About our interview in London

[PedroR 1]

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. My wife and I had our interview last Wednesday at the London Embassy. Everything was going according to plan, we got there early and since we were going for an immigrant visa we jumped the queue and went straight into the security line. As we were passing through security we even found out one of the men working there was from our country which was a happy coincidence. Anyway, we went inside and we were given a number. We didn't wait for long and in this first window we had to give all documents. The man was asking for each document at a time which was a relief as I had no idea if I should organise things in a specific way. We had more documents than needed. For example, they didn't ask for my wife's education certificates or a detailed bank statement (I gave bank statements with the total amount in the accounts). After all this I paid our fee and we were asked to wait for a little while longer. Again, even though we were nervous and anxious, I think the whole process was quite fast as we never waited for long. When we were called the second time we were called by my name instead of the number on the screen, I have no idea if this is a common procedure or not. We went to another window where a woman was waiting to start the interview part of the process. Firstly we were put on oath and then she asked a few questions. Since we got married after getting the winner notice, she asked us about our marriage and how we met and so on. We told her our love story which felt a bit silly but we all laughed about it. After that she asked about my education and there's when a slight problem occurred. All our education documents were in Portuguese and we had to translate them. When I finished the three years of secondary education I still failed at one subject. At that time I changed schools and repeated the necessary subject. In my country we call this "recurring education" or something like that, however the translation stated that it was "Adult education" (which I have no ideia if it is an accurate translation or not because I don't know about technical terms). The woman interviewing us said she didn't understand and it felt like she wasn't believing I had finished my secondary education. We tried to explain but without success. She went to her superior which told her to let us go and that it was ok, they would check it later. That was when she told us to arrange for the carrier service in the other side of the building and that they would check his certificate. If they are able to check it everything will be ok and we'll be approved, otherwise I guess not. Everything felt rushed and strange. I know I finished high school but I still get a bit nervous because I want this so bad. On the other hand we felt disappointed that we still have to wait to find out if we were really accepted or not.

I feel like this was too long of a description/explanation. If any of you have an opinion on what this might mean please do say something as we're eager to know other people's thoughts on the matter.

We also would like to thank everyone that has helped us in this forum. You all made this experience easier and we never felt alone going through this Many thanks!

[Jawaree 717]

It was you who opened the door to the un-necessary education

questioning, however as long as you have been truthful don't

worry, adult edu, continuing edu, or recurring as you referred

to should be the same, since U were sent to pay it seem fine,

they may just be going to check if U lied about anything , maybe

your education USCIS don't like being lied to

[PedroR 1]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough, but I never said anything about my education to them, it was the lady that had doubts about my education and was trying to figure out what the translation said. I tried to explain that I even went to college (I just didn't finish it) so I could have never enrolled in college without a high school diploma. The translation said "adult education something something" but ahead it was stated that it was a secondary education diploma. I'm just worried that they don't accept that certificate.

I waited for so long and prepared everything with so much detail that I never thought of being blocked by that certificate that I know I have.

Thank you.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

It was you who opened the door to the un-necessary education

questioning, however as long as you have been truthful don't

worry, adult edu, continuing edu, or recurring as you referred

to should be the same, since U were sent to pay it seem fine,

they may just be going to check if U lied about anything , maybe

your education USCIS don't like being lied to

It's not all the same - there are specific education requirements for DV and equivalency qualifications are generally not accepted, the CO seems to want to check that it does not fall under that category.

OP, a bit nerve-wracking, but good luck!

[PedroR 1]

Thank you Susie but do you know how are they going to check my education? Are they going to call the school?

Cheers

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Thank you Susie but do you know how are they going to check my education? Are they going to call the school?

Cheers

AFAIK what they do in that circumstance is contact the US embassy in the relevant country, in your case Portugal, to verify if the education presented is eligible.

[Capricorn80 4]

SusieQQQ is right, I'm having similar case like you AFAIK. The lady that interviewed me took my high school diploma and said they would contact U.S embassy in my country to verify and gave me a date I should go back along with my passport. Did she give your passport back? And were you told to return on a specific date? I wish you all the best bro, do not worry a lot. She's only wanting to know the truth and your visa will be issued.

[PedroR 1]

Hi Capricorn80, they did keep my passport and told me to go and sign a form for the courier to deliver them to my house. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, or if that's just a regular procedure. She did have a supervisor behind her and although I couldn't hear because of the glass panel between us, I did manage to understand when she was having difficulties understanding the certificate that he told her to move on with the process. Maybe he saw that the document wasn't probably going to be fake? I don't know.

[PedroR 1]

AFAIK what they do in that circumstance is contact the US embassy in the relevant country, in your case Portugal, to verify if the education presented is eligible.

That actually makes me more relaxed. I was dreaded by the idea of them calling the school where they wouldn't be able to communicate well enough. If they are going to just contact the embassy I guess that makes more sense. Thanks Susie!

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Hi Capricorn80, they did keep my passport and told me to go and sign a form for the courier to deliver them to my house. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, or if that's just a regular procedure. She did have a supervisor behind her and although I couldn't hear because of the glass panel between us, I did manage to understand when she was having difficulties understanding the certificate that he told her to move on with the process. Maybe he saw that the document wasn't probably going to be fake? I don't know.

If they keep your passport that's generally a sign that they expect to issue you a visa. If there is serious doubt they hand the passport back and tell you that they will contact you after checking what they need to, to submit it.

[Capricorn80 4]

No need to worry AFAIK. Your visa will be issued. Congratulations in advance!

[Holybishop 0]

Hi friends!

My case no. is 2015Af48***

and I wanna know when my interview will be scheduled.

someone please help me to know.

Thanks in advance!

Edited March 16, 2015 by Holybishop

[PedroR 1]

Hi all, as you may have noticed it's been almost 3 weeks since my interview and I haven't received my passports yet. I tried to search for a phone number for the embassy but I always get redirected to the website without even speaking with anyone. I also noticed that on the website they have information about checking the progress of the process, which I followed but I'm unable to check it as the website displays an error...

Is there anything I can do to check the visa status or some number I can call?

My interview was in London.

Thank you!

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

You can try track through this website:

https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

Enter your case number but leave out all the zeros eg 2015EU12345

[PedroR 1]

Once again thank you so much Susie. It still says that our visa is under AP I thought it wouldn't take this long...oh well.