My appointment was booked for 9pm but on the advise on this forum I arrived at 8:15. The letter said not to be any earlier than 30 minutes before your appointment but that didn't seem to bother them.

After going through the security checks, handing over my mobile and bag going through the X-Ray I was sent round the back of the building. I was given a ticket at reception with a number on and told to go into the main room and to wait for my number to be called, I was ticket 5004 so 5th in the queue. It is most definitely worth getting in as early as possible because an hour and a half later they were up to ticket number 5021.

After about 40 minutes (during which I looked around the room to spot the celebrity, I am afraid to say the best I could do was McFly and ashamed to say that I did in fact recognize them) my ticket number was called.

I was lucky enough to get a nice chap who made you feel at ease rather than the grumpy woman I keep reading about. He asked if I had had my medical at all. My heart skipped a beat thinking he was going to say he hadn't had it back yet. He said they probably had it but he didn't want to play spot the letter when one didn't exist. He located the pack with the brown paper parachute sized envelope gave this to me and told me to go to the cashier to pay my fees. Total cost was a massive £49.40, I was asked if this was alright? I guess they like to haggle at the embassy.

When i went back to the window we went over the paperwork, all was fine and dandy. The only query was on the I-134 Affidavit of Support he was looking through the bank statements and told me he was looking for a figure in excess of $25,000. I knew that wasn't on any of the statements and my heart sank. He then checked the tax returns that Tiff put in by a fluke and said oh here we go the salary is way over I will use that. I breathed a sigh of relief and mentally made a note not to have him killed after all just slightly bruised for the anguish.

I was sent to sit back down and await phase two along with a pink piece of paper for SMS with instruction on the next stage printed on the reverse. Whilst waiting I got talking with a fellow K1 applicant who had used a lawyer and had never heard of VJ. From what he explained the lawyer charged him $4k in fees to basically check over paperwork and send the I-129f and no more. I gave him VJ web address on scrap paper, it really does show how we all support one another.

My interview was nothing like I expected. It all came down to 4 questions and the chap who did the interview was like a friend than an interviewer. The questions I was asked were, how did you meet, when and how did you meet for the first time and how did you get engaged? He was happy with all of it and kept chatting to me about how nice Stratford is and how nice the proposal sounded. He congratulated me and said I was Approved :kicking:

His final remarks were a complete run through of the package I will receive from the embassy and to not open the brown envelope, he used examples of what each part looks like. he explained that all the envelope contains is everything we have provided to them to date nothing else. He congratulated me one final time and sent me on my way.

I paid the SMS fees, a bit extra so I can get it before 8am and then left the building with a nice big smile on my face. After retrieving my phone from security I called Tiff to give her the news that there was a problem with the Affidavit and that he needed $25,000 on the bank statements etc (I figured as we are supposed to share she may want to feel some of my visa trials and tribulations as well) I gave her the good news all was well and we were approved.

General happiness and cheering ensued with the occasional cussing for being a git and getting her worked up. The whole process took just under 3 hours.

Thanks so much for the review. I really do enjoy reading the easy reviews. I pray ours is as easy.......

Well Done and Good Luck with the next steps (......and the WEDDING!!!)

Congratulations!!! Glad to hear it went so smooth. Let us know when you get your visa in hand...we still have not received ours and it has been 1 week since the interview (we are supposed to fly out Friday! oops!). Hopefully yours will be delivered quickly.

Just realized you have your wedding planned for the 11th...I didn't mean to scare the piss out of you that Jake has not had his visa delivered yet. I'm crossing my fingers that you guys get it delivered tomorrow so Dan can fly out Sunday & you guys don't have to stress about it. Definately wishing you the best...Sorry about that.

Congratulations!!!

I hope mine goes as smoothly as that!!

Yeah - a week could be a bit of an issue for us! Have you called DOS to make sure all was ok with it?

We have called the US embassy in London and they said that they can give us absolutely no information...that there is no way to track it or determine when we will receive it. The curior service said that they have not received it yet which means that we'll receive it Friday at the very earliest. Any more ideas?

Congratulations

Congratulations and all the best for your life together in the US.

From your review it seems they have slightly changed the numbering system again as they used to start at 1 each day.

Congratulations

WOOT! Awesome review, Dan -- hope you get back to your Tiffany stat!!!

BTW, only took us less than 48 hours for the return of the passport, so here's hoping they're back at the same levels of service as June!

That would be a load off the mind it seems the whole Visa Journey is there to test us. Tiff is going bonkers barmey over the time it is taking for Visas to be returned to us and has now decided we have no hope of getting it in time.

I should point out that I was told by 3 different people at the embassy we will have it in 5 days but SMS direct are saying nah 10-15 more like. I am putting faith in the Embassy (think I have gone doolallytat myself saying that) that they will enforce the 5 day rule on penalty of SMS losing the contract with them, it reflects on the embassy stats if the courier service can't get their act in gear.

It isn't the courier service that is the problem, you will get it the day after the Embassy hand to them.

Most of the Consular officers at the Embassy are American and quite a few go home this time of year. When I was working at Heathrow I knew a lot of the Embassy staff from the Legal Attache office and the very nice lady in charge of the section that processes the I-130. Last year they didn't process any of the I-130s for about 5 weeks through August they processed up to the day before ours was filed and then stopped there.

Congats! - good luck with the rest of your journey

Glad your interview went so smoothly! I'm hoping ours is as easy. Counting down the days to next Tuesday...

If you have followed all the advice available here it will be just fine.

Congratulations!!!

Well, Dan emailed the embassy yesterday (via response to an email they had sent him while trying to schedule the interview.) They responded today (just after my fit of hysteria that we won't get the visa in time for him to be here as planned) that the visa was issued today and will be delievered shortly. He called SMS, and their last pickup at the embassy daily is at 7:15 pm. They told him to call back at 7:30 - they close at 8:00. My meltdown was partly due to them. Dan called first this morning (before receiving the email from the embassy) and was informed that if they got the visa from the embassy today, it would be delivered tomorrow. Otherwise, it would be Tuesday before he would get it because they don't service Exeter on Monday. When he called back (after getting email) they told him that they WILL do Saturday deliveries for an additional fee. So...here's hoping it all goes smoothly!

Phew!!! Wishing you luck....sounds like it will make it.

Congratulations!!!

You'll get it in time. You just needed a little bit of extra stress having had such a good interview....

Focus on the Wedding, focus on the Wedding.....

SMS called confirming delivery before 8am tomorrow!

Great news!!! Now, go back to obsessing about the wedding, 'cause it's definitely happening now!

Well you guys certainly like cutting things fine, do you enjoy the extra stress.

Haha - yeah it's a giggle!!

Hey Jake&Ali, I just remembered you were waiting for your visa. Did you get it in the end???