They don't seem to take photocopies anymore at the interview...

[KVE 29]

I went to my interview. The lady took only the following basic stuff:

• Passport
• 1 US Passport Sized Photo
• Print out of the Instructions with the Courier Details on it
• Interview Appointment Letter
• DS-160
• Deed of Name Change
• Birth Certificate
• Police Certificate
• Affadavit of Support
• Letter from my fiance's employer (she didn't want anything else, told me NO when I offered)

After looking at that at the first window she gave back my (and didn't want a photocopy of any documents, I asked and she said No again):

• Interview Appointment Letter
• DS-160

Then at the second window at the end after I got approved the guy back my:

• Deed of Name Change
• Birth Certificate
• Police Certificate
• Affadavit of Support
• Letter from my fiance's employer (she didn't want anything else, told me NO when I offered)

So all they actually took was my Passport, US Passport Sized photo and print out of the Instructions with the Courier Details on it.

.

None of the other stuff people mentioned. They didn't want to even see any proof of relationship, any additional supporting documents for the affadavit of support.

I took like 2 inches of paper, and they took 9 pages and gave them all back (apart from one). Odd, no? Anyone else experienced this? (The guy at the second desk did talk to me about the expedite request my fiance wrote, I wonder if that made things faster?)

Edited June 24, 2014 by KVE

[jajaju 33]

Yeah I have my interview next week and I was surprised how little my embassy seems to require. On my interview letter it states that the embassy already has everything original copies, so there's really nothing i have to take except copies in case they want them. It's all making me tense!! Was your pack 2 inches thick because of all the evidence stuff?

[KVE 29]

Yeah I have my interview next week and I was surprised how little my embassy seems to require. On my interview letter it states that the embassy already has everything original copies, so there's really nothing i have to take except copies in case they want them. It's all making me tense!! Was your pack 2 inches thick because of all the evidence stuff?

I took different versions of my birth certificate, photocopies of everything and a bunch of supporting documents for the affadavit of support (e.g. tax returns for last 3 years, salary payments for last 6 months, her mortgage statement, her bank statements for last 6 months, etc...). I also took all my old passports, and photos, travel itineraries (those were big because we've flown out nearly 20 times in the last 2 years to see each other, we saw each other pretty much every month). And some other things.

It was definitely overkill. BUT, better to be safe than sorry!

Basically it seemed like I was fine. Maybe the have the interviews for processing people with unusual circumstances and something on the criminal record?

The guy was vaguely interested in our age gap though. Didn't care about her previous child from a former marriage. He was also interested in my career.

I was in a rush because I'm have a baby boy in a month, lucky my NOA1 to interview only took 75 days. I would have been destroyed if it took longer, as it would have meant I wouldn't get to see his birth!

Edited June 24, 2014 by KVE

[landr 126]

I had my interview last Friday at the London embassy and they tried to return my affidavit of support docs and letters of intent. I insisted that they kept them. But they also returned the photocopies of my police certificate and birth certificate, which didn't surprise me as I'd given them shitty purple copies - my printer ink was playing up.

Another recent interview review for London said that the embassy wasn't taking photocopies anymore as of last week. This may just be just a London thing that hasn't hit the website yet as it's still asking for originals+photocopies (except passport and photos). A second review stated that the interviewer would be shredding the Skype logs and other relationship evidence as they're not needed for the file.

Had a look at the Foreign Service Manual and it does state that extraneous information should not be kept in the file.

This also means a less bulky file for POE - so more room for other rubbish in our hand baggage!

Edited June 24, 2014 by landr

[kehills 217]

Was your pack 2 inches thick because of all the evidence stuff?

Yep.

[Caryh 5,206]

Similar thing happened when my wife went through her K-1 interview a few years ago. She had about 4 inches worth of evidence, they only took a couple sheets from her and didn't even look at anything else she brought. Our petition was fairly front loaded so the entire interview seemed more a formality than a real interview, with the CO making comments rather than asking questions and my wife confirming them. He didn't even look at a single photo she brought, and she'd done such a nice job laying them all out with descriptions and dates. She was really relieved it went so easy on her though, she was very nervous before hand.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

So all they actually took was my Passport, US Passport Sized photo and print out of the Instructions with the Courier Details on it.

.

None of the other stuff people mentioned. They didn't want to even see any proof of relationship, any additional supporting documents for the affadavit of support.

I took like 2 inches of paper, and they took 9 pages and gave them all back (apart from one). Odd, no? Anyone else experienced this? (The guy at the second desk did talk to me about the expedite request my fiance wrote, I wonder if that made things faster?)

Since this is in the UK FORUM, I am speaking of London common practice only. The only thing odd is not keeping photocopies of your original documents. That is a fairly new practice that has been reported for a few weeks. So even that isn't odd anymore.

They have never wanted (in London) to see photos and proof of relationship at a K1 interview. The document collector has often kept only one proof of income for the interviewer to see and handed back the rest. The appointment letter and DS-160 confirmation are basically your "ticket" to get in the door and are not part of the decision, so never part of the paper file.

An expedite would only get you an earlier interview date. It wouldn't lessen your required interview documentation over any other K1 applicant.

Congratulations on a successful interview.

[KVE 29]

Since this is in the UK FORUM, I am speaking of London common practice only. The only thing odd is not keeping photocopies of your original documents. That is a fairly new practice that has been reported for a few weeks. So even that isn't odd anymore.

They have never wanted (in London) to see photos and proof of relationship at a K1 interview. The document collector has often kept only one proof of income for the interviewer to see and handed back the rest. The appointment letter and DS-160 confirmation are basically your "ticket" to get in the door and are not part of the decision, so never part of the paper file.

An expedite would only get you an earlier interview date. It wouldn't lessen your required interview documentation over any other K1 applicant.

Congratulations on a successful interview.

The expedite was for the petition, not the K-1 part. But I wonder if it helped expedite everything. I got my I-129F petition approved in 15 days.