The Embassy (or Consular) interview is the critical moment in any K visa case. Failures at this stage are more common than at the CIS stage, and the consequences are more dire - up to years of delay, if not outright denial. That's why we at the Roth Immigration Law Firm have invested so heavily in consular interview preparation, including overseas attorneys and paralegals in Guangzhou, Manila, Moscow, Kyiv, and Warsaw. Equally important, all of our firm's fiance(e)s and spouses are prepared prior to the interview by John Roth, the most experienced K-1 visa practitioner in the U.S. Read further to learn more about the consular interview....

The interviews are short, typically lasting less than 10 minutes. The embassies and consulates lack the time and resources for lengthy interviews, so they must of necessity engage in what amounts to profiling (including inferences drawn from manner, dress, facial expressions, etc.). Therefore, what matters is not what your relationship is in fact, what matters is the picture of your relationship that's created in the five to ten minutes your fiancée is in front of a U.S. consular officer on the day of the interview, and what judgment the consular officer will make based on that narrow view.

Most people view the world of overseas consulates as a strange and alien universe (no pun intended). The consulates are (in)famous for their lack of responsiveness and opacity in decision-making. This aspect also greatly increases the "misery index" for couples who aren't approved on the first day. Not only is the visa delayed, but no meaningful explanation is given for why the visa was denied (the consulates like to cite "Administrative review" or "221 (g) refusal", which tell the affected parties almost nothing) or when the case will be decided. It's important to understand that consular decisions are shaped by many factors, as follows:

This mix can lead to results that often defy common sense. A few examples appear below:

Common Sense Consular Sense I love my fiancée, that's why I send her $500 a month. I'll show the Embassy how serious I am by sending Western Union receipts & emails referring to the money in my package for the Embassy. We don't have a problem with your intent. It's the fiancée's intent that we are mostly concerned about. If you've jumped up her standard of living so much, her intent to marry might be more about money and less about romance. My fiancée and I have a healthy, intimate relationship. My emails show how passionate and sexual we are. This can be viewed as Western man exploiting a poorer overseas woman for sexual gratification. State Department is on the lookout for "white slavery". My tax return doesn't fully show my income level. I'm self-employed and take plenty of deductions so I can pay less in taxes. Everybody does it. We pay our taxes (they are withheld). We rely on tax revenues for our salary. You were saying? Also, honesty of petitioner is suspect. I pay your salary, you should give me good service! You and others don't pay enough taxes, or the government is giving us too little of it, because we are chronically over-worked and understaffed. I can't afford to travel to see my fiancée again. You can't afford to be married, or you don't care enough about her, or you're a cheapskate "bargain hunting" for a bride. 90 days is not enough time to figure out whether we should get married. Your "figuring out" should have been done, as a matter of law, before you filed the I-129F. My fiancée will learn English when she gets over to the U.S. It'll be easier then. She should already speak English well enough to have entered into the very serious decision to get married. No Engish, no visa! You should resolve my post-interview "administrative review" case asap because I am being kept from the person in life I love the most. Ho hum. Hear it every day. We're busy. Get on a plane and go visit her if you miss her so much. I'll call my Congressperson! They'll send us a form letter, we'll send them a form letter, you'll learn nothing new. I'll sue you! U.S. consuls are protected by government immunity. I'll appeal! Under U.S. law our decisions are un-reviewable on the facts. You'll have to catch us at a mistake of law, and you'll find that all but impossible because we are going to give you the absolute minimal explanation of what we did and why. I'll get you fired! It's almost impossible for us to be fired, so you can't scare us. Plus, we have a HUGE experience at getting rid of pests like you. You are an AMATEUR dealing with world class PROS.

Consular officers tend not to be terribly sympathetic to K-1 visas. A recent article by a former immigrant visa consular officer advocates a complete elimination of K-1 fiancé(e) visas.

You can see an example of a particularly uncooperative U.S. consulate by reading "Guangzhou U.S. Consulate: A National Disgrace. A Memorandum of Law and Fact, by John F. Roth, Immigration Attorney". You can read the supporting appendices and case histories by looking at the March 2009 entries on our Consular Processing blog.

The moral of the story should be clear: in marriage-based visa cases it is essential to identify the potential problems as early as possible and start preparing for the all-important consular interview from the very beginning of the case, when meaningful long-term efforts can be made to address the problems and deficiencies in the case profile.

Another very important point: visa unit chiefs typically rotate assignments every two years, and different chiefs can have very different views about visa processing. Therefore do NOT assume that what was true six months ago is necessarily going to be true when your fiancée is interviewed. It is essential to stay on top of the latest trends, and prepare, prepare, prepare for the Consular interview to give the fiancée the best possible chance of a successful and hassle-free interview experience.