US Immigration from United Kingdom

I'm posting this in the hopes it gives someone a little reassurance about the interview process.

I arrived at the London embassy at 8am for my 8:30am appointment, I'd recommend if you have an early interview and need to travel far to go over the day before and book a hotel so you can be there with plenty of time in the morning. There was a looong line of people outside despite it being so early, however since I had read that K1 applicants should be queuing on the left (it was hard to tell where was "left" from outside), I walked up to the lady checking everyone's interview letters and showed her that mine was K1. She marked my paper and sent me straight to the front of the line where there was a man checking people for laptops and asking each person to pull out their phone and open an app on it before they went inside. Once inside there was a little security area and metal detector, then a few doors and signs later there was a desk with another lady taking interview letters and giving people stickers with their interview number. She told me to go up to floor 1 and go left and left again and take a seat to wait for my number to be called.

The area where I sat was much less busy than where you walk past to get to it, and it didn't take long to be called up to submit each document one by one and answer a few brief questions like "have you been married before", "have you served in the military", etc. I'd brought two i134 forms each with their own evidence, though I don't think that ended up being necessary since they took both but only one piece of evidence for each (I took tax returns, employer letters and w2). They also didn't need the copies of the birth certificates for the two sponsors. They took my fingerprints and asked if I had the medical exam, and I told them yes on the Monday of that week, and they wrote a little note at the bottom of their form saying "medical pending" as they hadn't received it yet.

List of documents that they took from me:

Passport

One US sized passport photo (which was cut, scanned and returned)

Birth certificate

Deed poll (name change)

Police certificate

DS160 confirmation

i134 + one evidence

I was then sent back to sit and wait to be called again. After a while of waiting (there was only one booth open for this second part and there was a whole family called up before me), the lady called me and asked me to put my hand on the scanner to check my fingerprints, this time only one hand as opposed to doing both at the previous booth. She then told me to raise my right hand and had me agree to an oath to tell the truth. She asked a couple basic questions about my fiance, like to confirm his name and the city he lives, and asked how we met and how he proposed. She also asked how many times we met and for how long, and then typed for a bit on her computer before saying that she was happy and had no doubts about our relationship. She said that if everything was good I should receive my visa within two weeks and that was it! I was handed a green form with "additional evidence required" and "medical examination" checked off, and they returned the originals of all of my documents but kept my passport.

After the interview I checked the CEAC tracker almost everyday, and for the first few days it was marked "refused". On the 28th (interview was the 23rd right before the weekend) the case changed to "application received" then later that day "approved". From there it took two days before it was changed to "issued" (30th) and today I received my tracking number from the courier with information that I should receive my package with my passport on monday. So all in all it took a week from interview to issuance and visa printed and in passport, despite the embassy not having received my medical until at least the day after! Though the weekend will delay me actually having passport in hand, the big portion of the stress is over. I hope this helped anyone who either didn't have their medical at the time of interview or is just trying to prepare their best to have a smooth interview. Good luck everyone!

I'm posting this experience in the hopes that other people in similar situations will find it and be reassured, because I know I personally was trying to read everything I could from people in similar situations before my appointment.

I arrived a few minutes early, at around 10:50 for my 11:20 appointment. They directed me to the waiting room and called me up after a little while to check in and to go over my paperwork.

What I brought with me was:

4 UK size passport photos (although they accept US too)

Passport

Vaccination records

Medical summary

Police certificate

Embassy letter confirming my case number/interview date

Letter from a psychiatrist briefly addressing my past self harm and my current situation

After that they handed me a cup in a red bag and told me that I had my entire appointment time to fill it and hand it back into reception. I went back into the waiting room and waited for a while as it was busy until I was called in for my physical exam. My main concern for this was that I have quite a few faint self harm scars down the whole of one arm, and I had checked yes to hurting myself in the medical questionnaire since I didn't want to risk anything trying to hide it when the doctor would likely see anyway. I had read that the biggest thing to have is a letter from either your GP or a psychiatrist with the statement that you're not a threat to yourself or others. So after fighting with my GP who refused to write a letter containing, insisting that she legally couldn't this since she isn't a mental health expert (not sure why she thinks this when I've seen several accounts of people easily getting this letter from their own GP), I paid 200 for a private psychiatrist assessment and another 80 for a letter from her. Although this may not have been 100% necessary, I felt much more comfortable having it with me. The letter went like this:

