tomsandi

I also opened a bank account without a social security number while doing a one-year exchange program in Boston. They wanted to see my passport with the J-1 visa inside before opening the account. The bank was Fleet, but I believe they were bought shortly after I left by Bank of America.

Thanks!!!

btw - can anyone who was at the Embassy yesterday illuminate me on who the famous person was coming out around 10am - tall, thin, late 50's, died black shoulder length hair.... he looked familiar, (probably a rock star), but I can't place him and it's bugging me like crazy!

haha I didn't see anyone famous at the Embassy this morning, but last time I was there (for a J-1 visa) in 2006 I sat next to Gary Lineker for an hour (i was too intimidated to say anything tho!)

We've been accepted! I had my interview this morning at 9am. The whole thing only took about an hour, a lot less time than I was expecting. A nice man took care of the documents, and then a very friendly lady asked me the interview questions. The questions were identical to those already described on this thread, so I won't repeat them. Just standard stuff about how and when we met.

Thank you all for your help! Although Sandi and I are somewhat silent members of VJ, we have benefited greatly from all the discussions between the 'regulars'

I know she won't see this until after her interview on Friday, but good luck vibes to babblesgirl for Friday

Good luck to everyone with interviews still to come!

Oh cool thanks for adding us to the London list julezabelle!

Woohoo under a week to go!

Congrats to babblesgirl on your interview date

Good luck all! We'll report back next Wednesday....

love,

tom and sandi

I just got an email reply from the embassy! This is mainly for babblesgirl's benefit:

Dear *tomsandi*,

Thank you for your e-mail correspondence. Embassy records indicate that you are scheduled for a visa interview on the March 12, at 9:00am. I regret that I do not know how the other letter was generated, but it appears to be a system glitch and was issued in error.

In regards to your friend who has been waiting a long time for a K-1 visa interview, if it has been more than 6 weeks since she has submitted her application form and document checklist to the Embassy, she should contact us directly to query the delay in her case. Make sure to advise her to include the CIU4452 code in the subject heading of her e-mail.

Unfortunately, it is not possible for appointment slots to be assigned or re-assigned except by the Immigrant Visa Unit. If your friend contacts the Embassy as advised above, Consular Information and the Immigrant Visa Unit should be able to resolve her questions regarding an interview date.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit

U.S. Embassy, London

CONS/CIU/MLPM

No doubt you've already tried all their suggestions and more, babblesgirl... sorry I couldnt be more help and good luck in resolving your interview problem soon!

Wow this sounds awful. I'm so glad you are all ok (except for the finger). Sorry about your car tho. What is a semi?

OK my dad called them this morning. He said the guy was helpful although he put him on hold for 5 minutes - at that rate, ouch! Anyway in the end he said he didn't have access to the information we required (what date should I turn up), and told me to email LondonConsular@state.gov. This time he gave us a special code to put in the subject line so it wouldnt get rejected immediately like my last effort! I have just received an acknowledgement of email receipt so will report back when I find out more! Here is the email I sent:

CASE NUMBER: **numbers**

NAME: **tomsandi**

I was told to email by the Operator Assisted Visa Information service.

I am currently awaiting my interview at the US Embassy in London for a K-1 Fiance visa application.

I was originally given an interview date of 10 March at 9am.

I have now received another identical appointment letter from the US Embassy with an interview date of 12 March at 9am.

1. Which date should I attend my interview at the US Embassy in London?

2. Why have I received 2 interview dates?

3. Can I please cancel the interview date for which you do not wish me to attend? I want to give another person the chance to use my 2nd interview date. She has been awaiting a K-1 interview appointment for a long time.

Let's see what they say babblesgirl!

Hi all,

Many thanks for the replies. I've tried to sort things out over the past few days:

1. I called the switchboard 020 number for the embassy - just got a long recorded information message and a pointer to the expensive operator assistance number. Not much help there.

2. I called the US Dept of State. Eventually spoke to a rather sleepy lady, who put me on hold for another 5 min but eventually reported back that the date they have on file is for the 12 March - my 'second date'.

3. I tried to send a brief, concise email to LondonConsular@state.gov. I clearly marked in the subject that I required assistance. However, I was immediately returned a default message saying that my email was deleted:

"This e-mail address is solely for individuals who have been authorized

to contact the Consular Information Unit about a specific matter. This

address is not for general inquiries from the public, attorneys or

agents of record. Please understand our workload does not allow us to

read unauthorized inquiries, but the Embassy has set up several

mechanisms to provide general and personalized guidance"... and so forth again referring me to the £1.20 number!

So I'm going to ring the premium number tomorrow. Unfortunately I work away from home during the week and have no access to a landline - don't think you can ring premium 090 numbers with a mobile phone so I've just asked my Dad to ring for me! Hopefully the fact that it's him calling and not me won't be a problem.

To babblesgirl - I'm so sorry I cant be more help. I havent been checking the boards frequently since our NOA2 so I didnt know you were having such problems getting an interview date. I think the switchboard premium number ppl will tell me to come on Wednesday 12 next week. But even if this was free i'm not sure how I could help you at such short notice. Both appointment letters have my name, along with the date and time, and I dont think the security ppl would let you in with my letter, if i mailed it to you. What does anyone else think? I've been through the visa process at the embassy twice before a couple of years ago (for a J-1 and choir tour visa respectively) and they were super strict on the gates. But I'm willing to mail it ASAP if this will help.

