Here we go, what are we letting ourselves in for?!

[Kamahoi424 0]

Congrats to Glue and Yvie!

That's excellent news for you both

[sharpies 0]

Just out of interest, how long was it from sending in the DS-230 form was it before you were given an interview date? Do I just wait to hear from the embassy? I am contemplating calling the DOS.

[MrLee 0]

Just out of interest, how long was it from sending in the DS-230 form was it before you were given an interview date? Do I just wait to hear from the embassy? I am contemplating calling the DOS.

Hi sharpies, I got my visa interview date on Saturday and I sent my DS-230 stuff back about 3 weeks before which seems to echo the experiences everyone else has had recently. Might be worth checking with them if it has been much longer than that.

On that note I've been looking for some advice on the interview in London (e.g. time to arrive, what to take/not to take etc) but haven't found anything other than general advice and example questions. Is there somewhere in the guides that covers this that I'm missing?

Edited August 17, 2009 by MrLee

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

Just out of interest, how long was it from sending in the DS-230 form was it before you were given an interview date? Do I just wait to hear from the embassy? I am contemplating calling the DOS.

I sent my DS230 in on June 15th and had my date come through on July 2nd.

I've been looking for some advice on the interview in London (e.g. time to arrive, what to take/not to take etc) but haven't found anything other than general advice and example questions. Is there somewhere in the guides that covers this that I'm missing?

It's difficult to answer that without knowing if you're doing a CR/IR1 via DCF with the London Embassy like everyone else in this thread.

I can tell you that NO electronic devices whatsoever will be allowed into the Embassy. Even your car keys aren't permitted if they're electronic. On the day I went, I saw a guy have issues with a tiny calculator that he'd forgotten to remove from his briefcase. They won't take the item from you and let you pass, you will just be turned away. I guess they're not taking the chance of someone leaving a bomb or other device at Security. There's a snack shop and toilets in there, and you're free to take a book so you don't have to stare at the walls.

My appointment was at 9am but I was queueing from 7.45, when I got to the front about 10 minutes after that I was let in with no trouble and no questions. They put my bag (big bags are not permitted either) and coat through an XRay and I walked through a metal detector, it was a bit like the airport except they didn't make me take off my shoes. If you take someone with you they MUST be on your appointment letter or they will be refused entry.

If you have more specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them but I can only speak from my own experience

[MrLee 0]

Hi Yvie,

Thanks for this info, exactly what I was after. Did your husband come with you to the interview? If so was his name on the interview letter?

The reason I ask is that I'd specified in packet 3 that I wanted my wife to come along but she isn't mentioned anywhere on the interview invite. I'll give them a call and check but would be useful to see whether yours had his name on.

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

Hi Yvie,

Thanks for this info, exactly what I was after. Did your husband come with you to the interview? If so was his name on the interview letter?

The reason I ask is that I'd specified in packet 3 that I wanted my wife to come along but she isn't mentioned anywhere on the interview invite. I'll give them a call and check but would be useful to see whether yours had his name on.

Brett didn't come with me - he doesn't get that much leave from work so I went down on my own.

From what I understand, if your wife isn't on the letter then she won't be admitted. Call the Embassy and have them add her, even an email confirmation will be enough to pass Security as I've read about those being accepted before. Make sure she has ID with her though, her passport preferably, as they do scrutinise the photos before they let you pass.

[MrLee 0]

Hi Yvie,

Thanks for this info, exactly what I was after. Did your husband come with you to the interview? If so was his name on the interview letter?

The reason I ask is that I'd specified in packet 3 that I wanted my wife to come along but she isn't mentioned anywhere on the interview invite. I'll give them a call and check but would be useful to see whether yours had his name on.

Brett didn't come with me - he doesn't get that much leave from work so I went down on my own.

From what I understand, if your wife isn't on the letter then she won't be admitted. Call the Embassy and have them add her, even an email confirmation will be enough to pass Security as I've read about those being accepted before. Make sure she has ID with her though, her passport preferably, as they do scrutinise the photos before they let you pass.

