Parents have IV Interview in Bangladesh, what to expect?

P

pinto19

Registered Users (C)
Hello all,
I am a US citizen and applied for my parents. They have interview scheduled for Mar 5th in the US Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Does any one have any idea, sugestion as to what type of questions they would be asking, what to expect. I am kinda nervous for them as they dont speak very good english, hoping they will have someone there from Bangladesh with them to help out.

Any input will help.
Thanks

Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
 
Pinto19,

I do not have any direct experience for parents' CP interview yet. However, based on what I have read from this forum, if you have all the requested documents and you follow the consulate specific procedures it should be straightforward.

Hope everything goes smoothly. Please keep us posted.
 
Parents had IV interview

My parents had their interview today at the US Embassy in Dhaka, bangladesh. Their appointment time was 8 am, however they didnt get called in almost till noon. I should mention that only my dad had received the interview letter. Never received the interview letter for mom. I sent an email to the embassy on Feb 27th, still havent received a reply from them, also sent them a fax 5 days ago asking if an interview letter was sent for her or not and they haven't replied to that yet either. I called them directly and asked if they could look up her case usign the case #, they said they couldnt do that. When I called and talked to the visa supervisor @ the State Department, they were able to look up the cases and let me know that both cases were received at the embassy same day (Feb 4th) yet they only sent one interview letter (for Dad) and the visa supervisor suggested that they both go in for the interview anyway. I asked them what could be the reasons for which their visas could be denied and she said that very seldom IV applications are denied as long as the petitioner makes over 125% above the poverty limit and the relationship is well provable.

I had my parents take all the original documents organized in the order that they requested along with 2 sets of copies for the same documents in same order. The interviewing officer ( American, however spoke clear Bengali) said that she was pleased they way all the documents were organized and compiled. She also mentioned the all the required documents were there. She mostly asked my dad all the questions. She asked how I was related to them, who Kathy was (its my wife who was a cosponsor for I-864). She asked how long we were married. Looked at some of the pictures I sent my parents of us together (3) and a very old picture of mom and me taken about 20 years ago. She was happy to see that as the rest of the pictures were taken just last year as I have only visited them couple of times in the last 14 years and I didnt have very many pics with my parents.

After that they had their fingerprints taken electronically (didnt know that they do that). She gave them a peice of paper that has Section 221(g) marked and she had wrote security clearance we will contact you when completed and then she drew a box and wrote FINGER PRINT please return at 2 pm March 14th with $85.

Does it mean on the 14th they will be issued the visa or they are going just to pay the fee? Just cant wait till they actually get the visa.

Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
Return to the Embassy on 3/14/06
 
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Pinto19, Congratulations on smooth interview process for your parents. It is quite possible that they will be issued visa when they go back to consulate on 14th. There have been posts in the "Consular" forum where people have posted their experiences at different consulates. Sometimes people get visa the same day and sometimes they are asked to come back again while background/security/name check takes place. Do you know what the $85 fee is about?

Just curious, what no. in state dept did you call? Were you able to get to Visa Supervisor easily?
 
Hi Pinto -

Thanks for posting your parents case and Congratulations on your parents interview. You've done a very good job of relentlessly calling everyone until your Mom's interview.

From your post, it seems like approval is pending FP/ background results. Like VisaApplicant pointed out, my guess is also that when they go back on the 16th, they would get the approval; by then the Consulate would've received the FP results. Did the officer retain your parents' Passports? That might be an indication of approval.

I too didn't know that FP would be taken at the time of interview. I saw a lawyer's post (Mr.Ron Gotcher) on the other forum on this and he said that FP would be taken at the POE, when they enter US after approval. May be, the process has changed now or probably even differs between consulates.

About the $85 fee, it is quite possible that your fee was split when you paid the fee with DS-230. How much did you pay for each applicant at that time?
 
They Kept all the original documents

Thanks for the replies and congrats. They kept all the original documents and gave the passports back and they stamped the last page of the passport with the int date and the wrote down the date of the new appointment. When I talked to the NVC i asked several times if all fees have been paid by me or not and they have said yes. My understanding is the $85 is the fee for the electronic fingerprinting proess.

When I didnt get any response from the US Embassy, I called the NVC to see if I could get any updates for the cases, they told me that once they cases are sent to the embassy, they only keep historical records of the cases. The gentleman I talked to there, gave me the number to the State Dept to complain about the Embassy, turns out that is the visa supervisor number( Well after few prompts and about 20 minutes wait). I have the number at work and I will post that later so that some one else could benefit from it. They were able to look up the case number and tell me when the embassy received the cases and when the interview letters were sent out.

