Our K1 Visa Journey: the Interview
pathtousa via clipish
I left off my last post in my pajamas, probably with a glass of wine and tissue box, explaining the K1 fianace’ visa process. You can read about our initial visa process —> HERE <—
This brings us to “the interview” at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
Well… OK, deep breath.
I flew to India to be with Manpreet for the interview; the appointment was set for August 28th, 2015. From the very start it was chaos outside. There were lines around the block starting at 8am.
If you are going through this, please leave your cell phones at home, they do not allow them inside at all. They will not store them, they WILL send you back home.
The fiancé/marriage visa line forms to the left of the others who are applying for student, business or tourist visas. The marriage-visa line is relatively short with no issues to get inside as long as you have your appointment certificate and ID.
You then proceed to a second security who will check your bags, pat you down etc… just like an airport. Once you are through security the waiting period begins in a lovely courtyard, then you are called inside to the main waiting area.
From the very start we were given a hard time and dirty looks; an American girl with a Sikh guy is not typical.
YET (evil laugh)
There was a clerk behind a window who’s job it was to check our papers to make sure we had all the right documents. This guy was extremely hostile to Manpreet right away. They spoke in Hindi so I don’t know exactly what was going on, but the two of them were raising their voice about nothing, it seemed.
The man asked if he had ever changed his name. Manny said “no,” but I assume it may have been because he is no longer wearing a turban with a Sikh name like Manpreet?
Then he asked for the affidavit of support with a HUGE attitude; he THREW our papers under the slot in the window and put us in que to be interviewed.
I don’t know if this was a psychological test, but everyone else we spoke to while waiting did not have this problem with that same guy.
Manpreet thinks it was because I was standing there, the American girl, and the clerk did not like the idea of our relationship since we had come across this issue several times already that week. Read about it HERE
We waited about two hours.
I was making jokes because it seemed they were giving out visas to just about everyone. The people were waiting in line with these scared, stressed out faces, then all of a sudden it was like each person won the lottery.
One, by one.
I spoke with one lovely Punjabi-Sikh bride who had married her husband in an arranged marriage a year and a half ago. She met him on her wedding day and they have not seen each other since.
He lives in NYC and she was planning on leaving that following Wednesday to move to the States to be with him. She came prepared with “five” big printed wedding albums and memorized her new families names, ALL OF THEM.
She had literally spent ZERO time with her husband… and was approved.
After her approval, we were called to the window.
An American lady with brown hair smiled at me, then asked Manny who I was. He said “This is my fiancé” and I was told to go sit down.
She asked a few very basic questions but decided to pass our case along to an Indian girl who asked questions about Manny’s childhood and education level. We were then told to go have lunch and come back after 2:30 pm, but now we were freaked out, and confused.
Who could eat?
The Indian girl they stuck us with… was a Pit Bull.
Her questions were vey strange, nothing like we expected. We honestly assumed that it is clear-as-day that we are a real relationship; just look at us!
Manny and Lisa
WE. ARE. ADORABLE.
Ms. Pit Bull asked things such as “Why is she staying in a hotel?” Like the police officer and the issues we had at the hotel in my previous ARTICLE. We had NO IDEA this was such a big deal to anyone.
We are grown adults and as an American it’s very “normal” for us to not impose on anyone. We choose to have our own space in the privacy of a hotel; apparently this is not OK.
It was obvious, these interview questions were geared much more towards Indian culture than mine, even though it was the US embassy and HALF this relationship is in fact AMERICAN.
She found a picture of Manny’s sister (which I printed out from Facebook) and slapped it on the window with a look as if she just solved the crime of the century.
“WHO IS THIS?” she said with a very satisfied and sassy look.
“That’s my sister,” Manny answered with a look of confusion. The Pitt Bull had made up her mind that Manny couldn’t possibly love the American chick, she “found” the photo of his one-true-love… OBVIOUSLY.
WTF?
The interview went down-the-shitter from there; each question was more unfair and more bizarre. Nothing to do with our relationship at all; the questions were ALL about Manny.
Around 6pm the American lady called Manny to the window one final time with our official “Visa Denial.”
