Why not interview together

[warpedbored]

I was recently reading about a K-visa interview in Hong Kong where if the American petitioner comes they will interview the petitioner and beneficiary together. Other consulates including the UK do the same thing. Since the interview process in GZ is so short I think seeing how the couple interacts could tell the VO a lot. Why doesn't GUZ interview both together?

[USCONGUZ]

I was recently reading about a K-visa interview in Hong Kong where if the American petitioner comes they will interview the petitioner and beneficiary together.  Other consulates including the UK do the same thing. Since the interview process in GZ is so short I think seeing how the couple interacts could tell the VO a lot.  Why doesn't GUZ interview both together?

177224[/snapback]

Dear CFL Members,

 

In an ideal world, we would prefer to have both the petitioner and applicant together at the interview. However, time and resources do not allow this. Based on our experience, it takes at least twice as long to interview couples together as it does to interview applicants individually. This means that if we were to interview couples together we would only be able to do half the number of interviews a days that we are currently doing. Not to mention the extra time it would take to process the petitioners through security and also the lack of physical space in the Consulate for double the number of people. Any of you who have been here early mornings on a weekday know how crowded it can be. All of this combined would mean that the interview wait time would be considerably longer than it already is. In most cases the advantage of having the couples interview together would be negligible, so we interview applicants individually.

 

Some other posts might interview couples together, but these posts do not have as large an applicant pool as Guangzhou has. They probably also have more resources at those posts.

 

Sincerely,

 

IV Unit, U.S. Consulate, Guangzhou, China