My interview experience - 22nd May 2018

[NicolaBolton87 161]

So here we are, I finally had my interview today and I was approved!! 

 

Reading the London reviews REALLY helped calm my nerves so here’s mine and I hope it does the same for at least one person.

 

So my bus from Somerset left at 2:20am this morning, superrrrr early. I got into London Victoria at 6:30am and my interview was at 11:30. I’m actually very glad I had all this time as I was able to go get some coffee, relax at Victoria station and get some breakfast which water a couple of hours. And it was just my luck that the Victoria line was completely not running which panicked me because I am NOT a London person and no idea how else to get to Vauxhall! But luckily by the time I’d had some food and wandered to the underground all was well and it was just two stops southbound to Vauxhall, so really quick and easy.

 

Once at Vauxhall station I left via exit 4 and used my gps to walk along the river which was just gorgeous as it was lovely and warm today. I got to Vauxhall around 9am - my choice to get there early and you totally don’t need to. I sat by the river and read for an hour or so then I got out the trusty gps and walked the rest of the way (it’s only a 10 minute walk from Vauxhall station). I walked right up to the embassy so I knew where I needed to go, and I spotted the Waitrose across the road which I’ve seen other people on VJ mention they went there for a coffee as it’s right next door. I went and had some water in the cafe and used the loo and decided to walk over to the entrance and just sit outside the southbound entrance at 10:30. I was incredibly nervous. Incredibly so. I felt faint, I felt like I could have a panic attack but that’s all my own ####### I have going on as I’m quite an anxious person and I do not enjoy being in London at all!! There were a lot of other people around with their folders just like me. The walk past the embassy is lovely, there’s a water feature there and the building itself is spectacular.

 

i waited until 11am (the advised half hour before my appointment) and went over to a very friendly lady under a sign saying “visa applicants” - it is a little daunting to know where you’re going but everyone greets you and asks you what you’re there for and will ask you for exactly what they need and tell you where to go. She asked me what I was there for, I told her a K1 fiancé visa interview. She asked for my passport and email with my confirmation of my appointment. She directed me inside which is where you put your bag/coat though a security check just like at the airport and they ask you to walk through the security detector thingy. Once you’re through they tell you you’re all good and you leave through the door and follow the signs up the slope to the main building. Inside there’s another desk and 2 friendly girls were there to greet me. One asked why I was there and when I told her she asked my surname, then asked if I was nicola and I said yes. She asked for my DS-160 which she put a sticker on with my number and directed me to level 1 and to follow the signs to the allocated windows where I would be called. 

 

Now, I’ve read a lot of reviews where people said they were in and out in a matter of 10 minutes. I was in there for about 2. My appointment was at 11:30 but I didn’t get called up until just gone 12pm as it was quite busy. The first man was lovely, very friendly. He asked for:

 

my passport

my letter confirming my appointment

my birth certificate (original only)

my police certificate (original only) 

one US sized photograph 

 

he checked all of these things then asked if I had brought the affidavit of support. I gave this to him. He then asked if I had a W2 which I gave him. He asked for a bank statement, I didn’t have this as it wasn’t one of the required documents. I had 6 months worth of payslips and I had a letter from his employer confirming his job and income but he didn’t want those. He mentioned that if they did require additional information it wasn’t the end of the world and I could just email it to them. He made me feel very at ease as he kept telling me I should be absolutely fine. I then went and sat down and waited about 10-15 minutes and was called up by a second man. He was lovely too, very friendly. He took my fingerprints and asked me to raise my right hand and swear that everything in my documents was the truth, I did this and said yes it was. He then asked me to sit down and said I would be called up for my interview next.

 

i went and sat down and watched the screen intently for my number. I was probably waiting around 20 minutes for the final part. This was another man again who had my file in front of him and he took my fingerprints again and he asked me quite a lot of questions in a very “matter of fact” manner but he was pleasant.

 

These are the things he asked me:

 

How did you meet?

so you met online and started talking online?

when did you first meet in person?

and did you go back again? When?

and has he been here? When?

have you met his parents?

has he met your parents?

have your parents met his parents?

have you been married before?

has he been married before?

what does he do for work?

how long has he worked there?

what are you thinking of doing when you get there?

when are you thinking of going?

How do you usually communicate?

how often do you talk?

 

he then asked me if I had my phone with me which I did, he asked me to go into Facebook messenger and scroll through our messages for a while so he could see our communication.

 

i THINK that was it, it was a lot of questions compared to what I’ve read on here! I was terrified. My palms were clammy the entire time. I knew it was more thorough than usual and I honestly have no idea why, as there’s nothing shifty about either of us. But after a couple of minutes of him typing stuff into his computer and me nearly shitting my pants, he gathered my documents and gave them back to me and said “ok, you’re good. Your interview will be with you in 1-2 weeks” I just stood there and smiled and said “ I’m approved??” Just to clarify as I didn’t believe it! He said “you’re approved” and I welled up and said thank you so so much. And I walked out of there in a state of shock and called my fiancé straight away to tell him! 

