Stalar

Why is it I get the feeling that the helpline don't know what their talking about? They were the ones that told me that they no longer supply payslips and it would be fine to pay by credit card on the day!

I guess Im paying at the embassy anyhow - I've spent enough money ringing that 'help'line!

Yea that helpline are not very helpful at all I had to TELL the woman to send me a pay slip and practically force her to do it.

So I guess it helps being persuasive lol

Hi there

Has anyone recently had an interview at the embassy in London? I didn't recieve a payment slip in my package 4, and seeing as it is nigh on impossible to actually contact the embassy, was wondering if you could pay for the visa on the day of the interview? Or do you need to have a payed prior to that? Im getting conflicting information from the helpline and the internet, so any clarification would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys,

James

I had the same problem when I received my package 4 there was no advance payment slip. I called the embassy and paid the ridiculous price to which the woman told me that she would send me a slip out in the post but IT IS POSSIBLE TO PAY AT THE EMBASSY. although it does speed up the process if you have already paid so the choice is yours.

I had my interview on 8th December and it was successful I will be flying back on Sunday so happy days.

Anyway I put a thing in the UK regional discussion about my embassy experience but thought I would put one here for everyone to read.

Ok so I arrived very early at 8:30am becuase the trians were messed up and even though my interview wasn't until 10:30am I was allowed in.

Don't take any liquids with you becuase they will tell you to throw it away before you even get into the security checkpoint.

You follow the signs to the security checkpoint and go through what looks like an airport security gate and xray machine you know the drill.

Turn right out of the security booth and follow the signe round teh front of the embassy to the left hand side entrance where you will be told to turn off your mobile phone and hand in any cameras I had to hand in my phone because it was a camera phone.

You then walk up the stairs and through a set of double doors. There is soemone there to greet you and hand you a ticket with a number on. My ticket time was 08:47 and my number was 006 so you can see that getting there early means you don't have to sit and wait as long.

You take a seat on one of the chairs and wait for your number to be called (this is the fun part becuase every numebr you look at the screen to see if it's yours.) I recommend taking something to read becuase it can be a long wait and with the only form of distraction being the wonderful american voice calling numbers it can get pretty boring.

When your number is called for the first time you will go to a desk and hand in you interview letter, your passport, photo's, proof of payment, birth certificate and police report. The gentleman or lady will then hand you your medical x-ray results and take your fingerprints and then hand you a pink form to fill in which is the form for the Courier service.

You sit back down and wait and wait and wait some more for your number to be called again this will be your interview.

The interview is not too bad I was handed back my birth cert and police report and then she told me to raise my right hand and proclaim that everything I tell her would be the truth to the best of my knowledge. She handed me a form to sign and asked me the following questions.

How old are you?, how old is your fiance?, when was the first time you met online, when was the first time you met face to face, have you met his parents? do they like you, has he met your parents do they like him, how did he propose to you?

Then she told me the magic words that she could issue my visa and then told me about the package that would be delivered and all that jazz and then told me to go and pay for the courier service. I paid the extra £20 for the service before 8:00am thing so my total cost was £33.50 and the visa arrived on Tuesday at 8:00am exactly.

It's not a painful or scary experience and as long as you can show them you truly love the person you are going to get married to then you should have no problems.

Total time for me was 1 hour exactly I got in at 8:47 and was done by 9:47.

So seriously I really recommend getting there before 8:30 so that you can be let in early.

Hope this helps and good luck to all those going for their visas.

YAYAY I know i've already said it but yet again CONGRATS and all that jazz and I'm well jelous that he is home already My flight isn't until Sunday

Hope he has a safe flight and everything is ok your end and I guess Friday was a lucky day all round.

Glad to hear your there safe and sound hope your enchiladas were nice.

yeah didn't get caught in the bad weather but got caught in the wonderful train delays afterwards oh what joy I had getting to London on Friday.

So you got your visa then congrats same here soo happy now.

So I had my interview on Friday and the woman from America says YES and let me have my visa.

I thought I'd write here about my experience at the embassy just to give anyone going a heads up about it.