Thanks for the help Yvie. I've emailed the embassy and they've added my wife to the invite.

[sharpies 0]

William has his medical yesterday and it went smoothly. The staff seemed very helpful. He needs to get two vaccinations from his GP (I tried to understand his vaccination record beforehand, but couldn't make sense of it), so we are waiting for them and then it will be complete. Cost us £190 now!

We are still waiting for an interview date. I am getting impatient because I am trying to plan a trip to the USA because my mum is not doing well, but I don't want to be out of the country when he has the interview! I called the DOS and spoke to an extremely rude woman, who couldn't understand why I wanted to be in the country for the interview. Needless to say, she wasn't very helpful!

Has anyone out there changed the interview date they were given? I am afraid of doing that, in case it delays the process even more.

[Hellojulie 0]

Hi all - I'm julie, a USC living in the UK with my UKC husband. We plan to move to the US next July (2010)

I was under the impression that the whole process took 6 to 7 months - so I was going to apply now, however, it appears most of you have gotten through the process faster. Should I wait? Is it possible to apply now and delay the process between each packet of info?

At which packet are you informing them you want an interview? Is it possible to just not send that in for several months or does the information / application expire at any point?

Sorry for the silly question, I thought I understood the process well, but the more I read the more confused I get! ;(

[sharo 0]

YAY we got our petition approval notice in the post today I am so happy. I know it's only the first step but it's nice to know that things are prgressing some.

Now I have to go fill out a I-407 to abandon my former LPR status. It seems odd to be abandoning status in the middle of trying to get a visa to go back but that's what the approval letter says our next step is so that's what I'm doing. I hope it won't slow things down too much for us.

[ohlpomr 0]

This is my first post! I thought I would introduce myself. I'm so excited to have found this site and forum, I don't know why I only just now found it.

I am an American; wife is Armenian; we were married in Armenia; residents in the UK presently.

We plan on heading to the US in Sep. 2010. I started the DCF at London at the beginning of the month, I didn't expect the process to be so quick, maybe I jumped the gun.

At any rate, here are the only problems I am foreseeing in the near future.

1. We do not have ANY joint accounts or bills with both our names on them and the UK banking system has been making it incredibly hard to add my wifes name to my account (she's been paying her giro paycheck into it for 10 months already!)

2. I do not currently have a job (am completing a dissertation), which I believe will affect the Support Affidavit process?

3. The US address I provided in the I-130 was my fathers, and he is now unexpectedly moving.

We'll see how it goes, wish us luck. It looks like there is a wealth of information on this site, but if not maybe I can come back here if I have a question or two?

[ohlpomr 0]

Hrmm, I can't seem to edit my previous post.

I just read through all this thread's posts. It looks like several success stories already! It also looks like an amazing 90 day average for the whole process, which means I filed way too soon (I was told 9-12 months for everything to go through).

Despite apparently having jumped the gun, I'm trying to gather up documents. With regard to the police certificates, I couldn't quite extract what the embassy website was trying to say regarding reciprocity.

As I understand it, my wife will need police certificates from both Armenia and the UK. We are applying for certificate from Armenia (which is going to take forever), but from the website it looked like the US Embassy retrieves the UK police cert on their own.

Is that correct? Or should we go ahead and apply for the UK police cert. ourselves?

Thanks in advance!

[sharpies 0]

Hrmm, I can't seem to edit my previous post.

I just read through all this thread's posts. It looks like several success stories already! It also looks like an amazing 90 day average for the whole process, which means I filed way too soon (I was told 9-12 months for everything to go through).

Despite apparently having jumped the gun, I'm trying to gather up documents. With regard to the police certificates, I couldn't quite extract what the embassy website was trying to say regarding reciprocity.

As I understand it, my wife will need police certificates from both Armenia and the UK. We are applying for certificate from Armenia (which is going to take forever), but from the website it looked like the US Embassy retrieves the UK police cert on their own.

Is that correct? Or should we go ahead and apply for the UK police cert. ourselves?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome! This is a great thread - so incredibly helpful.

