Hello after more than 1 year away

[robburnsefc 0]

Hello to everybody who is going through the nervous wait/expense/joy/misery/stress of applying for a US Visa from the UK. It has been more than a year since I last visited and I wanted to catch up. The good news is that it seems to be the same old problems and concerns, and there is always a solution.

For me it is almost 2 years (January 2010) with my green card and later this year I will begin the process of extending it. I got married here in the US and my big gaff was to arrange my wedding before I had the visa in my hand. Consequently I wrote begging letters to all agencies telling them what an idiot I was and begging for help. Having said that they had also screwed up in the beginning by sitting on my paperwork for weeks and then returning it for an error which, on review, was not an error - the paperwork went back in the same packets that were returned and everything went through. THey came through and I had my visa before my wedding. It all worked out in the end.

Now I am enjoying life here and we had our first child in April, a little anglo-american called Andrew, who is waiting for his first passport from the US and we are about to file for his UK citizenship.

What a trip - literally. I can still remember the train to London, the line outside the embassy etc. Trust me you will remember it with fondness when you get to where you want to be - and that is just the start.

I must visit here more regularly.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Welcome back to VJ -- and congrats on Andrew! Don't worry, you haven't missed much, just the same worrying about getting the visa!

We're about to lift conditions (window opens today, but we aren't filing for another 2 weeks) so my advice is start saving everything and filing it away in a drawer now -- it will save you aggravation later this year. Trust me.

[paulinespens 3]

I remember the trip on the train to London and the hotel stay and then my wife at the time mailing my mobile just as I had left the embassy asking if I had any news and I had mailed back saying we had been declined. My wife then burst into tears she said. I of course had been approved.