My advice is arrive EARLY. The trains on Friday were all messed up becuase of the power line downing north of Milton Keynes so I had to get a very very very Early train from Milton Keynes to Euston (luckily I have a very nice mother who drove me form Birmingham to Milton Keynes)

Got to the embassy for 8:30 and my appointment wasn't until 10:30 but the security lady let me in and life was good. PLEASE REMEMBER don't take any liquids with you I watched 3 people in front of me being forced to throw water and pop away as well as deodorant and things like that so just don't take it.

You walk dow the left side of the embassy and go through the security gates where they do the x-ray of your bag now they aren't as bad as in teh airports where you have to take your shoes off but they are pretty thorough.

You then turn right out of the security booth and follow the signs round the front of the embassy and to the right hand entrance. You have to turn your phone off and hand in ANYTHING that has a camera I even had to hand my phone in becuaseit was a camera phone.

You walk into the double doors to the left of the security desk where you are greeted by a someone who checks your appointment letter and then gives you a ticket with a number on. Mine was 006 (that's why I say get there early becuase there was noone there at the time I was) You then sit on one of the chairs and wait for your number to be called.

When they call your number you go to a window where you hand in your appointment letter and passport. The person fetches your x-ray results and asks you for your pay slip to prove you have paid. They then take your fingerprints for your left and right hand and also your picture from one of the pictures you hand in (so I recommend getting a nice one done lol). At this point you hand in your birth certificate and affidavit of support.

They then hand you a pink form to fill in your name and address this is for the courier delivery for your visa.

You sit back down and wait for your number to be called again this second time will be for your interview. My interview lasted all of 10 minutes and they didn't even want to see any of the stuff I had prepared like emails and pictures and stuff but that might have just been me everyone else is different.

They will hand you back your birth certificate and original copies of your affidavit of support and will ask you to raise your right hand and swear that the information you are giving is true to the best of your knowledge. They then hand you a form to sign and put the name of the fiance on. Now here is where they try and trick you becuase while you are filling in this form they are asking you questions to try and throw you off so don't be allarmed.

The questions I was asked were how old are you, how old is your fiance, When was the first time you spoke to each other, When was the first time you met face to face, have you met his parents do they like you, has he met your parents do they like him, do you have any wedding plans yet and how did he propose.

Then she told me the magic words of we are pleased to tell you that I can issue you with the visa and then she gave me all of the instructions about receiving the package and then not to open one package and to put everything into my hand luggage from them.

I then went and handed in my pink form to the SMS people and paid the extra £20 for pre 8:00am delivery so the total cost was £33.50.

Then I reclaimed my camera and went and did what all girls do when they are happy and went SHOPPING.

So I hope this helps anyone going for their visa soon, Good luck and I hope you have as much sucess as I did.

Oh I forgot to tell you the whole process for me was 1 hour. my ticket said 8:47 and I was out of there by 9:45 so it is better to get there earlier rather than later.

You can pay at the embassy but the woman told me when I called that to speed things up for you it is easier to pay in advance.

Do you have your interview Today or Friday?? Mines Friday and i'm off to stay in Birmingham with my mum tonight so I can travel down from there (nice early morning start for me lol)

I have a few questions about the biographical info form... my fiance's his father is deceased and has been so for over 20 years. So for the residence city of his father is it okay to just put 'deceased' or is there some better and more official way to record that? Also my fiance's address that he lives at now is not the one on is national indentification card, because it was never changed. So that address in someone in the country with he lives in a small town. Should he just go ahead and put the address that is on his ID or the one he is living at.

Also for my own form (I do turn in four copies myself correct?)... in the record of places lived I am uncertain if I put all places lived even if I never officially changed my address. I was in Nicaragua for a year and lived in Costa Rica for 4 months before that, but always maintained my US address. And before that lived on my university's campus. The thing is my billing address has always been my home address (parents' house)... so which addresses do I put down?

Thanks for the help and I know these may seem like obvious answers, but for a newbie everything is confusing.

