| The interview is pretty much a strait forward process. I | | | | her, "Welcome to America!" |
| was at the interview with my fiancé as were many | | | | My wife smiled and gave out a "Whippee!" |
| other men with their fiancés. For one thing, I wanted | | | | The man at the embassy then told us to come back |
| to be there to support her. My fiancé is very | | | | at five o'clock that evening to get the visa. |
| emotional and I knew that she would be an emotional | | | | When we came back, we were one of six people |
| wreck at the interview. I was there to bolster her | | | | who received a visa. Three other couples all the |
| courage. | | | | couples where the man accompanied his fiancé to |
| Also, Warsaw is a big city and I wanted to be there to | | | | the interview were given visas. |
| accompany her in a big city she didn't know very well. | | | | Two other single women were given visas. Three |
| But the main reason I was there was primarily | | | | other single women were not given visas. Their |
| because I didn't want any last minute glitches. To use a | | | | paperwork was not complete. |
| football analogy: The ball was on the one-yard line. I | | | | That night we celebrated at dinner. My wife called her |
| was going to make sure the ball made it into the end | | | | mother on the phone and gave her the news. |
| zone. | | | | Her mother cried and cried. She knew that it would be |
| I would never forgive myself if something went wrong | | | | a long time before she would see her little girl again. |
| at the end. I had worked too hard to get things to this | | | | She was off to America. |
| point. I wasn't taking any chances. | | | | Recently, I have heard that some of the US |
| I made airline reservations to bring my fiancé home | | | | embassies are not giving out fiancé visas the same |
| the day after our interview. I was that confident that | | | | day that they are approved because of extra security |
| we would get the fiancé visa approved. After all, | | | | procedures implemented since the September 11 |
| we had done everything we could to insure that the | | | | attacks. |
| process would go smoothly. | | | | It is best to find out beforehand if your fiancé will |
| The interview was scheduled for early morning. It took | | | | receive a visa the same day she has the interview so |
| about five minutes. They asked me a number of | | | | you don't make plane reservations you can't keep. |
| questions such as how had we met, how long had we | | | | In addition, I have also heard that US embassies were |
| known each other, how many times had we met | | | | slowing down the processing of all visas, including |
| together in person. | | | | fiancé visas, right after September 11. Fiancé visas |
| They asked my wife the same questions in Russian | | | | that might have been handled in six months are taking |
| that they had asked me in English. She gave them the | | | | nine months and longer to be processed. |
| same answers as I had given them, except in Russian. | | | | This backlog is supposed to be catching up as of a |
| Our stories matched up. They were consistent. | | | | year later and should achieve normal processing times |
| After a few minutes, the man behind the glass said to | | | | soon. |