How long do you think we should wait before we call to find out anything? Like I said, we mailed ours off yesterday? Do you receive anything to confirm that they have received it?

Thanks!

Received nothing to confirm its receipt. Took them a couple of weeks to enter Packet 3 into the system, a couple of weeks for them to enter the checklist into the system (sent separately).

Phoning the £1.20/minute line is a waste of time and money, you are better off calling the US Dept of State for information. They are much more helpful! They can tell you when things are entered into the system

Took 3 weeks after sending off the checklist to get my interview date. After 2 weeks, was calling every day, lol Doesn't speed things up though

Well...here's to reviving old threads!! Since there are several of us waiting for Packet 4, we may as well keep one another company, right? Of course, we're also waiting on P3, but nevermind that. Hopefully we'll be done with P3 in the next week or so.

We'll join the crowd, we sent off packet 3 last tuesday. I called the state department friday and they said to wait a little longer, haha. Oh well, i'm just being prompt Good luck to all !!!

Thought maybe this would help you all a bit!


Name..................Visa....P3Sent..MedDate.....P4Rec'd...IntDate/Time........Status
justbee&robbie.....CR1......05/12.............................
psho.....................K1.......05/24....07/16................
TimsDaisy.............K1........05/29....06/07................
Disco/Rubycon.......K1.......06/01.....05/09..................
Jake & Ali..............K1........06/04....06/12...............
Dawny&Tommy.....K1.......06/07.............................
blspicer...............K1........06/12.....07/16..........
Dan&Tiffany.........K1.....................07/03.......

Thanks Tracy

Dawn.

On the bottom. BOO HISS! Hope that we actually receive P3 soon. That would be spectacular. Called DOS this morning and heard again "in transit." Seems like they're taking it across by row boat. Yes, just me being impatient again.

Are we sure it's okay to be openly waiting for packet 4? Oh well, I'll risk it

Tim got his police cert in the mail today (all clean, what a good guy).

So, um, yeah. We're just waiting on the Embassy!

So yeah - called DOS again - not entered into London's system yet.

And to Tracy, yay for being bored at work. I should be doing something productive and seeing patients, but hey - I've got a student intern for the summer! Yay for slacking! I'm "supervising" at the moment.

We have an intern, too, this summer. She is bored right along with us.





*edited for clarity*

I don't think we need to split off topics. I'm not going to address the other thread.

What I will do now, however, is talk about waiting for packet 4 and my recent interaction with the ever-helpful, understanding, and available DOS operators.

I had one spontaneously and with NO mention on my part recommend remailing the materials if we had an extra copy (this was AFTER the conversation that was discussed in that other thread). Today, an operator said Tim could try going to the Embassy to pick up the packet 3 materials again - but then I clarified that he had received them, and mailed them back (twice) and we hadn't heard anything. I said we weren't "concerned" per se, but rather curious because there was, for a brief time, a pretty good turnaround on interview dates (as our VJ data supports).

He recommended I try contacting the Embassy directly - but I explained that the switchboard boots you to the toll line which can give you the same information DOS has on its computers and not much else. He was very kind on the phone too - he said, well, I don't have any other ideas either, but keep trying back.

So while I continue to be bummed about missing that faster moving bit of time in London, I'm not dejected or anything yet. I'd just like the interview date!

But, as I mentioned, at least the police cert is in hand, right on schedule. So it really is just back to waiting now.

so is this thread still here for legit purposes then?

I hope so, because i'm still impatiently waiting Packet 4

Dawn.

yes - please continue with the topic at hand

I just called the DoS line today, and was told that the embassy hadn't received our checklist yet (!!! -- we sent it May 24!).

I asked if we needed to send it again, and the operator said "Oh? You have a copy?" and then she said "I can't see how it would hurt." She also said it could be that they *do* in fact have it, but maybe just haven't updated the system yet. She also suggested calling back "in a couple of weeks."

So the DoS has operators who are telling folks to resend information -- I'm going to hold off for another week or so, and try to be zen about the whole thing.

Thanks for this info & that sounds like a great plan!

Hmmm. Did you mail packet 3 and the checklist together, psho? And did they say if they had packet 3 (sorry if you said so somewhere else)?

Yep.

I will keep calling every couple of days since I seem to get a different story with every DoS operator I speak with. It's entertaining, in a perverse fashion.

If they do have packet 3, I would mail in the checklist again. My experience has been that they won't schedule an interview until they have the checklist. I'd rather do that again than waste a few more weeks hoping that they 'catch up', esp. when they should have been entered together. Almost sounds like someone missed keying it in.

I sent the checklist in with packet 3 also. I tried to track my packet with Royal mail, and last I heard, which is over a week ago, was that it was in their PO Box. Tommy called the DoS and the only info they have at the moment, is the date they sent packet 3 to me. I didn't send mine back until June 7th, so i'm not overly worried yet, just bloody impatient!

Dawn.

That sounds like good advice since they are saying they are missing just that one part. If they were together in the mail, I don't think you'll gain much hoping someone moves enough of last week's biscuit wrappers to get down to the forgotten item on his/her desk.

And I'm glad they seem to input at least some information if they get some at any given time. They have nothing noted in the record for us aside from having mailed packet 3 to Tim and the medical information coming back in.

OK -- full disclosure, for anyone else who finds themselves in my shoes....

Turns out that the DoS operator who I thought was the least helpful was actually the most helpful!