 

It was scary, I was petrified. But in the end it was absolutely fine. I’m just a very anxious person but it was fine. Everyone there was lovely and put me at ease and it was all pretty laid back and now here I am, sitting on the bus back to Taunton and still can’t quite believe it.

 

all of you guys have got this. I didn’t think we’d get approved, but we did. And so will you ❤️

[Boiler 43,873]

Does seem unusual. Maybe somebody new?

[Meisha&Jake 869]

Congratulations!!  thank you for sharing your experience

[StuBear65 68]

Congratulations!!

[Harry M 12]

Congrats. I was also there yesterday, around same time as you. My interview and handing stuff over went okay apart from the fact they were missing my latest letter of intent, which I had emailed a few weeks before when they asked for one. I was told to email them, which I did immediately. I wasn't asked as many questions as you were, mainly ones like:

 

- How did you meet?

- Where will you leaving?

- Had I been married before?

- Had I lived anywhere outside of the UK?

 

My interviewer did also ask me when do I plan to travel to the states, I said September, which then reminded me that my medical was valid until October 24th. So that sounded like to me I was as good as approved. Assuming they now have mine and my fiancee's letter of intent, which I keep emailing to see if they have, but I can't stop worrying haha.

[NicolaBolton87 161]

5 hours ago, Harry M said:

Congrats. I was also there yesterday, around same time as you. My interview and handing stuff over went okay apart from the fact they were missing my latest letter of intent, which I had emailed a few weeks before when they asked for one. I was told to email them, which I did immediately. I wasn't asked as many questions as you were, mainly ones like:

 

- How did you meet?

- Where will you leaving?

- Had I been married before?

- Had I lived anywhere outside of the UK?

 

My interviewer did also ask me when do I plan to travel to the states, I said September, which then reminded me that my medical was valid until October 24th. So that sounded like to me I was as good as approved. Assuming they now have mine and my fiancee's letter of intent, which I keep emailing to see if they have, but I can't stop worrying haha.

Do I recognise you?! Were you wearing a checked shirt and sat a couple of seats away from me at one point?! If not then your picture looks a lot like a guy I saw yesterday!

 

but thank you, and I’m sure you guys will get your approval no problem at all!

[Harry M 12]

9 minutes ago, NicolaBolton87 said:

Do I recognise you?! Were you wearing a checked shirt and sat a couple of seats away from me at one point?! If not then your picture looks a lot like a guy I saw yesterday!

 

but thank you, and I’m sure you guys will get your approval no problem at all!

That may in fact have been me. I recognise your face from your photo and people I saw on the day. I think we will too but me and my other half are big worriers lol.

[yuna628 9,547]

22 hours ago, Boiler said:

Does seem unusual. Maybe somebody new?

Don't think I've ever seen them ask to go looking through someone's phone and social media in an interview at London before. Wow.

[NicolaBolton87 161]

6 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Don't think I've ever seen them ask to go looking through someone's phone and social media in an interview at London before. Wow.

Yeah I was shocked having read so many reviews but it was fine. We have nothing to hide or be worried about. They didn’t look at social medial, he only asked me to scroll through our messages on Facebook messenger as I told him this is how we communicate. I did this, he could see constant messages between us all of that morning and the day before, day before that etc. I think as soon as he saw how much we communicate and all the calls he was satisfied but it was really odd.

[Ash&Jaye 159]

Congrats!!! Ahhh this puts me a little bit at ease! Fiancé has his interview in a couple of weeks and I'll be going with him! Can't wait for it to be over and to hopefully be approved! 

[ashy 0]

On 5/22/2018 at 5:17 PM, NicolaBolton87 said:

he checked all of these things then asked if I had brought the affidavit of support. I gave this to him. He then asked if I had a W2 which I gave him. He asked for a bank statement, I didn’t have this as it wasn’t one of the required documents.

Hi there, 

 

Many congrats on your approved interview!! I have mine in less than 9 days, I was nervous but reading through your experience it has put me to ease. Just a question, you mentioned that they asked you for the 'W2' what is this? 

 

Many Thanks 

[ashy 0]

Hi all, wonder if you can help? I have my interview with the London Consular section on Monday and they state in an email they sent yesterday "please confirm the date and time of your appointment". When you click on the link supplied, there is nothing to confirm. It just goes onto this linkhttps://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/niv As i already have the instructions email after scheduling an appointment on the main visa interview sit do i need to re-confirm my interview with the embassy?

If so how?!

 

Thanks!