Quote

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you to confirm that I have assessed [aikowo]'s mental health and wellbeing in a clinical interview. [aikowo] has some faint scars from superficial self harm on one arm as a result of an incident which was difficult to manage at the time (aged 15). [aikowo] had some limited help from a school counsellor at the time and has felt well since.

At present [aikowo]'s general mental health is good with no signs of depression, anxiety or self-harm or any suicidal thoughts or behaviours. In the clinical interview [aikowo] had good emotional contact and a warm demeanour. Her rating scales also indicate no clinical mental health problems. [aikowo] does not pose a threat to herself or others.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information,

Yours sincerely,

[doctor's name and signature]

I was also worried that since I didn't ever seek help at the time it would reflect badly, but the doctor had read the letter before calling me in and asked me briefly about what made me do it at the time, and a little later in the physical side of the exam she glanced over my scars, presumably to verify that they were as old as I said and not fresh, and that was all! She checked my height and weight and eyesight, then had me put on a gown and sit/lay on the table to do throat and lymph nodes check and she pressed down on my stomach a few times. She then listened to my breathing and that was it for the physical checkup.

I went back to the waiting room and waited for a while again, longer than I expected (in the end I had to catch a later train. Though this may have been partly my fault, I didn't expect to be in there for around 2 hours). Next was my chest x-ray, which was straightforward and easy although they didn't say anything about whether it looked good or not at the time which would have put me more at ease.

After another period of waiting I was called in by the nurse to go over my vaccinations. It turned out I need a COVID booster and Hep B shot and a booster for another of my vaccinations. The lady said they could give two of the vaccinations right there for around 150- 200 (I don't remember exactly), but that I would have to go and get the COVID booster somewhere else and send them proof of receiving it before they could send my report to the embassy. She then told me my third option, which was to forego the vaccinations for now since they're not required for K1 visas at the time of interview, however they're required at the time of adjusting status so I would need to get the 3 vaccinations in the states and find a civil surgeon who will update just the vaccination portion of the medical exam for me. I know this is the least ideal option for a lot of people however with my own situation it's the path I chose. Although I know it'll end up costing some more money once in the states, I didn't have the money on hand at the medical and I also didn't want to risk delaying my visa even LONGER since my medical was only 3 days before my interview. (Note that this did delay my visa issuance but only by one or two business days).

The nurse gave me a paper to sign saying I was deferring my vaccinations and also a list of the ones I had and which ones I needed. She told me that there was a small chance the medical could be at the embassy before my interview but that since my file was paper it would depend on when the embassy sent couriers to pick up the next batch of medical reports. She said hearing no news from them was good news and sent me off to go and pay the 385 fee and check out! I received my passport back at that stage and left much less stressed than I had been leading up to it.

I hope this helps anyone in a similar situation! Especially if anyone has a GP who, like mine, just will not write the letter you need.

Good morning everyone,

Does anyone know how long from issued status until you receive your passport ?

Thank you.

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with the DX courier service in London? My husband s visa was issued last Thursday and we received an email about his passport and documents delivery from the embassy on Friday. When we tracked the package, it showed delivery date as Monday. However, it wasn t delivered. It was understandable because Monday was a holiday. So we expected it to be delivered on Tuesday but still they didn t show up. Today, Wednesday too they still didn t show up. On the website, the date and time keeps changing every day. We tried to call the numbers on their website but just some automated voice talking. Can anyone with experience suggest anything else we can do. This package has all the original documents my husband took for his interview and were kept there because he was in AP for 6 months. Just when I thought all is over and now this.

Good afternoon all.

I should be grateful if you would kindly share your experience please. How long has someone been or was at AP - Administrative Processing status on CEAC for CR1 ?

Thank you everyone.