T-0 : Interview Day

[Richard Purves 58]

The morning of Tuesday 1st October, approx 6am.

... and hup! Awake. It's dark, that can't be right. Have I overslept the alarm? Better get up and get ready quick then!

Oh good grief!

Waking up half an hour before my alarms go off (yes I have multiple) was not part of the plan! I get ready, get my stuff, the envelope full of documents that I've meticulously checked and rechecked over the last two weeks. Stuff that in a M&S carrier bag because the weather forecast suggests that it'll be wet enough to build an Ark. I don't actually want to be Noah, so with the very limited space I have I take my umbrella too. And my phone. And a phone charger. Oh, don't forget my bank card either.

 

And now I'm ready.

 

Out the door, head to the tube and arrive for a 10am interview at ... 8am. Whoops. Breakfast might be an idea, so camp out in District and somehow despite nerves manage to stuff a breakfast sandwich down my face with a lot of deliberately on my part stewed tea. Saw a couple people being redirected to the cafe for the storage facilities. I did some exploring at this point too. The Waitrose tea bar isn't IMO that nice by comparison. Waitrose also does NOT have a bathroom. District does, so I buy a bottle of water for the embassy and make sure I've "refreshed" myself. Top Tip: the bottle must be unopened when you go into the Embassy security screening. Also the Embassy does also have a restroom but it's the other side of the building from the immigrant visa section I was in, so I sipped as the air is dry and waited.

 

I was allowed to proceed to security at 9:40am. My experience with airports helped enormously and I was through in a couple minutes. Interestingly before you're allowed through the door, a security person wants to see your phone run an app, any app before being allowed in. Fine, fire up Facebook for him. Takes 2 seconds to look and we're done.

 

Huge queues inside the embassy. Guy at the desk starts calling out names, mine is second and asks us to come forward. You can feel the non immigrant applicants staring down the back of your head as you totally bypass all the queues. Proceed to the lifts, up to 1st floor and through to the IV section (left, end of room, left again). Take a seat, see my number immediately called so go to booth 24 and give over all the documents asked for. A few questions, made difficult by low speaker volume and the gentleman's polish accent and we're done in about 5 minutes. I did ask him to turn it up but I still had to struggle to hear over another applicant's screaming child.

 

Back to a seat. Get talking to a few people nearby. They're going to rejoin family out there, as were most people there. They seemed to be successful, so I let them go. Meanwhile my nerves are fraying, and I'm shaking like hell. I do not want to do round three of this.

 

(incidentally outside I got talking to someone else who also interviewed at the same time I did. He also got 221(g)'d in January 2018 and NOIR'd and beat it. Very strange that two of us on the same day turn up. He's doing family visa though.)

 

I wait. I wait more. I'm conserving battery power so I daren't start playing Mario Kart Tour. I also don't want to miss any announcements so no music and no headphones. At this point I'm more a prisoner of my own thoughts and I plan my strategy for when my interview comes up. At first the longer I wait, the more nervous I get. This starts to subside after a while. I started waiting about 10.05am. The clock drags on. A lady with I think a Spanish accent sits near and asks if they just wait there. I explain that after first call up, the interview will be next so she should keep an eye out for her number. I've chosen a seat with a good view of the display. I can also see the weather outside go from sunny to very wet indeed.

 

11.20am arrives. Every single I number around mine has been called up! This is worse than buying raffle tickets! (I've a talent for buying raffle tickets where the numbers that win surround the ones I've bought.) I'm wondering what's going on. Nerves fraying. Mouth dry. Drank most of my water already.

 

11.30am. I'm called up. I place my stuff down, exchange pleasantries with the Consular Officer. He asks how I'm doing. I say I'm a bit nervous and hold my hand out. I'm shaking like Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles. He laughs to put me at ease and we go into the interview. All my plans, my strategies, my carefully prepared answers go straight out of the window. I revert to talking like I'd talk to a CBP officer examining my passport. He smiles, spends a lot of time typing. He actually thanks me for waiting and says that he went through the entire file before I was called up. My file is a good 10 inches / 25cm thick ... no wonder it took him a while! I'm sure that thing has ballooned since I saw it last.

 

So, from his demeanour I start to relax but not too much. It's clear he wants to approve this and the questions were all geared around that fact. Some mention of the film "Trauma Therapy" that I'm involved in and the fact it's premiere is tonight! Think he was quite impressed with the cast. I got the impression he knows his stuff, and this was confirmed by the fact he mentioned that a college buddy of his now helps run rogerebert.com .

