London and Christmastime...

[KelleyAndRichie 0]

Hello everybody!

Got great news last night that the NVC has forwarded our application to London! (yay!)

Now I'm waiting on my fiance who needed to get a new passport because his is a bit haggard (8 years of traveling around the world has taken a toll on it) but i'm hoping he will get it before/around the time we get Packet 3 so we can send everything off and make a medical appt right away.

So here are my questions

1. does he need his new passport number to make the medical appointment?

2. has anyone had experience with the US embassy in London around christmastime? i'm nervous about slow downs and closures around the holidays. We are planning on getting married at the end of January, and i'm kind of scared that the normal 2 months from packet three to interview is going to grow exponentially. ::gulp::

we filed our I-129F in may and got caught in the great CSC slow down of 2010... the people just a week before us have already interviewed! Kind of a bummer :-\

anyway, any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated!

[amykathleen2005 441]

1. He should be able to schedule it without a passport number, you will get a reference number to book the medical. You will however need a passport for the medical. So make sure you will have it back by then.

2. London does slow down big time around Christmas, based on our case last year our stuff was sent to London in mid October and our interview was in the very beginning of January.

[Jewel-8 21]

1. does he need his new passport number to make the medical appointment?

2. has anyone had experience with the US embassy in London around christmastime? i'm nervous about slow downs and closures around the holidays. We are planning on getting married at the end of January, and i'm kind of scared that the normal 2 months from packet three to interview is going to grow exponentially. ::gulp::

Will his passport number change? I always thought they stayed the same throughout your life, but really I've never paid attention to that. I believe he will need the passport for the medical and definitely for the interview.

It's different for everyone, but we hit NVC the first of October last year. Go ahead and check my timeline. I RECOMMEND STRONGLY having all information ready to mail as soon as DOS confirms that London has sent Packet 3. That means you should get all I134 documents done and mailed to your sweetheart in the UK today if you haven't already.

By the way, fill in your timeline!!

[KelleyAndRichie 0]

thanks guys! yeah we have all of the paperwork completely ready... and then we realized that your passport number changes with every new passport (which i suppose makes sense. the idea being that if your passport got stolen, it couldnt be used, ect) but it also definitely has got us a bit worried about making all of our dates for everything. guess we can just hope for the best. i am hoping that bc of the hold up at CSC (no one processed for several months) us being at the beginning wave of new applications maybe we will get things a bit sooner because they wont be backlogged... oh well a girl can dream, right? haha

[lesleysizeland 0]

thanks guys! yeah we have all of the paperwork completely ready... and then we realized that your passport number changes with every new passport (which i suppose makes sense. the idea being that if your passport got stolen, it couldnt be used, ect) but it also definitely has got us a bit worried about making all of our dates for everything. guess we can just hope for the best. i am hoping that bc of the hold up at CSC (no one processed for several months) us being at the beginning wave of new applications maybe we will get things a bit sooner because they wont be backlogged... oh well a girl can dream, right? haha

You said his passport is only 8 years old, i have an english passport and it is valid for 10 years, is his about to expire? Is he going to expedite his passport otherwise he will be waiting a few weeks which will hold up your medical. I am pretty sure i had to take my passport to the medical.

I had returned all of my packet 3 by November (had my medical end of Nov) but did not get an interview date until Feb 5th. I do not want to sound like a party pooper but it slows down A LOT in England because the embassy is closed for Christmas, Boxing Day and any other bank holidays plus New Year, i think you should prepare yourselves for a later wedding but i wish you all the best and hope it works out for you.

Lesley