We were given a “221g white slip” which says “no proof of marriage within 90 days upon arrival to the U.S.” basically, they thought we were fraudulent.
In that one second everything we had planned, everything we were looking forward to… was stolen from us.
My own government played god and took away our wedding plans, my sons future step-father, my mothers dream of her son-in-law, the business we created together… gone.
All of it.
We can appeal of course, but it can take three years with very little chance of winning the case.
Our only option from here is for me to go back to India, get married there (without my own mother present because she can’t travel) and start the entire process over again… another 18 months apart.
Sorry, Ms. Pit Bull, you can’t fight true-love; we shall meet again.
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Update: We were married in New Delhi, India, on March 13th 2016 and began the whole immigration process over again, this time as a married couple. We expect our next interview date to be somewhere around April 2017, three-years after our engagement at the Taj Mahal. From what I have learned, the majority of K1 visas from India are denied. In my opinion, it was a waste of time, money and heartache. But, the Cr1 Marriage Visa went PERFECTLY… you can read about the timeline —> HERE.
For more stories in the Gori and the Sikh category, click—> HERE
Read about “My Indian Boyfriend “—>HERE
My Big Fat Sikh Wedding: Indian Astrology —> HERE
My Big Fat Sikh Wedding: The Dress —> HERE
Surviving Long Distance Love—> HERE
Open Letter to my Husband—> HERE
Our Honeymoon, Rishikesh India—> HERE
K1 Fiance Visa Process—> HERE
US Embassy Interview K1—> HERE
Cr1 Marriage Visa Timeline—> HERE
Journey to New Delhi—> HERE
First Trip to Jaipur India —> HERE
Our First Diwali—> HERE
Giving Thanks, Shukryia —> HERE
Being Sikh in America—> HERE
The Indian Grocery—> HERE
A Path to Happiness—> HERE
31 comments on “Our K1 Visa Journey: the Interview”
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Buddhaful Britt 
sorry, so frustrating:(
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Heartbreaking. Thank you.
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That is awful, sorry you had to go through that… We had a bad experience in two embassies as well, but nothing this horrible.
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I would love to hear what happened to you?
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When my husband (back then boyfriend) was trying to come to my country (Latvia) there was no embassy for it, so he had to go to Hungarian embassy. They are plain rude and ignorant there. He got denied saying that he doesn’t have a reason to come back to India (he applied for tourist visa and all the papers were OK). Apparently owning a business wasn’t enough for them. So after he had a stamp of denial in his passport I knew I had to come here and we have to get married here. So we did. Now Latvia has it’s own embassy in India, so we went there to get his tourist visa so we can visit my family. At first glance they were cold to my husband then when they realized why I am with him they turned around. I don’t want to say anything bad about them, because they have helped me a ton. But it seems like a pattern for every embassy, just to be plain rude and ignorant towards Indians. 😦
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Sad that even in this day and age, these things happen… sometimes, being truthful is a pain, he should have gone to the US on a tourist visa and then you could have dont something there
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Thank you Santoosh! Yes, hindsight is 20/20. Unfortunately now he would be turned down for tourists and business visas because of this denial. Thank you for reading our story. I will be getting married this December and we try again.
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I shall hope and pray for you 🙂
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I am a new reader of your blog. I find the tone in your articles refreshingly energetic.
The local hires, who sit there, ask questions, process files, are understandably a frustrated bunch. Every day, they handle papers that have to do with some really lucky people moving on to a fulfilling future. I am sure these people would love to do that too, but they cannot really apply to USA to address the non-existing shortage of file-processing and interviewing staff.
Similar things are true for some of the airport security personnel as well. Their lives majorly suck outside those few yards at the airport. But while they are there, they feel to be in control of all these people’s lives. Some people, although I will optimistically say a short percentage in India at least, cannot resist the temptation of exercising this delusion(?) of control.
I do not think Ms. Pit Bull even cares if a bunch of Indian men end up in the USA without adequate evidence of an imminent and genuine marriage. It might be true that it is partially government policy. But I think she has a different reason to play her role in it.
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An interesting point of view. I appreciate you reading my page. Thank you.
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