How many people here attend the interview with their SO?

[orchids]

Hello All,

 

I want to attend the interview with her when the time comes but not sure of how my schedule at work would be like. Is there any additional benefit then being there with her or not? This is for a K1 visa.

 

Joe

[dale7570]

many people get the pink without attending the interview with their so. i attended with my so and i'm glad that i did. i was able to walk her thru the entire process, attend ach, and assemble the interview papers and practice with her. if you can't go just help prepare her as best you can and i'm sure she will get pink. good luck to you. as a side note i don't know how many trips to china you have made so if you only have 1 trip i would recemmend that you make 1 more trip. it's very difficult to get pink with only 1 trip.

[orchids]

many people get the pink without attending the interview with their so. i attended with my so and i'm glad that i did. i was able to walk her thru the entire process, attend ach, and assemble the interview papers and practice with her. if you can't go just help prepare her as best you can and i'm sure she will get pink. good luck to you. as a side note i don't know how many trips to china you have made so if you only have 1 trip i would recemmend that you make 1 more trip. it's very difficult to get pink with only 1 trip.

 

Hello Dale,

 

So far it been one trip so I am going to take paperwork over to her instead of shipping then that would make it 2. I hope to be there for the interview but it might be hard due to work conflict right now.

 

Joe.

[IllinoisDave]

There are no statistics to prove one way or another that being there makes any difference to the VO. So you're left with your own set of circumstances to decide whether you can be there or not.

 

Sometimes it boils down to comfort level. If hers is high enough that she's confident going alone chances are she'll be fine. If yours is high enough that you've done all you can do to prepare her and that you had no choice, chances are you'll be fine.

 

Good luck either way.

[tsap seui]

Don't fret much over the interview buddy. Prepare so you can sleep well at night if the boom is lowered, cross your fingers, and say a prayer that the little plastic floating duckie with your ladie's number on it gets picked out of the duck pond.

 

In the 9 1/2 months before our interview I had 3 trips totalling over 3 1/2 months in country with my woman (and was there for the interview), and she had a wheeled double briefcase of evidence with her.

 

Somehow, I can't for the life of me, remember what her results were.

 

Good luck, your lady will do just fine.

 

tsap seui

[Randy W]

Yes basically due to circumstances out of your control, it's a personal decision as to whether to be there or not.

 

Trips to China are good (healthy to your visa chances), but short periods between trips is good also,

 

Comfort levels are good.

 

Use your best judgement.

[michaelt]

Yes basically due to circumstances out of your control, it's a personal decision as to whether to be there or not.

 

Trips to China are good (healthy to your visa chances), but short periods between trips is good also,

 

Comfort levels are good.

 

Use your best judgement.

I absolutely wanted to be there for morale support and to be there for my sweet Fang's interview. We were in this together and I wanted to see it through all the way together. I'm sure it also didn't hurt having my fiancee hand over BOTH of our passports when they requested to see hers.

In retrospect, if your gal does not pass her interview, I think it even more important to be there to comfort her. That was not a pretty scene to watch and I think being there is crucial.

[Joey and Yan]

If you cannot be there as I cannot as my fiancee must return to her hometown to help with her sisters wedding and I cannot be away from work for that long. I am sending her a notarized copy of all my passport pages and working online with her to make sure she is fully comfortable with all documentation she has. Most v o's should know it is not always possible for us to attend the interview , then on top of that is the chance for the blue slip and again you could loose your flights home. I wanted to be with her for the interview , but too many things make it not possible. when she calls with pink , then I will line up the flights to go and get her!!

[jim_julian]

Additional benefits of being in China during the K-1 interview period:

 

- Lend moral support

- Converse in English every day to keep her in practice

- Conduct practice interviews

- Log another trip to China

- Attend American Citizen's Hour and ask a few good questions

- Be there for her right after the interview ... no matter which way it goes

- Help her solve any unexpected problems that surface

- Help her resist those that would exploit her if a problem does occur

- See that look on her face when she comes downstairs with the pink slip

- Share in the celebration with family in her hometown or conversely help her work through any setback

- Have a "wedding dinner" for the Chinese family before leaving for the US

- Fly to the US with her

- Help her through immigration and customs at the US port of entry

 

... just a few off the top of my head.

[griz326]

I was fortunate enough to be able to be with my fiancee for her interview.

 

I was there to celebrate with her if all went well; or to comfort her if it did not.

 

It went well and we are now married in the USA.

[georgeandli]

I didn't go to the first interview. Didn't go for the three blues[RFE]. Went to the second interview last year. Go if you can.

[C4Racer]

Sometimes it is out of your hands to be able to go for the interview. I don't think going or not will change the decision by the VO. I am one who strongly believes that GUZ has made a strong decision about the case before the interview. I mean really, how do you think they can make a decision in just minutes. I won't go into details here because this has been debated before.

 

This is a period though where you can show support for your wife/fiancee. So if you can go, by all means go. If you can't I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

I originally planned to not go to the interview. My idea was once she passed, she would travel here by herself to San Francisco. We would then have some vacation time (two weeks) to travel up the West Coast, arriving here in Portland. Then Carl (warpedbored) got blue. It was for communication and needed to submit a video. He had to make an emergency trip to China. So I changed my plan of attack and decided to attend the interview. I am glad I did.

 

I got there three days before her interview. We had time to go over filling out the paperwork. We spent one day sitting in the hotel room making sure the paperwork was filled out correctly. Then I looked at the invitation letter. It's printed date was crossed out, had a written in date, but was not initialled. I asked her who did this? She said it came that way. Her interview was on Tuesday. So Monday I went to the visa section of the consulate which was on Shamien Island at that time. I asked for access which even when you have valid business is not granted. So I explained to the guard I needed to verify the date of her interview. I wanted a stamp or initial from the consulate saying the new day, tomorrow was okay. He first asked if I wrote the date saying the consulate would stamp it. I said, no it came this way, but unstamped so I wanted to verify. He took both the letter and my passport into the visa center. He said, wait, it could be a few hours as they are very busy. No problem. Couple hours later, he returns with my passport and the letter with a stamp from the consulate showing, yes tomorrow is the interview date. Next day she goes to interview that last two minutes.

 

I have to believe she would have had trouble trying to get into the consulate with the letter not being stamped. They probably would have given her a hard time and questioned her intent in their minds. She thought it didn't matter stamp or not. I knew otherwise. Fate had it that the consulate knew I was in China and was there to help my fiancee get through the interview process. So any doubts were removed from their minds and her interview was short and positive. Now, my story of how it helped is rare. So just because I went and had it help doesn't mean this will be the case with others. The track record shows in most cases it really doesn't seem to matter. It is more about moral support than anything else.

Edited September 21, 2008 by C4Racer (see edit history)