I can't wait till its the 14th and when I called my parents they say yes we got the visas.

Best of luck to everyone else who is on the same boat as I am.

Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
Return to the Embassy on 3/14/06
 
Pinto19,

The procedures is different for different consulates.

I know that when my parents went for the IV processing, they had 2 interviews. (They did NOT get processed in Bangladesh but they were processed in Kuwait). My parents had two interviews. In the first interview they were given a list of documents and were given forms to obtain police clearances from teh local authorities. Once they had the results, they were called for the second interview. They were approved and their passports were kept overnight for the visas.

As fas as I know, police clearances from the Bangladeshi authorities are not acceptable. This might be reason why they asked from the $85 to process the background clearances (maybe from the FBI) :-(
 
Wait 4-6 weeks for background check

Well, my parents went back on the 14th with the $85 as advised. The embassy gave them a receipt for the money, took finger print of my dad (all 10 fingers this time using ink and paper). Told them it will take about 4-6 weeks to get the security clearance and will contact them by phone as soon as they have that to come back with their passport for visa stamp.

Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
Return to the Embassy on 3/14/06
Wait 4-6 weeks for security check.
 
Pinto19,

Thanks for the update. Hopefully they will get their visa in a month. It would have been nice if Embassy had asked them to bring $85 before their first visit to the Embassy and initiated the security check on 5th itself.

Did you receive all the forms, fee requests from NVC for both the parents together (in the same envelope) or in two envelopes but on same day?

Did you send back the forms, fees for both in one envelope or in 2 envelopes?

Could you please post State Dept Visa Supervisor tel no.?

Thanks.
 
Sent all forms in same envelop

Thanks for your reply. Yes, would have been nice if they requested to bring the $85 during initial interview and started the background check that day. Apparently they are doing that for every applicant and they are taking 10 fingerprint from the male applicants only.

When I started the application process, I sent all the forms in one envelop with each of their documents in individual envelops inside. I received 2 seperate envelops from NVC dated and mailed same day for each of my parents. I sent all fees and documents same way again in same envelop and 2 sep envelops inside.

I beleive the number that I called at the State Dept is 202-663-1225. I know I had to listen to all the recordings first before I could choose a prompt to speak to some in live. It took me about 15 or more minutes before I could get to the prompt and then another 10 minutes wait on the line.

Good luck to you and all.
 
Received Interview letter for mom

Today in the mail I received the interview letter for mom. It is dated Mar 6th, interview date Mar 5th (same date and time as my dad's). The letter was mailed on Mar 15th from D.C. (my dad's was too) with the US Embassy in Bangladesh as the return address.

I think they could have just keep the letter and save the $0.39 as the interviewing officer at the emabassy printed a copy of the letter for her. Just amazes me how the most advanced nation operates its businesses.

Visaapplicant, if you dont mind me asking, where are your parents from? Good luck to your immigration journey. Just remember, both you and your parents will need lot of patience
 
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pinto19 said:
Today in the mail I received the interview letter for mom. It is dated Mar 6th, interview date Mar 5th (same date and time as my dad's). The letter was mailed on Mar 15th from D.C. (my dad's was too) with the US Embassy in Bangladesh as the return address.
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This sounds quite scary, Pinto. I hope that some of (parents) who are waiting for interview thro CP, won't be subjected to similar IL confusion and everything will reach them on time.

On a separate note, I want to thank you for updating us on your parents' case(s) - there are very few Parents CP cases out here and your updates are a great help! I hope they get the FP results for your Dad soon and call them for the stamping. Good luck and as always, pls keep us posted.

P.S: If he/she doesn't mind me responding - VisaApplicant's parents case will be CPed at Mumbai, India
and if you are curious about mine too ;) - my Father's CP at Chennai, India.
 
pinto19 said:
Visaapplicant, if you dont mind me asking, where are your parents from? Good luck to your immigration journey. Just remember, both you and your parents will need lot of patience
Click to expand...

Pinto19,

Thanks. My parents are from India and will go to Mumbai consulate for CP. (thanks, Jenimmi). I really hope that VSC starts approving I-130 faster. That seems to be the longest step. It seems that once it is at NVC, if you respond to each step quickly, it keeps moving forward.
 
pinto19 said:
Well, my parents went back on the 14th with the $85 as advised. The embassy gave them a receipt for the money, took finger print of my dad (all 10 fingers this time using ink and paper). Told them it will take about 4-6 weeks to get the security clearance and will contact them by phone as soon as they have that to come back with their passport for visa stamp.
Click to expand...


