Brandee-Daniel

Hi Brandee-Daniel,

We're now near the end of this process and completed the medical at Knightsbridge as of last week. We would like to have our interview by the end of August or earlier if possible. We know the usual time is 6 weeks for the interview date, but you mentioned that you needed something sooner and the embassy was able to help by pushing your date forward. Can you tell me how they assisted you?

I was going to contact them via the London embassy site but it says they will not reply if it hasn't been 6 weeks yet.

Thanks for your help.

Bearcubby,

I submitted a question through the website and explained my reasons for why I needed the interview pulled forward, they contacted me after about 4 days and gave me an appointment the next day, so be prepared for that.

They were really helpful if you had a legitimate problem so just explain that to them.

Good luck with the interview

I used this forum a lot during my processing through the K1 visa and thought that any help or advise I could give now would be my way of giving something back......

Brandee and I got engaged after being together for a year in late March 2015 in England, so after she got back we started looking into the K1 visa process. Brandee did a almost all the work collecting all the info and putting together the I-129F - she was amazing. We had one of her friends who had been through the K3 visa process to make sure we hadn't made any obvious mistakes.

We finally sent off the pack on 10/04/2015

We received the I-797C (NOA1) on 14/04/2015

Brandee lives in Tennessee so our pack should have gone to the Texas service centre, but thankfully it was routed to California. I checked today and Texas have started processing I-129F's from January, so I wouldn't be anywhere close to writing this.

The wait for the NOA2 (I-797) just seemed to go on forever, and there is nothing you can do. We had still been seeing each other regularly, and finally just short of two months (04/06/2015) we received the NOA2.

The next part happens very quickly, the pack is then sent to the NVC and then onto England to be processed so I cant give any specific dates but I received the application letter from the UK embassy in London on 29th June. The letter contains information and a link to a checklist for you to collect the info. ( http://london.usembassy.gov/iv/fiance_instructions.html ). I filled in the DS-160 - this will take a while, and start collecting the information instructed. The birth cert and police document can take a while to come through.

Then you have to book your medical appointment and submit the readiness form.

Attending the medical appointment (10/07/2015) - there is only one place in England that does the medical as far as I know, so you are going to have to get yourself into London. I arrived about 30 mins before the appointment and you are directed to fill in a form in a waiting room. Some of the form is basic - do you have HIV, have you ever had stayed in hospital over-night there was also two questions on the form that I didn't answer - have you been ill, have you been sick, as there was no timescale, and obviously I have been ill at one point in my life. Your name is then called, you walk into a room, take your top off and have a chest x-ray. the woman who did this was friendly and explained to me what was happening, she then showed me my x-ray. After the x-ray you return to the waiting room for your name to be called again. About 10 mins after you are called in to see a doctor, this is a thorough medical, the lady went through my answers on the form earlier on, she then did an eye test, weight, height, checked my body for any cancerous moles, checked movement in arms and legs, checked my genitals for cancer (not kidding) and took blood. She told me that it would take 3 days for the results to be returned and if I hadn't heard anything, I had the all clear and my results would be forwarded to the embassy.

I didn't hear anything so I assumed everything was okay.

I had to push for the earliest appointment possible due to personal reasons but the US embassy did everything they could to bring me forward and I received my appointment at 08:00 on 30/07/2015. I didn't follow the normal process because of this so I cannot comment on the booking an appointment.

So after a trip to London and a night in a cheap hotel I was up about 6 am to get to the appointment. I had read that I wouldn't be allowed into the embassy until 30 mins before the appointment so I wanted to be there a little early. I turned up at 07:15 ish and a que had already started forming. You are now allowed your phone in the embassy, but you wont be allowed any other electrical equipment, a man in front of me had to throw away his new ipad keyboard so if you are unsure drop your bag in Goulds pharmacy, it opens at 0730 and costs £3 per bag per day. Finally I got in line outside the embassy, the left hand side is for US citizens the right for everything else. You need your appointment letter and passport for the first two bits of screening and then into security, this is much like the airports everything through an x-ray machine and you thought a metal detector. You can now enter the embassy, as you walk in there was a woman on the front desk who gave me a ticket, you will have read this before but the embassy is much like an Argos. You sit in a long room and wait for your ticket to be called to a counter. I went to the first counter there was a friendly guy who will get your case pack and take all your info; police doc, birth cert, passport, I-134 and then take your fingerprints. You are then made to sit down again and wait for your number to be called again. You are called up to the interview desks, the man there was really nice, he made me hold my right hand up and swear all the info we had provided was true and then took my finger prints, he asked me three questions:

1. Where did we meet

2. What does Brandee do for work

3. What do I do for work

He told me I had passed and I would get everything back in around 5 working days/

You can check the status of your case on the following website https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/

As of today 03/08/2015 MY VISA HAS BEEN ISSUED!!!

If there is anything further I can give you info on please message below and Brandee or myself will try to answer.