Need more information on embassy London

[mistytom 0]

I don’t know who can help me with advice now;

my fiancée petition for K1 visa was approved since April.

I have secured a visa appointment interview with the embassy London for the 24th of June. Medical is next week.

I understand there is a 3 month Validity on the K1 petition.

The problem now is.

I am not a British citizen but a resident in the United kingdom on HSMP visa.

I have sent my passport to the UK Home Office for HSMP visa extension for more than 6 weeks now and it has not been returned yet. I cannot contact them as it is not yet 13 weeks of submission. this application should take 3 week but this case , I don’t know why it is taking so long.

I am beginning to fear loosing out on our petition. We have waited and now the US embassy London has scheduled a visa interview appointment the UK Home office is up with their callousness.

I can demand rescheduling the Visa interview but: I am not sure how soon in advance do I need to contact the embassy ; and if we will loose out based on the validity of the NOA2.

can I go for the visa interview without my passport and request to send it when it is available?

Please I will be grateful for advice on this

Edited June 11, 2010 by mistytom

[TracyTN 237]

If you're going to 'demand' they reschedule you because you're worried about the petition approval expiring, don't. This happens routinely, and the consulate also routinely extends them with no real interaction from you. They might ask you to produce new letters of intent from both fiance's to facilitate that, so have those with you when you go.

If you're not going to have your passport when you go to the interview, then yes - I would reschedule. It is one of the things that you simply must have with you - if approved, they will retain your passport, put the K1 visa inside it and courier it back to you.

[mistytom 0]

Thank you for that valued information Tracy.

I may be left with no choice but to reschedule my visa interview.

preparing new letter of intent is not a problem. but I hope will we will not be required to file in new petitions

But these are my worries......

1. the current NOA2 we have got does it expire ? will it expire?

2. how soon in advance do I need to cancel & reschedule with the consulate?

3. are we required to file in New petition after a period of time? or will the approved petition serve?

4. I will not need the passport for my medical, will I? will my drivers Licence be enough?

Many Thanks

Thomas

Edited June 11, 2010 by mistytom

[TracyTN 237]

New petitions? Uh - no.

1.) I thought I answered that in my first post

2.) I'd reschedule asap if you're sure you won't have your passport back by then. The 24th is coming up fast!

3.) NO. Again, read my first post. You really need to let go of this worry, because frankly, it isn't one.

4.) Yes you'll need your passport at the medical. You can reschedule your medical.

It's a shame you didn't know from the get go that you'd need your passport for both appointments - you've likely cost yourself some time now.

This page has a lot of useful information about the consulate:

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=United%20Kingdom&cty=London

[mistytom 0]

Thank you very much.

I will reschedule both appointments

I knew I would need my passport,; but my stay/permit in UK was due to expire and I had to extend. I had applied for extension long before now with the UK Home Office. Moreso, the visa appointment confirmation with the Consulate came just about 2 weeks ago and I had to call to book the medical with the belief that the passport will come.

I believe it can still come b4 the appointment date but I was just worried in the event it does not come what happens. but my worries have been allayed

you have been so helpful.

Thank you very much

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Even though you aren't supposed to contact UKBA until 13 weeks is up, would it hurt to give it a try now (due to your circumstances)?

[mistytom 0]

yeah I have tried to contact them;

I was told they have no information for me yet until 13 weeks have passed.

the only option they can give me is .... for me to withdraw the application

and that is never a tolerable option.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Hmmmmm, isn't this similar to what MARM's fiance went through last year?

[mistytom 0]

really !!!

please how did he go about it?

[SunDrop 59]

Yes, very similiar. If you go to the top right of every forum screen and click on members, type in MARM and view her profile, you'll be able to see her previous threads/ posts or send her a PM asking her to come and advise on this thread.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

MARM's fiance had his passport held by the UK Home Office for 7-8 months. Here's the main thread where she posted the saga and all she did. She posted in other places too, but I think this thread tells the whole story. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/190103-time-frame-for-legally-staying-in-the-united-kingdom/

He did attend the medical and the interview WITHOUT a passport.

And her timeline gives a long list in the comments section(scroll down) of dates and events in the ordeal.

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=57966

Her visa journey started in August 2008 and he didn't get the visa in hand until November 2009.

I'm happy to report that they were married between Christmas and New Year's last year, he got his green card without incident, he has a great job, and she has started medical school.

[mistytom 0]

wow!!!

they went through all that?

omg! I am lost of words.

I dont know what to say, think or do.

I don't know what to say of the home office

[MARM 7]

Hello mistytom,

Yes, you can go to the K-1 interview without the passport. Make sure you have at least copies of your passport, some sort of letter of receipt from the UKBA saying that they are processing your case, and bring an id. A driver's license would suffice. Outside the door, the security guard is just going to check your name off on the roster, confirming that you have an interview appointment for that day and he may ask for an i.d. You can explain the UKBA HSMP situation to your interviewer. Also, when they ask for your documents at window 1 (before the interview), they want your passport, but you can show them copies of your passport and let them know the UKBA is holding your passport in connection with the HSMP application.

OR

If you don't want to do any of the above, then you can reschedule your K-1 visa interview via email. First, you have to call the operator # listed on their website, ask them that you need to reschedule your interview (they will tell you that it has to be done via email) and then the operator will give you an email code (they expire weekly). In our experience, you can reschedule your interview successfully two days prior to the interview date. You will not necessarily receive the email about the rescheduled date within the two days, but as soon as the embassy receives your email, rest assured, they WILL reschedule you. You can even let you know the dates you prefer, and they are good with adjusting to your availability. Emailing two days prior to the interview date for rescheduling is as far as I would hold off. And be sure to email during business hours so that they reschedule it on the same day, and if not, they have another day to work on giving you a date.

Your NOA2 will NOT expire, and you need not worry about refiling another K-1 petition. Your NOA2 validity automatically gets extended by the US Embassy in London (it may work differently in other countries) if they are in receipt of your petition from the NVC and are either doing admin processing or are waiting to interview you. So this part, you don't need to worry about, they will take care of making sure your petition is valid as long as it was initially approved in the USA and sent to them by the NVC.

For your medical, you will NOT NEED a passport, although they prefer that you have your passport. My husband(then fiance) took his UK resident ID card with him to the medical and it was fine, no questions asked. You can take your driver's license or your UK resident ID card if you have one.

In our experience as other have mentioned, the US Embassy in London was always on our side when we had our difficulties with the UKBA. Just make sure you let them know of everything that is going on at your interview. There have been times when the US Embassy in London has expedited processing of the visa (after the interview or admin processing) when applicant's stays in the UK were expiring.

I hope you can find helpful information in our timeline and in the threads that Nich has so kindly and conveniently (as always, love you Nich ) given the links to in this thread.

VisaJourney is your best support throughout this rough time, but it WILL pass! And there will be a day you will wonder how you all survived through it!

The UKBA should be improving their processing times by now...or so I thought!

[mistytom 0]

Thank you very much MARM!!!

that was helpful!!!

I will post any new update or development.

[TracyTN 237]

Thank you Marm!!!