You need to apply for the UK police certificate too. It takes about 2 - 3 weeks.

You can start the process - send in I-130 forms and then delay sending the next set of forms to them. Once you have the visa issued, you have 6 months to leave the country. So you can draw the process out a little.

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

Hi all - I'm julie, a USC living in the UK with my UKC husband. We plan to move to the US next July (2010)

I was under the impression that the whole process took 6 to 7 months - so I was going to apply now, however, it appears most of you have gotten through the process faster. Should I wait? Is it possible to apply now and delay the process between each packet of info?

At which packet are you informing them you want an interview? Is it possible to just not send that in for several months or does the information / application expire at any point?

Sorry for the silly question, I thought I understood the process well, but the more I read the more confused I get! ;(

Apparently the average is 4-6 months for London DCF, but it can take much longer if there are complications. With your time frame and remembering that once issued the visa is good for 6 months, I'd think about applying now or in the next month or so. Let it tick along quietly in the background so you don't need to stress about it in the new year and you've allowed yourself plenty of time in case of complications.

You request an interview at Packet 3 stage. You can give them your travel date at this time and they will take that into account when giving you an appointment. If you tell them that you're leaving in July, they won't purposely issue a visa which would expire by that time.

My own case was staggeringly quick, but we were lucky and avoided the dreaded RFEs. We were also very proactive and had everything ready before it was required, so we avoided delays there too. It shouldn't be used as an average as I understand they're taking twice as long to isue NOA1s now and all other stages are taking longer too - we were just very lucky with our timing.

YAY we got our petition approval notice in the post today I am so happy. I know it's only the first step but it's nice to know that things are prgressing some.

Now I have to go fill out a I-407 to abandon my former LPR status. It seems odd to be abandoning status in the middle of trying to get a visa to go back but that's what the approval letter says our next step is so that's what I'm doing. I hope it won't slow things down too much for us.

Fantastic news! It won't be long before everyone in this thread has a Visa and flies the nest, lol.

Hrmm, I can't seem to edit my previous post.

I just read through all this thread's posts. It looks like several success stories already! It also looks like an amazing 90 day average for the whole process, which means I filed way too soon (I was told 9-12 months for everything to go through).

Despite apparently having jumped the gun, I'm trying to gather up documents. With regard to the police certificates, I couldn't quite extract what the embassy website was trying to say regarding reciprocity.

As I understand it, my wife will need police certificates from both Armenia and the UK. We are applying for certificate from Armenia (which is going to take forever), but from the website it looked like the US Embassy retrieves the UK police cert on their own.

Is that correct? Or should we go ahead and apply for the UK police cert. ourselves?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome! This is a great thread - so incredibly helpful.

You need to apply for the UK police certificate too. It takes about 2 - 3 weeks.

You can start the process - send in I-130 forms and then delay sending the next set of forms to them. Once you have the visa issued, you have 6 months to leave the country. So you can draw the process out a little.

What she said ^^^

In addition, as I've said further up in this post, the Embassy are unlikely to issue a visa that will expire before you intend to use it. When it comes to returning Packet 3 just tell them when you plan to leave and they'll take that into account when it comes to setting the appointment. You can also drag your heels when it comes to returning any other paperwork (if you get any RFEs, for example) to add a few more months onto the process. It seems so strange to be giving people advice on how to lengthen this, lol. Anyway, I'm not sure on specific expiry times on each part of the process, but a quick call to the Embassy will answer those queries if it's not clearly stated on your letters

GOOD LUCK!!

[ohlpomr 0]

Thanks for the replies. We've decided not to drag our heals, if the visa gets approved earlier than expected, we'll just take a week or so vacation to the states to "activate" it, which from reading this thread doesn't look like it will be a problem.

I have some more quick questions.

1. Following NOA2 and receipt of packet 3 do we ONLY send in the short form DS-230 and the DS-2001 checklist? Not a single original or photocopy of anything else?

2. Did you send in DS-230 parts 1 and 2, leaving part 2 unsigned until interview, or did you only mail off part 1?

2. Is the i-864 not presented until at the interview?

thanks!