiance? (It is a great advantage at this point to be able to say that her fiance is waiting outside). Some people have reported that this person may be rude. They were kind to me. Then this officer (clerk) will ask her to wait till an American calls her for an interview.
It is here that your troubles MAY begin. She will meet Mr. Kelly, a smooth faced, squinty eyed, tall slim American. If anything at all is "out of the ordinary" with your case (like an age difference, or having met for very little time- he may be suspicious). Then he gets feisty. He may try to intimidate her, but let her know that she will ultimately get her visa and there is nothing that Mr. Kelly can do except delaying and intimidating. If everything goes well with Kelly, she will be told to come and get her visa the next day. Otherwise she will be told to sit and wait again. Then if the next interviewer happens to be an Indian lady (the mean looking one in her late 30's) you know for sure that you are getting a 221(g) denial, which means they want to see more things. In the worst cases people get a form with "pending for investigation" or "pending for administrative review" written on it.

Alternately....the whole process may go thru in 5 minutes...ending the same way..visa in hand.

We wish you a happy 5 minute interview. If you have more questions we will be here to help if we can.