I sent the London Embassy a lovely email saying :-

Dear Consular Officer:

I recently mailed Packet 3 back to the Embassy in London and delivery was confirmed by Royal Mail. My case number is LND **********.

My fiance would like to plan a trip from the US for my interview date.
I know you have a long line of people to attend to, but she wanted me to inquire about a date as soon as possible so she could book a flight enough in advance to make it affordable/possible for her to be here.

We've completed all other steps and are just waiting now. I was wondering if you could please help me to find an interview date? My fiance and I would be extremely grateful for any information you could provide.

Thank you for your time and help!

Regards,
Adrian Jackson


and I get this ...

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED REPLY. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL.

Your e-mail was deleted without being read.

This e-mail address is solely for individuals who have been authorized to contact the Consular Information Unit about a specific matter. This address is not for general inquiries from the public, attorneys or agents of record. Please understand our workload does not allow us to read unauthorized inquiries, but the Embassy has set up several mechanisms to provide general and personalized guidance.

Highly detailed visa information is available from the Embassy's website at http://london.usembassy.gov. Due to our heavy workload, we cannot respond to email inquiries when the subject matter is addressed on the website.

We also cannot respond to requests for expedited processing, or nonimmigrant visa "case status" inquiries which are still within the estimated time frame given on the website, or by the interviewing Consular Officer, whichever is longer.

If you still have questions after reading all of the content on the website, please call the Embassy's Operator Assisted Information Service for personalized service. Contact information for the operator service can be found on this page:
http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/index.html. Callers from the United States may call this line for non-immigrant visa information or to schedule a non-immigrant visa interview.


Bugger .... anyone know how to get through to them please ?

That's a somewhat standard reply. They don't like non-visa emails! Ask Vaginajourney.

Did you put your case # in the subject line???

Also, you will need some patience. It takes 4-6 weeks after sending in P3 to get a reply/interview date. You only sent it last week!

Some people get responses to their emails even after they get the "email of death" response that you received. But, as devilette said, you should put your case number in the subject line or call the Embassy (not the helpline) to see if they will give you this week's Magic Code of Emailing.

Other people, like my husband, send in an email with the proper code, get the form response saying they will respond to his email soon, and then either never hear back from them or hear back two months later, long after the question he had was answered through different channels. I'm convinced there's an email hex on him.

It can take a bit of time to get packet 4, but they schedule an interview before packet 4 is sent out. You might want to have your fiance call the State Department in the US, as a lot of people here have had luck with finding out their interview date by asking them. (202-663-1225; press 1, then 0, then 0 again)

first rule : never write a nice letter, everybody hate that _hehehe

second rule : the embassy needs money (I am not talking corruption here )
so call our nice number and be charge 5 quids to get a CI number which you need to use in the subject of your next email

Callers from within the United Kingdom should dial 09042-450100. Calls to this line are charged at £1.20/min from BT landlines; some mobile and network providers may charge more. In addition, callers from outside the U.K. and some mobile and network providers cannot access this number.

third rule : after doing all this, you will have the "privilege" of getting a response after 7 days if and only if your case was dealt by our world class service for more than 60 days

Sorry for the sarcasm but during this process we have to keep our sense of humour because " God bless America "
Don t get discourage it is just a lengthy process and you will sometimes feel depressed/happy - just focus on the result to be obtained.

I agree it a little early to worry about Pkt 4, That was me last weekend. I sent three letters to the Embassy, all returned. Early this mornig the Nice lady from the Embassy told me to put USA in the subject line (which I had been doing) Instead of being immediately returned it took 3 minutes.

My advice is: start calling the state dept next Tuesday 27th of March.

[b]I like you have had same response and on both occassions got a reply within a few days - i did make sure i put the case number in the title part ot the email and kept the question as brief as i could - i bet they get thousands of emails .....i think i fyou put the case number in the title part you will get a reply either tommorrow or day after....good luck[/b]