1.) - my father is deceased also and I put on my form deceased and now have my visa interview next friday so it's no problem to put that as long as you have his name.

2.) My Fiance's address is different to the one he has on his ID so we just put the one he is living at now they do not ask you to prove your ID so don't worry about it.

3.) Yes you do have to have 4 copies for you AND for your fiance. and it should be quite fine to put the address you have always used if your mail has never gone to any other address it won't matter.

4.) There is a fantastic Guide on these forums that will help you with anymore questions you have Your lucky to have that guide my fiance and I had to figure it out for ourselves.

Congrats hope you have a happy life together

If you reference your case number in the message line of the mail you shouldn't get the 'don't mail us' message.

Email is the better way to communicate with London. The operators on the helpdesk cannot change your interview.

Not true I put my case number in the subject line and still received the don't mail us email and had to call them so it doesn't always work.

They have that show over here in the UK but it's called the girls of the playboy mansion (how original)

I wouldn't reccommend sending the Embassy an email becuase I sent them one and got the reply of sorry but you weren't authorised to contact us so you message has been deleted.

If you can I would call them as they do say on the Package 4 letter that interviews may be postponed in emergencies.

Yeah Gatwick and Heathrow are the cheapest to fly from but I live about 30 mins from Manchester Airport so it would be stupid fo me to travel all the way down to London for a matter of saving myself £30.

So yeah I'm sticking to my cheating way of booking my ticket.

and in case your wondering how I am cheating i'll break it down for you.

I book my ticket from Manchester to Chicago on AerLingus (they are the cheapest by far) website. Then seperately I book my ticket from Chicago to Columbus on cheaptickets.com pay in dollars and because it's an e-ticket no postage required lol. oh and becuase it's Dollars and the exchange rate is currently 1.8 Dollars to the Pound I save myself a small fortune lol.

So in total the tickets work out to be about £350

Compared to the £500 I would have had to spend if I book it all the way through.

Ok so I will have to check in twice but that's no bother to me as long as I leave myself enough time between my flights and because I know Chicago airport like the back of my hand it's no trouble.

I've got flights with Delta for the 8th. Managed to get them for £320 each, flying to Cincinnati. If I had flown the week after it would have doubled in price.

Considering I was expecting to pay £500 each I was quite chuffed.

Mag's I need those flight details lol I'm gonna be paying about £350 to go to Columbus and as Cinci is only 2 hours away I might as well save myself the cash Q is where are you flying from because I have to go from Manchester Airport as Liverpool is well expensive.

Indeed and I really hope that it comes in the post soon.

Bargain tho is that I saved £50 on my train fair to London so I'm well chuffed atm.

Only prob is that the flights that I need to get on the 16th have gone up in price which is really annoying and I don't know if I should take the gamble and just book them or wait???

I wish

1.) that I could get pregnant naturally and not have to trya dn save the money for IVF or Adoption (selfish I know)

2.) that I had bigger (you know whats) I swear my sister got the better genes.

3.) that I didn't have such fair skin so that I could actually go out in teh sun without being covered from head to toe in sunblock.

WelshPete

Know what your going through my fiance and I are currently going down the K1 route as well.

I spent near enough a year with him on and off. Thank heavens for that VWP.

I would go out there for 3 months at a time with only a matter of weeks in between and now I haven't seen him for 3 months and I feel like my whole left side has been removed from my body.

I talk to him everyday on Skype with a webcam and in all honesty although I love to see him on it it just makes it worse when I have to hang up the phone at the end of the call.

I message him on myspace at work which I really shouldn't do but i'm only a temp so they don't care as long as I do my work lol.

I send him an email at work to wake him up in the morning so that he can get doing stuff for the wedding (hehehe aren't I cruel)

So yes it is hard but aren't you so glad for the wonderful inventions that are computers and the internet I know I am.

One good thing about all the emailing and skyping is that I have plenty of evidence to take with me to my interview to prove that we have a relationship.

Don't worry it will get better.

