Posts Tagged ‘U.S. consulate’
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE SENDING WAVES OF STAFF TO CHINA AND BRAZIL
The U.S. DOS is sending waves of temporary staff to China and Brazil to address growing visa demands and shorten visa wait times. The employees are helping process the high number of visa applications until permanent staff arrive.
The 2011 mission to Brazil resulted in processing 820,000 visa applications, which is a 42% increase from the previous year. The DOS plans to double the consular staffing in Brazil over 2012 by adding 50 new officer positions. Current visa wait times in Brazil are down to under 50 days.
China has seen even more growth than Brazil, specifically in 2011, during which DOS employees processed more than 1 million visa applications. This is a 34% increase over the previous year. Current visa wait times in China are down to under 10 days.
Tags: Brazil, China, Department of State, U.S. consulate, U.S. visas, visa wait times
Posted in H-1B, Immigrant Visas, Nonimmigrant Visas | Read More »
ALERT: New Appointment System for Visa Applicants in Canada
Starting tomorrow, September 1, 2010, all visa applicants in Canada must use the new appointment service found at http://www.usvisa-info.com/en-CA/selfservice/ss_country_welcome to schedule their visa appointments. This new system will be free of charge, with no requirement that applicants pay for phone charges or PIN numbers to access such services. Appointments that are currently scheduled will remain scheduled as is.
Please contact our San Francisco immigration law office if you have any questions or concerns about this new system.
Tags: Canada, immigrant, nonimmigrant, NVARS, U.S. consulate, visa appointment
Posted in Alerts, Immigrant Visas, Nonimmigrant Visas | Read More »
Guest Post: A K-1 Interview Story from One of Our Clients
Felipe da Silva (not his real name) is a Brazilian client of our firm who recently was approved for a K-1 fiance visa. With Felipe’s consent, we are publishing his email to us describing the interview process. We are very happy for Felipe and his American bride, and wish them all the best!
I left home at 5:30, it was still dark! I got to the US consulate at 6:45 and there were 5 girls waiting in line with their Americans fiancés. At 7:15 other 4 girls got in line and I felt awkward… 9 girls that apparently knew each other from a website, talking, and talking, and talking… I was the only guy.
We went to the second floor and a woman made the first check on my documents… Everything was nice and easy, because my lawyer ROCKS!!! She gave me a password, and I got to be the second one, thanks for our organization. They made me wait at a room with the others, and I started to imagine if they keep an eye on that room… I tried to make a conversation with some them, but it was too early, and it is impossible for a man to follow the conversation of 6 or 7 worried girls at that time of the day.
Almost an hour later, they call me in a private room, and I gave him all my documents. He asked me if it was me who fill in all the forms… I said no, “it was my lawyer!”… “Have you double checked all the information?”… Yes sir, 5 times only in the last hour!”… He laughed, gave me a few documents back, that he said was unnecessary and I was dismissed…
Back to the waiting room… I had to wait for all the girls to do the same thing… Another hour has passed when the first password was called to the Consul’s room. The funny part is that Americans are not allowed in that room, only the Brazilians. I got called to the Consul’s office, and he nicely asked me to sit down. He was about 32 years old. An older skinny woman was sitting behind, but she never looked at me, and stayed the whole time taking notes… He spoke something to her, but the microphone was turned off… Finally he said good morning and made me swear that I would only speak the truth.
The whole interview was in Portuguese and felt like he was trying to see if I was really me… Almost all the questions were about me. Where I studied, where I lived, where I worked… questions about my family and older visas. He knew that my father used to be a lieutenant, and asked me if I had any army training. He knew that my brother went to U.S. before me, and asked me if he was still living there. I tried to answer everything objectively and with conviction. The only question that he asked was “how you met you fiancé”. I told him the story… he laughed and said “Jack in the Box??? Your kids will love fast food”… “Ok, your visa is approved”… The whole thing took less than 10 minutes.
THANK YOU ALL for you hard work… I am really happy! And I’ll personally Brazilian handshake you when I move to SF…
Tags: Brazil, fiance, immigration, K-1 interview, K-1 visa, U.S. consulate, visa interview
Posted in Guest Posts | Read More »
