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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on February 3, 2017: |
cwils
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I arrived 10 minutes early for my interview in a little bit of a rush. I’d driven down from Leeds with the intention of parking at a distant tube station and getting in that way. I should have been an hour early but the M1 was particularly accident prone that morning so I got there in time, but just in a little bit of a rush.
The first mistake I made was trying to barge right into the security booth which caught the attention of the two police officers with assault rifles who’re standing imposingly outside. The security guard told me through the intercom that I should talk to the guy on the little cart standing outside to check in and then I’d be able to go through them.
The guy at the cart wanted to see my passport and my confirmation letter with the date of the interview on. I showed him my email that I’d printed out and that seemed to work fine. He signed it and sent me through to the security room.
When I was in the security room it operated exactly the same as it does at airports. I had to push my bag through a scanner and empty my pockets, remove my belt and walk through a large metal detector. I’d forgotten I had my Kindle in my bag but the guard operating the scanner asked if it was a Kindle, I told him it was, he asked to see it and once he’d checked it I got it back and was allowed to go through.
From the security room you go back outside, this time on the inside of the fence, around to the right side of the building into the large doors marked ‘VISA’. There were two ladies at a reception desk there who looked at me like I wasn’t making sense when I told them why I was here. They eventually took my passport and confirmation email and stuck a barcode and a number to it, telling me to wait for that number to pop up on the screen in the waiting room.
As you go in you’ll notice a lot of signage around warning you to stay off your phones, we’ll get to that later.
After about 5 minutes of waiting my number was called and I thought the process would be a lot quicker than expected. My number flashed at the front with that default Windows ‘error noise’, you’ll know the one when you hear it. I got to the desk number that the screen had indicated and handed in all the paperwork they requested. Then, heartbreakingly, they told me to sit back down and they’d call me back once they’d looked over the paperwork.
Now I waited for two hours for them to do this, others around me waited even longer. I chatted to one guy on my way out who was in his third hour. He must have been early but still, I felt bad for him.
I was a little worried about getting my phone out while I was waiting but after half an hour I spotted some guy on his and just went for it. No one cared. I eventually got my Kindle out too and multitasked between my phone and my Kindle and still, no one cared. If you’re worried about the signs, don’t be. Anyway, I guess the worst thing that can happen is that they tell you to put it away, which didn’t happen at all when I was there.
Two hours later I got called back up and I pretty much skipped to the desk. I had to do the thing where you raise your right hand and swear to tell the truth which was the highlight (aside from getting the visa, of course) and the guy asked me questions from what I assume was my fiancé’s statement when we initially applied.
He asked about 5 very generic questions (where did you meet, when did you visit each other, when did you last see each other, etc.) when suddenly I was blindsided with ‘how many bedrooms does your fiancé’s dad’s house have?’ I must have looked at him strange because he smirked a little but I answered and he confirmed that he’d approve my visa.
I was a little surprised that it was as easy as it was (the interview couldn’t have lasted more than 5 minutes) but that was that.
Oh, the exit from the embassy says ‘NO EXIT’ on the door so I was waving at the receptionists through the glass while they laughed at me and I eventually just exited through that door anyway. If you take one thing away from your interview it should be to always ignore signs.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #21329