 

The other part was he mentioned that he was very impressed with my attorney's paperwork. Said it made life very easy for him. I did say that I would feed that back and I have. (Plug time, I used Beltran Brito Casamayor as my attorney because I've decided that having a fiery Latina man based in Florida fighting your case is exactly what you need! Daniel Casamayor in particular is highly recommended!) 

 

He approved me. I've a slip of paper for next steps, which I assume is the USCIS fee and to expect my passport back in 10 days time. I assume but didn't ask about the IV packet. Now I'm going to spend the next two months wrapping up my UK affairs and make the next leap over in early December. Stick a fork in me, I be (almost) done!

 

Oh and when this finally hits home after three solid years of effort, I may vomit.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Richard Purves

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

 Congrats. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

Entertaining review. 👍

[swedey2k 2]

Love your report. Glad you got the right result 

[Richard Purves 58]

Thanks y'all. I've been carving a path in entertainment for a while now so if I can't write an embassy report with flourish and style ... I should quit

[fs2439 46]

Congratulation!!! I am SO happy for you!!! My best wishes. ❤️

[Zoeeeeeee 795]

Oh Richard, I’m so flipping happy for you!

 

When you decide what part of LA you’re going to call your home, I’m going to work out what my favourite pub in that area is and take you for a pint when you arrive 👍🏻

[Richard Purves 58]

2 minutes ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Oh Richard, I’m so flipping happy for you!

 

When you decide what part of LA you’re going to call your home, I’m going to work out what my favourite pub in that area is and take you for a pint when you arrive 👍🏻

Make it a cup of tea, and that'll do just fine.

(I've been sober nearly 20 years now)

[Zoeeeeeee 795]

2 minutes ago, Richard Purves said:

Make it a cup of tea, and that'll do just fine.

(I've been sober nearly 20 years now)

Oh drat, you told me that before!

 

I’m sorry, I’ve yet to find tea that doesn’t taste like potpourri in the US, hence why I’ve taken nearly a thousand teabags over there already 😆.

 

Coffee and donuts?

[Richard Purves 58]

2 minutes ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Oh drat, you told me that before!

 

I’m sorry, I’ve yet to find tea that doesn’t taste like potpourri in the US, hence why I’ve taken nearly a thousand teabags over there already 😆.

 

Coffee and donuts?

I can't remember what I've told people right now 😛

 

But yes, as soon as I know what I'm doing and where exactly I'm going I'll ping you

[Richard Purves 58]

16 hours ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Oh drat, you told me that before!

 

I’m sorry, I’ve yet to find tea that doesn’t taste like potpourri in the US, hence why I’ve taken nearly a thousand teabags over there already 😆.

 

Coffee and donuts?

 

Oh almost forgot. PG and Tetley are available in stores like Gelsons, particularly the one on 5877 Franklin Ave. Expensive but worth a trip. I remember the PG being exactly the same as the UK.

[Zoeeeeeee 795]

8 hours ago, Richard Purves said:

 

Oh almost forgot. PG and Tetley are available in stores like Gelsons, particularly the one on 5877 Franklin Ave. Expensive but worth a trip. I remember the PG being exactly the same as the UK.

Oh, I know (they’re at World Market too - but again, with a big markup) - I mean more in cafes, restaurants etc, never find a decent cuppa, so I always end up drinking coffee when I’m out and about.

[Richard Purves 58]

Oh this is why I learnt how to drink Starbucks tea. It's uniformly the same everywhere! Newcastle, London, Los Angeles, Zurich, Amman ...

 

About the only time it got any worse was Barstow ...

[Richard Purves 58]

One final update, and I can't believe this ... I was told 7-10 working days for processing and then however long the courier needs.

 

I went from AP to Issued in 24 hours. Today, I got an email from the courier saying they are delivering tomorrow. I think that's unheard of quick?

[Wuozopo 4,285]

3 hours ago, Richard Purves said:

One final update, and I can't believe this ... I was told 7-10 working days for processing and then however long the courier needs.

 

I went from AP to Issued in 24 hours. Today, I got an email from the courier saying they are delivering tomorrow. I think that's unheard of quick?

Average is visa delivered 7 days after interview. It varies.. some are quicker. Maybe since this is your second interview, some things were already done.

 

Anyway...Lucky you. No more stressing.