susburk

Well for those of you who might be interested our experience was practically pain free with the Embassy and POE (JFK).

I flew into London on Thursday to meet my FI for his interview on Friday. We then took the tube into Paddington to our hotel for the night. (as if sleeping were really an option The next morning we took the tube over to the Embassy early hoping we would have time to go eat before queing up but we decided to go ahead and get in the line for our appointment. We got there about 9:45 for our 10:30 appointment and they were just calling the 9:30's into a separate line to go in. As we stood out in the cold it began to snow lightly. I think my Fi who is the UKC was actually much colder standing there than I was and I live in Southern California . Anyway We finally were called into a separate line about 10:45 and went to the security hut. The woman in front of us took a while because she was carrying some type of spray and the label had worn off and she couldn't remember if it was pepper spray or mace or what. They promptly told her that those items were illegal in the UK and took it from her (just in case you have a key ring with those items on it.)

OK on with the story...anyway we got in and were given number 23 and went to have a seat. We waited for probably 45-65 minutes before our number was called and went up to window 14. A nice young lady asked for our paperwork...only the I-134, bank receipt showing payment for the visa, birth certificate and copy, and the bank letter and one bank statement showing my account. She chit chatted a bit telling us we had great smiles (because we were absolutely beaming) and all in all we spent maybe 3 minutes with her. She then gave us the courier slip and we sat back down to wait again. Another 45-65 minutes passed waiting to be called by the interviewer to window 12. If you watch you can tell which windows were doing the immigrant visas. Anyway a middle aged gentleman called us up and I knew the minute I saw his face we had been approved. We walked up the window and he smiled at us while flipping through the paperwork in front of him. He asked us when we were supposed to get married, and then we just chatted for about a minute after he asked if we had already sent out invitations. Very short and sweet. He didn't ask us for any other paperwork and gave us back the original birth certificate. He then looked at some other papers and said "well I have good news, you have been approved and your visa should arrive by the middle of next week." He asked what day we were supposed to leave and off we went. We paid the courier fee and left with huge grins.

Since it was a Friday I didn't expect to get the visa until Monday but Monday came and went with no passport in sight. Tuesday Steve's parents were planning to take me to another town to look around but instead we stayed home waiting for the courier to arrive. He and his dad were pacing like caged tigers waiting for feeding. Needless to say by afternoon it was more than a little tense around the house. Finally about 3pm the SMS called saying there had been a delay at the Embassy and they finally had his passport and would deliver it the next day (Wednesday). We were finally able to relax a bit and enjoy the evening. The next morning everyone was up early hoping the courier would come and end the agony of waiting. Just about the time I was ready to die watching them stare holes through the window the guy showed up. It was about noon. I honestly thought Steve's dad was going to kiss the man. Anyway we finally got it with no time to spare, we were leaving at 5am the next day to come home. Thankfully there were no mistakes on the visa and we were all set.

We then set off at 5:30 the next morning for Heathrow. We got to the airport with lots of spare time (or so we thought). I have never in all my travels (and there have been a lot of travels) seen a que so long to go through security. It was awful. Luckily everyone was well behaved and the line moved rather quickly. We then set off through JFK just so we could secure the work authorization. Our final destination was LAX. We arrived JFK 7 1/2 hours later ready to burst. We got in the immigration line with our trusty brown envelope and passport. Of course i went in the visitors line to be with him. We went to the counter and handed it all over to the guy and he tore it open to reveal all of our paperwork we had turned in so far. He flipped through looking for the medical and finally found them. While doing so he found our pictures from Disneyland and we chatted about that for a minute before he started stamping everything and said to step into the little room on our left to receive the work stamp. We thanked him and moved to the small room in front of us and gave the guy at the desk our paperwork and passport. He asked us to sit down and in less than 5 minutes he called us back up stamped the visa and sent us on our way. We gathered our things got our luggage and went through customs. Easy as pie! We then rechecked our bags, and set off for the other terminal where we would leave from for LAX. The whole process was not much longer than your normal border experience. We were very lucky to have received such nice people at every location we went to during this process. Our only source of worry was the passport since we were leaving so soon.

I hope this helps someone and honestly......you really do walk out thinking..."I worried for this???" I am so glad I was able to go for the interview because I don't think I would have believed that it really was that simple if I hadn't. Good luck to everyone else going through this. My only advice is to have what they have asked for organized and ready and relax. It really is not that traumatic.

Now my baby is home and we get to finish getting ready for our wedding in 2 weeks!!! It has been a long road and worth every bump and bruise along the way. There were definitely times I felt like giving up but now that he is here with us I can't imagine how I would have gone on without him. It is a long awful process, no question, but absolutely worth it to be with the one you love. AOS here we come!!!!!

Can you please update us to add a big fat red APPROVED!!!!! The interview was almost laughable it was so short and sweet. Right now I am still in England with my FI so will write more about the whole experience when we get back to the states on Thursday. Good luck to all of those with interviews the next few days. It really is not nearly as painful as it would seem. Now we just have to wait for the passport to arrive, hopefully before Wednesday so we can actually come home together. Has it taken anyone longer than 3 days to receive it back???

Congrats on all of todays approvals!!!! Keep em coming!!!

Congrats Missy!!!! Could you all also keep us in your thoughts the next few days? I am leaving Wednesday to go join my FI in London for his interview then spend the week meeting his family before we come home together (hopefully). I am sooo excited and nervous all at the same time....I think I would go crazy if I went in any sooner than the day before for the interview....24 hours will be a hard enough wait.