sam and nic

You bring the new one with to the interview, same as the old - it gets sent to your address.

I know it's so annoying that they give instructions for both, but you definitely need the new form from ACPO and not the old blue form. I had read earlier that they would accept the old form up until August 2008, but I don't know of anybody yet who's gotten away with it.

It costs a bit extra for SMS to come pick up the new form after the interview, as opposed to the £14 that you would otherwise pay to have them to bring your passport one way. Basically, if you go with the old form, you will get a piece of paper telling you to order the ACPO cert. Once the new form is received, you call up SMS and they set up a time to come pick up the police certificate and your passport. I think it cost us £25 - you then sit and wait! I suppose that's only £11 extra as opposed to the £35 extra to order 2-day service, but it does also mean being at home for SMS to come pick up your passport - and they give very large windows for when the courier will come.

We paid the £70 to expidite and it came on day three.

And Congratulations Wizard!!!! I know how stressful it was - take a deep breath now! :-)

Yay! Don't worry Wizard - we got ours yesterday (May 7) as well. SMS sent us a text the afternoon before. We didn't pay for the upgrade and it still got here by noon.

Good luck!

I don't know why it never occurred to me earlier that loads of us have shared these same feelings. I think I started to freak my fiance out because wedding talk just made me frustrated and sad instead of happy and excited. I had to keep reassuring him that I'm absolutely over the moon about getting married - it's just the planning that's had me so bummed out.

At any rate, I got excited for the first time the other day about our 'ceremony.' The trick, for me, was coming up with an idea that was unique and exciting for both of us - I want us to have a lot of fun at our 'second wedding,' but also have it be something really nice for our family as well. For some reason I felt like I was cheating my mom out of watching me get married, since we will technically already be married. Now that I've gotten over that feeling, I can't wait to get my dress!!!!!!!

Yes, we're using the London Embassy - it was the interviewer who said it would take five days to process everything, so we'll see how it goes! I'll cross my fingers for you if you cross yours for us!

Hi Wizard...

Any updates about your police cert/ visa receipt?

My fiance's interview was April 21 and he were given a blue form and told to get the new certificate also. He got the new cert and sent it back via SMS Courier on April 29. Just wondering if they also told you it would only take five days?

We bought our tickets already and I'm stressing out a bit as well, thinking the visa won't get here before we're due to fly to the states!

Lesson learned - even when you think you're in the clear, it's better to do everything possible to make sure they have absolutely no reason to tell you 'not yet.'

We created a table of contents and used the tabbed dividers with letters on them so that everything was really easily found.

We were told that they hate staples and such, so we used paperclips and a binder clip to hold it all together. That was it was really easy to get to everything and put it back together if necessary.

Hi there everyone...

I should have posted to this thread long ago. I read it all the time but never did post. Anyway, Sam had his interview in London on April 21.

They gave him a conditional approval, but (hopefully everybody knows this by now) his interviewer wouldn't accept the old police cert, even though it only arrived in March.

We already had it when we received packet 3, which listed both options. Also, we'd read that they would accept the old ones until August, so off he went with his £10 police cert.

No joy. We ended up expiditing the new one, and the embassy now has his passport and new police cert. We're now waiting nervously for the visa to come back!

Anyway, just a heads up for those who have interview dates coming up - don't take a chance with the old form! :-)

And congratulations to all the recent approvals!!!!

We had an issue in January where our G325 form had an old address on it and information hadn't been updated by the time the embassy got it. When they saw the old address, they sent the case file directly to the other country.

(Of course this ended up being a problem for us and caused a two-month delay.)

However, it does suggest that Canada could send your file directly to Spain without going back through NVC. It took our file only a day or two to get to the new embassy - I think they must only use couriers to transfer files.

I'd call Spain and ask them what you would be looking at there, but we weren't given a choice as to which embassy we wanted ours at; they told us it had to be in the country of his current address.

This will give you all you need to know http://www.visamedicals.info/us.asp, and is from the doctors office

Things like this make me love visajourney.com

You guys are amazing - thanks so much!

I've got a packet 3 from 8th march, I'm applying for CR-1 but the booking info is the same. I've scanned it, and i will give you the link as soon as it's uploaded

Thank you SOOOO MUCH! You have just made my day - What a lifesaver!

Thanks for your help everyone. Yes, I am talking about the DS forms that we are filling out for the foreign fiance at the foreign embassy, which ask about ANY charges, arrests, or convictions, regardless of whether there has been pardon, etc....

