One of my Montreal Mommies suggested I put together a photo album for the immigration interview. Pictures of family events that the KoD and I attended together, pix of me with his kids, pix of him with my boys. Pictures of us together at different locations.
I have a wedding album that I plan to shlepp along, but how many pictures do I put in my extra album? What exactly does the immigration officer want to see? There are pictures of me with KoD’s mom and brother, KoD with my mum and brothers…. Professional pics from Squiggy’s barmitzvah. Candid shots of us all just hanging out….
Should I upload our wedding video onto a USB drive, or will that be overkill? I wonder if they’d even let me bring that in to the consulate….
If you any experience with these types of interviews please give me the benefit of your wisdom.
Thanks.
In the Pink 
In my experience, they don’t want the posed or professional pics.
They want the candid, “hanging out” shots.
I’m going to ditto G6 – bring the candid shots. And I DOUBT they’ll let you in with a USB stick. Generally cell phones and anything electronic is banned from inside those places.
When my missus and I got married in Australia and prepared to come back to the UK, we had to get Natalie’s visa from the UK High Commission in Canberra, and each had an interview there.
Basically they wanted to satisfy themselves that it was a genuine relationship and not just a marriage of convenience.
They asked Natalie various questions about my family, with me out of the room. When she referred to me as Danny, (rather than Daniel as on my passport), they softened visibly. Hope that’s a bit of help, albeit small, as an indication of the strategy of these things.
So Hadassah, are you going to call your husband “KoD” and then explain the nickname to them? That would melt a heart of stone. Honestly, if they give you trouble I am going to SCREAM!
LOL, I’m reminded of the film The Proposal. Sandra Bullock is marrying her assistant Ryan Reynolds, to avoid her deportation. Problem is, he knows everything about her (having been her assistant for years), while she knows nothing about him. There are several comical scenes regarding this, where the immigration officials are a bit bewildered by the discrepancy.
I think you should bring the single prof shots of the boys from bar mitz- as well as the fam one u had in the park thats posted on FB. bring a couple of wedding ones- cutsey KOD one, and then the pic of u and his kids. Thats enough- of your fam- without over doing it. I dont have experience with this but i know that people get annoyed easily and from your situation- seems immigration people are blah. So bring just the right amount of you guys all together- i think the mothers and uncles etc are too much
Be prepared.
They may very well be harsh and nasty (think border patrol and/or Israeli Security).
Just remember that it’s all a TACTIC they use to throw you off balance. If you keep that in mind, you won’t get too worried about it.
(Oh, and get ready for dumb questions like which side of the bed(s) you sleep on {HOW many miles away, lol…} and what color your toothbrushes are).
along dumb questions, what color are his eyes and his kids eyes…what type of shaving cream does he use or deoderant – boxers or briefs….all the fun stuff.
i agree with less posed shots and more happy occasions.
Um, it’s not as bad “The Proposal” makes it out to be…
Especially if you have no prior record with them of disobediance, they will be pretty lax. They KNOW you got married. Bring the fun family pics from over the past year- they might not even look at them! Proof; if you have any insurance together, or bank accounts, loans or anything else that has BOTH your names. (like mail!)
They’ll ask you questions. You already know all the answers. They’ll want to be sure that all their paperwork is filled out ‘correctly’. Correct birthdays and addresses.
STAY PLEASANT AT ALL TIMES AND AT ALL COSTS!
Hadassah, didn’t you say you were going to the American Consulate? That is *not* the same as an going to the INS for an immigration interview, nor is it equivalent to the scruntiny one gets when one makes a random trip across the US border. (Not sure where G6 got that information) They have already processed your paperwork, and investigated you, and to the extent they question you that day, it will likely be brief and cordial. When I went to the US consul in Montreal to pick up my visa after marrying my US husband, the actual pickup took me 10 minutes.
They can easily see from your blog that this is genuine.
Definitely no video of the chatuna, definitely not the whole chassene Album, one or two pics would do, plus a few snapshots of you as a family.
The immigration officer is not an aunt or mother-in-law or friend who wants to see wedding videos.