Hi All,
Thought I would now share with you our experience at the AD embassy.
We got to the embassy at around 07:55am and there were 2 ques outside. One for non-immigrant visas and the second for immigrant visas. There were at least 10 families ahead of us and we don't know how many had already gone through the gates already. There are benches outside to sit and wait. The security guard checked our interview letter and passports. He seemed confused as we were the only DV lottery winners (I don't think they get many DV immigration cases at this embassy). There were mainly Iranian applicants with one Iraqi family behind us and one Indian man who seemed to have a very thick photo album in his bag. Not sure what type of visa he was applying for. But you could see all the immigration cases had big x-ray envelopes with them.
At around 8:10am we were ushered in through the security gates and had to leave everything behind. Note that you can only carry water in if you have a baby or toddler with you. No toys or any food can be taken in.
Walked in to the embassy and we were number 22. 21 cases in front of us and we knew it was going to be a long day! There are a few toys for kids to play with and there was a horrible little boy who pushed my daughter down at some point. She fell on her face and started bleeding on her upper lip. It was chaos for a few minutes and I asked for a first aid kit which the security could not help me with so I ran to the ladies bathroom with her bleeding. This was at around 10:00am. When I calmed my daughter down, I went outside. There is a lovely garden outside and my daughter was getting so claustrophobic in there. So we sat outside for about 10 minutes. During the time when I was in the bathroom seeing to my daughter, the non-immigrant numbers had come in so the place was packed by then. All she wanted to do was play outside. One CO saw all this commotion and called my husband to the window. He said that when he was done with the current person, he will see to us. They were on number 10 of immigration numbers at that time. So we fast tracked! When I went back inside, my husband told me that they will see us next.
At about 10:30am we were called by the lovely gentleman to submit all our documents. He went through a checklist of requirements and my husband and I took turns in holding my daughter and trying to entertain her while submitting documents. She was really a handful at that point as she only wanted to run outside. Its not a very large place and almost every seat was occupied by then. He was asking me to confirm the spelling of my father's name which is a little different to the normal spelling. Then he asked why my husbands' mothers name had been spelt so incorrect. He was arabic speaking so he knew arabic names. We were concerned about our marriage certificate as we had married Islamically in 2005 but had also gotten married in SA courts in 2007. We only submitted the Nikah certificate which was translated and attested. If asked, we had a separate folder with the official SA certificate. But he did not even look twice at those documents. All he did was make sure that we gave in each document as per his list.
We then moved on to taking fingerprints at another window. Stood in that que for about 10 minutes. Then we sat down again and waited for the actual interview. By then I went outside to sit with my daughter and get some snacks from our bags left at the security gate for her. So I sat for about 1 hour outside while she ran around and tried to give her snacks. By around 11:00am (cannot remember exact timeline!) the CO called our number.
We took the oath and tried to keep my daughter from running out and screaming for us to leave while answering the questions. The actual interview was short. First I was asked about my matric certificate and what it meant. She said she doesn't know the SA system so I explained to her that it was 12 years of school. She then asked how old I was when I finished school and I just could not remember but then said I must have been 17 or 18... I think 18 as I was born in November and was always a few months older than the other kids in my class.
I was asked what I plan to do in US to which I replied that right now with being pregnant, I won't be working for a while until we settle but will probably freelance or look at working from home opportunities since the advertising industry has so many opportunities for SAHM's. She asked me what does a media planner actually do to which I responded that we actually spend our clients millions in budget on advertising.
She then asked my husband what he does and what will he do in US. He is in telecoms working for a company which supplies US products and works on East and West Africa and Iran. During this time, we took turns in holding a very jumpy 2 year old who only wanted to run outside! She then asked us how many times we had been to the US. I just couldn't remember so I said quite a few times.
She then said, ok everything looks like it is in order but.... she kept on looking at her computer screen. Then she said, I am granting you and your daughter your green cards but sir, I have to put you under administrative processing. We were happy and sad at the same time. She then said, you have two choices. Either you stamp yours and your daughters' passports immediately or you wait until your husband's administrative processing is over. I immediately knew that I will never stamp ours without my husbands being granted so I was already ready to answer. He said to me, no you stamp it and we wait for mine. I said never! Are you crazy. We kept on arguing and I was trying to get him to understand what if it takes longer than 6 months which means I have to travel alone, pregnant and with a toddler. He said no I can come in on a tourist visa. She said, just be aware that the immigration officer at the POE might not let you in as you have an immigration intent. She then stood up and said ok take a few minutes to decide but remember that there is no guarantee that once the AP is over, the numbers will be available for your region, especially Africa.
She then came back after 2 minutes with green papers in hand and asked us if we had made our decision. We said yes we will wait and take the chance. My husband then told her that we had been placed under AP before and it took 4 months then. She chuckled and said no I don't think it will take that long. She then explained what was in the green pages which was a 221 refusal sheet. Mine and my daughters' stated that the only missing document is our passport so we can drop it off at any time with that sheet and my husbands' listed that his case was under admin processing.
So that was it! It was a bittersweet moment for both of us as we really didn't know whether to celebrate or be sad that we were going to wait longer.
Yesterday afternoon I checked the website and it stated under processing. In the evening, I thought I will just check since it was end of the week here and just maybe there was some progress. It was shocking to see that the visa is ready to issue. So we will go in on Sunday afternoon to drop off our passports. I am still in a bit of shock but happy nevertheless.
So thats our DV interview experience. It didn't go quite as smooth as we had hoped but we finally got it. We plan to go in March to activate the visa.