I told my fiance about the phone call I had:



So they ARE waiting on our checklist! AAAARGH!!!

Here's where I wish I were over there, checking things over three times. Oh well.

Checklist was sent with a note explaining. Man, I hope he remembered to put the case number on it....

:hairpull:

D'oh! Silly psho's fiance!

Hopefully, things can start moving for you now!

Ditto the D'OH! But at least it should be rectified pretty swiftly.

And it does prove that they indeed wait for the checklist before scheduling the interview.

Heh! I'm lucky he mailed anything at all! I'm surprised he didn't crumple everything into a big ball and fling it over the wall!

HE OWES ME STEAK AND CHAMPAGNE (and a nice dog, once we have a house)

Hahaha! Oh geez - gotta love these boys. Wanna pinch them sometimes, but gotta love 'em!

So I've sent the same email to the LondonConsular address about 3 or 4 times. I kept getting the "this message has been deleted without being read" thing. I was thinking that maybe once they entered our case in that it would stop deleting it, so I kept sending it. Yeah...got an email today from them that our case has been rec'd and he will be getting P3 shortly. They LIED it wasn't deleted after all. I'm guessing they send a response so I'd stop resending the silly thing! Haha!

What a stupid message to give as a reply. They could at least put "you're mail has been received and will be dealt with soon".

The future is with the DOS line, folks. Polite and helpful both times I called (will call again this afternoon - really musn't become obsessed with this though!)

True! There are a few embassy-specific things they can't answer, but for the most part, it's the ONLY way to go. The guy at DOS I talked to the other day even wished us good luck. I don't know why, but I was just taken aback by that. All have been very friendly, though.

I the DoS! Hopefully, they'll have an answer for me this afternoon when I call them -- never thought I'd have to contact them again, but there is a very odd entry on the biographical details form stapled to the MBE. It says the boy's occupation is "Student/Children Under 16", and whilst I read this as a combined category, Bruce is worried that it means that when we're at the POE and they read it, they'll see he's not under 16 and turn him away. What a fruitcake! But I'm calling just so he'll STFU...

D&T - you know you're in the system in London now, right? Anymore thought to sending them P3 while they twiddle their thumbs about getting the mail out or while the Royal Post takes its sweet arse time delivering?

They started using that reply after last August's Gatwick terror acts...

Good news: more people getting their interview dates today. Bummer news: August dates. I mean, this is a good thing, duh, but I was hoping for us to get a July date and since we've yet to hear anything - I'm having a strong inkling that mid-August is the best to hope for now So much of this process is bittersweet. ANY interview date is preferable to no interview date, but I had a tiny hope for July . . . Oh well!

You might still get a July date... y'know, what with them apparently having a tendency to give the dates out at random, and all! I'm trying to remember my dates... my Packet 4 arrived on Feb 24th (I think), with an interview date of March 15th. Other people at the time had been getting interview dates in late March, April, probably even May, if I remember right... there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to this stuff!!

Got my fingers crossed for you.

It might still be July - some people get more notice than others, we got exactly one week notice before our date.

Just trying to get used to expecting August and that way July is icing! Of course, again, ANY indication they'd feel like chatting with him at the Embassy sometime would be awesome. Oy! Really, any sign of life would be cool, London Embassy!

Hmm...Didn't know that. So, ok, possibly I'm just being dense, but how does an auto-response to emails stop terrorism?




Tell me about it!

They used to say, 'if this message is legitmate, we will respond to you soon.' Or someting like that. I figure after the attacks, they got a million emails!

Ahhh... gotcha!

I called the DoS line again this morning, not expecting anything (they just received the forgotten checklist on Thursday). I was hoping that I may have a birthday surprise for my guy in the form of an interview date (his birthday is tomorrow), but no soap.

Now that August interviews are being scheduled, it makes me wonder -- our NOA2 expires August 11. If the embassy achedules the interview for after that date, will it all be for naught? Is there some wiggle room? Do I need to think about filing an extension?

Nah, don't worry about that psho. Just have new letters of intent handy at the interview. London routinely extends those without any further involvement from the couple.

Phew!

I did see a sample extension request letter in the guides somewhere, but if I don't have to use it, that'd be best.

I wonder what our expiration date is since I haven't actually SEEN the stinkin' NOA2 yet!!! I can count it out for myself and I don't *think* we'll have to worry, but then again, who knows, right? Oy.

I used that sample extention letter just to cover my bootay... I figured it was appropriate to send being that we still had no interview date and the approval was close to expiring (it was actually expired by the time we got our interview).

Montreal responded "thank you, we will automatically extend it".

Should be exactly 4 calendar months from your NOA2 date.

The State Dept. said our packet 4 was sent today!

Hmm.. going by your date (14 days since you sent Packet 3), I'm going to use June 20 as our "real" Packet 3 date, which would mean we'd get news about July 4.

ROLL ON, INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Called DOS today and they said packet 4 was sent yesterday, interview date Sept.4 at 9:30am. We were hoping to catch August but oh well, i'm just happy it's been scheduled

Blah - London is definitely running just a few weeks slower than they were for April and May scheduling it seems. Who are the mystery filers who snagged the rest of the July and early August dates! How could they keep their data from us?

Congrats on your interview date!

Just want to say I am hoping those of you waiting will hear something soon. I remember what it was like to be frustrated with the wait - I just had to keep telling myself our case was processing normally. With the help of my friends to remind me of that, we made it through.