Thank you all for your guidance - invaluable as always

thanks for the advice! i looked into calling up the embassy, but i could only find a number that's charged at £1.20/minute! not to be cheap, but i really dont want to call that to correct their error.

i think i'll take the march 12th letter with me on march 10th and get them to free up the date, like TracyTN suggests. i really wish i could help someone else by giving the date to them!! i really have no idea why they would give me 2 dates! maybe they were fooled into a second packet 4 when the medical results came back.

thanks all.

Hi all,

I got my interview date from London a few weeks back, and it's scheduled for 10 March at 9am.

Then today I got a second packet 4, all the same as the first one except that this one has a date of 12 March at 9am!

Help! What is the best thing to do now? Should I ring/email the embassy? Or just show up on 10 March?

Interviews are like buses.... you spend 230 days waiting for the first one....

Thanks!

Hi there! We are coming up to our interview time too. Ive read different things about whether your other half can attend the interview, but generally it seems to be allowed, and quite useful. Most moderators won't mind either way though, as long as you have good evidence of your relationship, the affidavit of support etc. Best to check for your specific embassy though. Try the regional forums (at the bottom of the forum list page) to find a discussion group closest to you, and post a message in there. Also, stick the Armenian flag on your profile if you can, then you should get noticed by your fellow country-people!

I'm glad you found visajourney, it is the best resource on the web for US family visas. Good luck with the rest of your journey!

I had my medical at Bentinck yesterday, like you say nothing to worry about. As soon as I entered the surgery the woman at reception said 'that'll be £200 then' - mixed me up with someone else going out. I was like, I know they're keen to get my cash, but that's pushing it a bit!

ps. the chest x ray machine is really cold! they should warm that thing up before i press up against it!

I went to the US for 89 days from Nov 06 - Feb 07. Started the K1 process in July 07. And I went twice after that last year, in Sept 07 and Dec 07. These trips were shorter tho (5 days and 3 weeks respectively).

My experience with the POE guys is mixed. They have never turned me away, but I've been sent to the secondary interview room twice. However this was mostly because my fingerprints weren't coming out right (I get pretty nervous after reading all the stuff on these boards!).

The one thing i would say is that when I was entering in Sept, they asked me how long my last stay was for. When I said '89 days', the guy immediately looked suspicious, and started firing off a barrage of questions. They do seem nervous of ppl who stay for a long time.

In your case, because your first trip is only for 30 days, I think you should be ok. One thing I might suggest is to take a copy of your UK bank statement - try to prove you have ties to the UK. I took a signed letter from my employer but I was never asked and I never showed it.

Good luck!

Thank you for this post, I never even knew about the Home Residency Requirement until I read this. I (Tom) had an exchange year during the 04/05 academic year, on a J1 visa. I still have the visa in my passport, but I don't have form 2019 anymore (I don't remember what happened to it in 2004).

Am I right in thinking that because I've been back in the UK since summer 2005, the Home Residency Requirement is redundant in my case?

Many thanks

We've been approved too!! 13 Dec. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!

Finally, it's time for a bit of this... wooohoo!

Good luck to everyone still waiting! I'll update our timeline now.

They just stamp you in for 90 days, so in your passport you get a visa-free entry stamp that says something like 'wait until 90 days further. So you can leave whenever you like, as long as you're out before those 90 days are up!

We started our K1 end of July, and I visited the US in September. I was stopped for additional questioning, but the border guy's suspicion seemed to be due to the length of time of a previous visa-free stay (I stayed 89 days with my fiancee) rather than due to 'K1 applicant' flashing up on his screen. I took a letter from my employer and a bank statement, but didn't use it in the end. I wasn't sure when I should say that I had this extra evidence (didn't want to look suspicious), so I just answered his questions truthfully. Hope you don't have any problems!

Hello VJers!

Sandi and I (Tom) have been browsing the site anonymously for a couple of months now, so I thought we should finally take the plunge and introduce ourselves!

Well, we met in August 2004 when I came to Boston to study for my second year at university (college). Sandi was in her final year at that time. We lived in the same house at MIT, and we started dating on 1 March 2005. Sandi came back to England for a few weeks at the end of the academic year, summer 05, met my family, and we went to Barcelona for a few days as well. Then she had to go back to the States to start her new job, and I had to finish school! I went to LA (where Sandi lives) for the first time in Dec 05 for 3 weeks. We went to San Diego that Christmas (animal weekend - San Diego zoo (PANDAS! so cute), Wild Animal Park & Seaworld all in 2 days!) and Vegas for New Years (that is one crazy town).

Then time apart until Sandi came for my graduation in England in Summer 06. We took a trip to Rome for a few days where we got engaged good times. Then she had to go back again and I worked for a few months in England. In November last year I went to LA again and this time stayed for 89 days (pushing the Visa-free entry to the max hehe ). Came back to start my real job in March this year, and Sandi came over again for a few weeks in May/June, a few months back. This year we hit up Paris city of love baby . We decided when sandi was here this year that I would move to the US for good when i quit my job around june 08. We filed the i-129f on july 24 (gotta get in before that crazy fee rise!) and we got our NOA1 on july 31 (what timing ).

There you have it! completely up to date with our story!

Just want to say a big thank you to all VJers - the advice in the guides was invaluable in preparing the i-129. And if we ever didnt know something I've always found the answer by searching the good ol forums

Good luck to everyone!

love,

tom and sandi