It’s almost over. My parents received a call from the Dhaka US Embassy yesterday to come to the embassy on Sunday with passport and photos for the visa stamps. They had their fingerprint and interview done back in March and was told it will take 6-8 weeks for security clearance. Well when at the end of 10 weeks they haven’t heard any thing from the embassy, they went there to find out if there any info. The lady at the counter gave them the email address for the immigration visa dept and told them that she couldn’t look anything up and that they will have to email for status.

Well about 3 weeks before that I sent an email to the same address and they didn’t bother to reply to my email. So I sent the same email back to them hoping they would reply this time. I got a reply same day saying that the embassy had mailed my dad a form called “security clearance questioner” on April 14th and that needed to be filled out and signed and turned in before they can do the security clearance.

I was furious at that time. Why couldn’t they gave him this form when my parents went back the 2nd time with FP money and for FP. Any way they emailed me a copy of the form and filled it out and emailed to my parents. (This form was for my dad only as he is a male of age between 15-65). Had to have original signature on the form so I couldn’t email the form directly to the embassy. My dad had to go on Thursday between 8am-8:30 am to turn in the form. He did that on June 1st.


Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
Return to the Embassy on 3/14/06
Wait 4-6 weeks for security check
Submitted Security Clearance questioner on 6/1/06
Was told to return with Passport on 6/18/06 for Visa stamp.
 
They seem to be putting your Dad thro all this clearance, which I hadn't even heard of before. Is this a new procedure or what? Did you check with any one from Dhaka before, if they had to go thro similar steps?

If they are delaying your Dad's for security clearance, they could've at least stamped your Mom's PP with the Immigrant visa seal. Is this again a formality that both the husband and wife's should be stamped at the same time, even though the wife's case otherwise seems to have completed all process? Did you ask them about this?

Anyway good luck to you and hopefully they would be called back soon to get the stamp on their PPs.
 
Pinto,

Hopefully your Dad's visa will be approved soon. It is agonizing that Embassy did not give the form to your Dad during his visits there and lack of coordination between different Embassy departments.

Good luck!
 
Parents got immigrant visa….

They journey to the US Embassy for my parents are over. I guess all the government departments take training from the same school about being unorganized and clue less let it be INS or DOS. The embassy called my parents to come back on Sunday with their passports for visa, but when they got to the embassy, after standing in line for over an hour they lady at the front desk told them to come back on the 26th for review of their paperwork and come back with all the documents (took their names and case numbers). My parents tried to explain to the lady that they were called in to submit their passports for visa as all processes had been completed. She insisted that no, they have to review all paperwork.

Well, they had no choice but to come home at that time. At 1pm, they received a call again from the embassy saying that the lady at the front desk made a mistake and if my parents could come back by 2 pm with their passports, they will issue the visas. So they hurried back to the embassy and got their by 2 pm. Once there, was told only one member of the family need to go inside. So my dad went in the embassy with both passports while my mom stayed out side by herself. They issued visas on both passports and sealed documents and explained not to open as those are for the POE officer. They also asked to verify the case numbers are correct on the visa and to return if there are any errors. The process took about an hour and they came home with IV valid for 6 months.

Overall, other than couple of hick ups, the process was pretty smooth. I could have been able to shave off couple of months had the mail didn’t get lost in Bangladesh. A year to process IV I guess isn’t so bad. Good luck to any others who are going thru the process…



Timeline:
PD: June 27th, 2005
I-130 approved: Aug 28th 2005
I-864 accepted Oct 2005
DS-230 part I accepted Jan 2006
NVC completed all processing sent to Embassy Feb 3rd 2006
US Embassy Sent letter of Interview Feb 8th 2006
Interview March 5th, 2006
Return to the Embassy on 3/14/06
Wait 4-6 weeks for security check
Submitted Security Clearance questioner on 6/1/06
Received call from embassy on 6/15/06to return with Passport on 6/18/06 for Visa stamp.
Visa issued on 6/18/06.
 
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Pinto,

Congratulations! Yes, all is well that ends well! If only the Embassy had been more organized! They did not even miss the last opportunity to demonstarte being disorganized before issuing visas! :)
 
A big Congrats, Pinto!! Finally they made it!


visaapplicant said:
They did not even miss the last opportunity to demonstarte being disorganized before issuing visas! :)
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Well said Visapp. Getting Visa from the Dhaka Consulate seems to be more complicated than any other in the world!
 
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