After two days, the signed letter from the US Consulate was delivered today. It took exactly 10 month from the first notification letter to have the visas in hand. Now phase two is starting, the final move to the US ..
10 monther after the notification letter arrived we had our interview today in the US Consulate. It is only a ten minutes drive from our home to the consulate, where we arrived 7:15 a.m and lined up in the immigrant visa row. It was pretty cold and windy this morning and we waited about 30 minutes before we got our number. With it, we went through security check and moved on to the hall with all the desks for visa applicants.
First we went to desk 22, where we had to pay the visa fee (total $1550). We gave the money to the cashier, he counted it twice and told us “That are only $1500”. Holy shit, there was a $100 bill missing, and we were not able to find it. Fortunately their credit card machine worked today, because it was well known somtimes it doesn’t, thats why we had the dollars in cash with us. Then we moved to desk 23, where they collected our passports, a photo from each applicant and gave us a list in which order to sort the papers and a envelope in which they later send the visas. Couple of minutes later we were called to desk 21 where they collected all papers and checked our finanical statements. The lady said everything looks fine, gave us the “Welcome to the United States Guide” and told us to wait for the interview with the consule. After 40 minutes he called us to desk 17 and the interview started: Please everybody sign the sworn statement on the DS-230 and give me your finger prints. Thank you very much, have a nice day. ??? Thats it? Yes, that was the interview and we left the consulate. The envelope with the visas should arrive mid this week 🙂
P.S. The cashier found our $100 under his desk and gave it back to us.
They paid nearly the whole costs for our vaccination, which was a total of 411 Euros ($600) 🙂
Today we went to the medical examination that is needed for the immigrant visa. At 7:15 a.m. we arrived at the doctor’s practice and had to wait about 15 minutes before they opened. We filled out a medical form, gave our vaccination record to the secretary, paid 125 Euro (aprox. $180) per person and went then downstairs for the blood test and the X-Ray. After that we returned to the upper level and had a short consultation with the doctor where he made a short eye examination, and checked the forms. Done!
Today The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs updated the Visa Bulletin for March and released in its Advanced Notification the cut-off numbers for April 2008.
| Region | All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately | |
|---|---|---|
| AFRICA | 21,500 |
Except: |
| ASIA | 9,100 | |
| EUROPE | 20,625 | |
| NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) | 11 | |
| OCEANIA | 1,200 | |
| SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN | 1,425 |
It’s a surprise how fast the numbers jump for all regions this year. It looks like a lot of people lost the interest to get a Greencard. However, for DV-2009 the U.S. Department of State reported, applications for the 2009 DV Lottery are 45 percent higher than for 2008 DV Lottery. In numbers that means, they got more than 9 millions applications.
Today we got our last varicella shot. Furthermore, Marco’s new biometric passport was finished.
Today the 2nd letter from KCC was in our mailbox. Nothing special in it, only information we already know.
Just a short notice, today our police certificates were in the mail.
Today we mailed KCC and asked if they already scheduled our interview. What a surprise, some hours later they confirmed it for March, 10 🙂
Today The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs updated the Visa Bulletin for February and released in its Advanced Notification the cut-off numbers for March 2008.
| Region | All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately | |
|---|---|---|
| AFRICA | 18,500 |
Except: |
| ASIA | 7,875 | |
| EUROPE | 17,600 | |
| NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) | 8 | |
| OCEANIA | 1,025 | |
| SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN | 1,350 |
Yes, our number is current, and we will have our interview in March. Within the next weeks, the second letter from KCC should arrive. But it’s well known, a lot of letters get lost, so we’ll call them in about two weeks to ask for the interview date. Now it’s time to collect the rest of the necessary documents.
