ldsyd

ah i see, but is the submission the point where you book the interview?

I'm also waiting for a new passport which should be arriving later in the week so I figured I would wait until I have all my documents in order before filling it out.

thanks for the info

docnetau

The DS160 number (which is what's needed to book the interview) is allocated well before you submit it.

Snarky

Dear people

This morning my E3 was approved at the Barbados consulate. Its my first E3. Given that there isn’t much info about Barbados in these threads I thought I jot down a summary of the experience for others who might venture here due to the current long wait for interviews in Canada.

Background- F1 visa, green card lottery win
I was in the US in F1 status. Worked at my employer for the past year on OPT. I was selected for further processing in the DV14 green card lottery and sent in my DS-230 immigrant visa application in. However turns out I have a very high case number and with one visa bulletin of case numbers left to be issued I’m 99% sure I will miss out on a green card (bummer eh!).

Note that on the DS-160 I disclosed the lottery win in response to the question whether anyone has ever filed an immigrant visa application on your behalf. There were varying onions whether I needed to disclose this in response to this question but I decided in the end to err on the side of disclosure.

Originally filed with USCIS- changed to consular
My employer’s attorney originally filed with USCIS on May 23rd due to his expectation that the E3 would be processed within 2-3 weeks as another client of his had theirs processed within 2 weeks just recently. After 4 weeks of waiting I discovered processing is 3-4 months at USCIS so I swapped to consular.

Given that the Canadian consulates have all but shut their doors to third party nationals for the summer I selected Barbados. On June 19 I booked the interview for the first available timeslot, which was 11am 30 June (the next after that was 7 July). You pay the visa (MRV fee) when making the interview (BBD$546). You need to take that receipt.


Barbados
Barbados is a 5-hour direct flight from NYC. Flight with JetBlue Cost around $560. I’m staying at the Radisson on Carlyle Bay. Its only about a 10 minute taxi ride to the consulate. The hotel organized a driver to pick me up from the airport. I asked the same driver to take me to the consulate.

The interview
I ended up at the consulate around 10am. Went straight through to screening and was able to store my cell phone and bag in lockers outside. They take a form of ID like drivers license and retain it until you’re finished. Then you go through to the consulate interviewing area in a different part of the consulate. They give you a ticket number.

The first time I was called the officer took my passport all the requested documents. The second time my prints were scanned and it was the third officer that conducted the interview.

The officer was quite thorough. She commented, “oh you’re one or our special Australian people”. She asked about my academic history, my study in the US and other qualifications relevant to my profession. She asked about what my company does and the work I had been doing and how many others were employed doing what I do. She noticed that I am paid hourly and asked me to guesstimate an annual salary. She wanted to see some proof of when I started working for them on my OPT. The only thing that noted my start date was the letter of support that the attorney had written to USCIS and that was fine. She wanted to see my EAD card for my OPT which I had given as ID to the front screening office (D’oh!) but fortunately I had made a copy of it and it was in my pile of documents. She was happy with the copy (phew!). Note I had a copy of the signed LCA only and that was fine.


She did not ask me about ties back to Australia and did not ask about the green card or why I was being processed in Barbados. However I was very prepared. I had taken the USCIS memo that says an E3 applicant may have a pending immigrant visa petition and I also had typed out a page explaining my ties back to Australia with supporting documents attached. I never pulled these materials out but I’m glad I had them at the ready.

The officer asked when I was flying back to NY, which was Thursday afternoon. She said that I could pick up my passport from the DHL office, which is on the way to the airport on Thursday morning before my flight. She made some notes on her forms that indicated that the passport must be ready for pick up Thursday morning.

I was out the door at 12pm. So around 2 hours all up.

So that’s all folks. Lots of stress and preparation and now its done. I just hope the passport is ready for collection when she said it would be!

ian-mstm

Outstanding... thanks for the great post!

Ian

sahara84

Hi, I have been offered a job in the USA and the company submitted the LCA, however it was denied as the prevailing wage had to be determined by the DOL. I am currently waiting the 60 days to obtain the prevailing wage (2 more weeks!!!) before they submit the LCA again. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and if going forward was successful?

Thank you

globalnavigating

Thanks so much for that detailed info Snarky. Very helpful. I am about to book my interview later today and trying to decide whether Bridgetown or Tijuana would be better. My main criteria is timeliness.

Anyone with recent experience in Tijuana?

globalnavigating

Thanks so much for that detailed info Snarky. Very helpful. I am about to book my interview later today and trying to decide whether Bridgetown or Tijuana would be better. My main criteria is timeliness.

Anyone with recent experience in Tijuana?

ian-mstm

If you can avoid going to Tijuana, I suggest you do so. It's not safe!

Ian

mikekeck

Great info Snarky, thanks!

My LCA just got approved (after 4 failed attempts, no less, by my employer!). Took a month to come through.

You mentioned that you went to Barbados because wait times in Canada were too long. I'm looking at the wait times at Ottawa - according to the travel.gov site it's only 1 calendar day. Did you try to book here before deciding on Barbados?

Either way, sounds like Barbados might be a good option for me given your experience.

docnetau

Wait times change as people cancel/change appointments. There's potentially 1 slot in 1 calendar day, and then nothing for several weeks (or more).

Snarky

The waiting times on that site are inaccurate. When you go to schedule your appointment through the booking system the actual wait times come up. For Canada for an E3 it will come up as either no appointments available or a 100+ day wait.

mikekeck

Thanks for the heads up... Looks like Barbados it is!

Snarky

***Update to above post re Barbados****

Just now received an email advising me that my passport is ready to be collected. So visa approved at the Consulate approx 12pm on Monday and ready to be collected around 12pm Wednesday.

mikekeck

Nice!

I booked my interview last night - set for Friday, 11 July at 9am. I've booked a flight back for the following Wednesday afternoon.

Feeling excited - the only thing I'm a little nervous about is my degree - I've got a B. Economics from University of Sydney and got an equivalency done which said it was only worth 3 years towards a US bachelors. Obviously not going to take this with me...
I figure I wing it and hope the fact I've been previously issued an E2 (essential employee) visa + plus solid work experience on my resume will work in my favour.

Will let you all know how it goes.

Snarky

Good luck!