Yesterday my fiance told me that she made out with another guy for 15 min. She says no intercourse, but the requisite amount of kissing and touching. There is only one American man in her college. She decides to make friends with him, then goes to his dorm alone. Then she says she was surprised at what happened. I do admire her honesty in telling me about this 1 hour after it occurred. But my feeling is that we are engaged to be married. How can she do this to me? I also think, if she seeks the one American man in her college and does this with him, how can I bring her to the USA and trust her with all the American horndogs around here? It seems no way. Even though she swears it will never happen again and begs for another chance, I know I will just get hurt again. 4 trips to China, $25,000 and countless hours now seem all to be wasted. All thrown away in 15 minutes. But I am not an angel either. I lied about a previous marriage until my 3rd trip to China. Being 30 years older than her doesn't help either. But I came clean and I have been true to her (except about my past) since we met. Maybe it's my come uppance. Now I need to think about whether I should give her up. But I know now that I can't bring her here. Comments and thoughts (even brutally honest ones) are welcome.

Mike

Mike thats awful and although I do agree with some people's comments that 30 years is a big age gap everyone is entitled to fall in Love with who they wish.

She did cheat on you even if she may say she never did anything with him it doesn't matter the fact that she did go with him would say to me not to trust her ever again becuase of that.

I hope your decision is a wise one and I hope that if you do break up with her that you find someone who not only tantalises you physically but mentally as well.

Congratz Ellie what times your interview? Steves is at 1030~Kelle

OMG thats such a coincidence so is mine. Wow we will be in teh same queue together lol. I think they must take into concideration where you are coming from and give you an appointment time based on that.

did Steve get an advance payment slip with his package 4???? because I didn't and i'm calling the embassy tonight becuase the email doesn't work. I got an email back saying that my email had been deleted becuase I hadn't been authorised to send them a message.

Anyway good luck to him as well and maybe we might be able to meet up afterwards lol.

Yes he got his slip with packet 4....hes going to be looking for you......Best Wishes

Lol he doesn't even know what I look like just tell him to look for the girl with natural red-hair and he will find me i'm quite small as well well no i'm not small i'm erm vertically challenged lol.

Yeah I phoned the embassy nice of them to make me do that and the woman is sending me a payment slip in the post. Although she did say that you can pay there but it speeds up the process if you pay in advance.

£195 for my medical becuase I had to have another MMR jab becuase I couldn't prove I'd had it how rude.

That sucks having to have the chicken pox jab I'm so glad i've already had chicken pox but trust me it is worth getting the jab if you have to I had shingles last year and was off work for a month while it cleared up it was so painful all round my side and on my back I could barely lie down without it hurting.

I use skype and would swear by it completely free calls to anyone to any country providing they have skype as well. Trust me it's saved a fortune off my phone bill.

Also another way is to go to the post office and buy a phonecard that way you can keep a tally of exactly how much money you are spending and limit yourself lol.

Congratz Ellie what times your interview? Steves is at 1030~Kelle

OMG thats such a coincidence so is mine. Wow we will be in teh same queue together lol. I think they must take into concideration where you are coming from and give you an appointment time based on that.

did Steve get an advance payment slip with his package 4???? because I didn't and i'm calling the embassy tonight becuase the email doesn't work. I got an email back saying that my email had been deleted becuase I hadn't been authorised to send them a message.

Anyway good luck to him as well and maybe we might be able to meet up afterwards lol.

The thing that shocked me about packet 4 is that it is normally only 10-14 days before the interview. You open the envelope and then think "oh my god, it is only 10 days away!". So it is a kind of panicked happiness. Very bizarre feeling.

Anyway, congrats and good luck!

That the first thing that kinda went through my head I was like yay at first then quite scared ebcuase its only 13 days away and then a lil confused.

On the letter it says that I have to pay my $100 visa fee at the embassy but then at the bottom of the map is says enclosed application fee pay slip but it wasn't attatched so I'm wondering if I should just follow the letter and pay when I get there or try and contact them and ask them?

p.s thanks for all the congrats

I got my package 4 through this morning and my interview date is 8th dec so yay happy days and I really danced around the house honestly.