We've contacted the location where it occurred and they're trying to dig up files for us.

For future reference, if anybody else runs into this, I've been told that it's quite common for misdemeanor records to be destroyed after ten years, and an immigration attorney suggested that when this is the case, a letter from the courthouse stating something to that effect is what should be taken to the interview.

Thanks again for the help!

Hi all-

My fiance and I have a weird situation where our medical instructions have been lost in the post...He travels for work and is in Spain, and the U.S. Visa Hotline has been really rude and refused to help us from outside the U.K. on two occasions, despite the website saying that they will answer questions about US Visas on that number. It's all been very stressful and definitely not what I needed after waiting two months for them to even mail out Packet 3, but...Anyway!

I was wondering if somebody who has recently received Packet 3 can give me an idea of the process for scheduling a medical interview. I know he has to complete the multiple-page questionnaire before going to the exam, but since neither of us are in possession of his Packet 3 at the moment, we can't even schedule the exam. Are the instructions in Packet 3 extremely specific, or do they just list the two doctors and tell you to call?

Any help is EXTREMELY appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Foreign citizen. Sorry, I thought that was clear. He lived in the US for nearly 10 years as a child/teenager.

Hi everyone-

My fiance and I are trying to wrap up all the last forms and document gathering that needs to be done before his interview. The checklist says that we need to get any court records for arrests/convictions/etc. and I'm wondering if that applies to us. I'm not trying to sound stupid - it just seems like getting court records for traffic violations is a bit much and I want to make absolutely sure.

He was arrested for driving on a suspended license well over ten years ago while living in the US. Does this mean we have to try and figure out when this happened and ask the court for any records pertaining to it?

Thanks for your help!!

Hi all-

Does anybody know if there is a number or email I can use that will tell me where my case file might be if it has seemingly vanished between embassies?

London sent our file to Ireland, and a month ago it was supposed to have been sent back to London. Dublin has told me that they returned the file, London is telling me they can't send out packet 3 until they receive our file. I have no idea what to do!!

Do they record this information when a case file moves premises in some central database, like with the DOS or anything?

All suggestions welcome!!

Thanks much.

Coming to VJ has made me feel a bit better about my situation with my fiance; before I joined I was constantly feeling like this whole process has been so horrible that we must be the only people on earth who have to endure this. Now I know that I'm in good company...

We, unlike most others, have only done the separation thing on and off for the last four years, spending only 11 months of that time apart. The longest I've gone without seeing him has been one 5 and a half month period. What we've had to do to avoid the long distances has been to essentially save up enough money between trips to support ourselves while we try and find work in other countries. Since meeting, our list has five countries on it, aside from our home countries. The constant travel has meant a lot of sacrifices for both of us, but we decided together that those sacrifices were much more bearable than the single sacrifice of being apart.

The worst of it came when we actually got the NAO2 and things started to feel like they were moving somewhere. That's when we started to dream about what life might be like after we can get married and settle down. I am absolutely terrified that we aren't going to get approved - it would crush us both.

Of course, we do have other options - we can live just about anywhere we want in Europe as soon as we get married, no questions asked...but I want to live near my family.

I would call/email the consulate. I know at Ireland Consulate they say fees in Euro can change at any time according to exchange rates.

Does anybody else have any experience with filing after having overstayed in the US before?

My fiance had an overstay in 1997 and left willingly in January 2008. Our attorney told us that he should have been subject to the 3-year bar and shouldn't need a waiver as it's been ten years since it happened.

Now that I am looking at the forms they mention a waiver that you need to obtain in advance, but she told us this wouldn't be necessary. Any advice would be much appreciated!!!

I fell into the same trap - hired the lawyer and paid before I ever found this website. I wonder what we could do to help make it more visible?

I've done far more work than our lawyer, of course, and where she's been content to sit and wait, telling me that we just have to deal with the delays, I've decided to be proactive and bug people until stuff gets done. The big thing for us was moving, and her telling us not to do anything about my fiance's address as it would just complicate matters. (How stupid am I for listening to her, right?) That ended up getting our application sent to the wrong frickin' country for processing, and when I managed to figure that out (as a result of my constant freak-outs and ####### checking) she was totally nonchalant about the whole thing and came back with "Well I guess you'll be delayed then." AGH!!!!! As if my life already isn't stressful enough.

Anyway, I'm trying to convince myself that she will prove to be worth the money, as my fiance has an overstay on his record from ten years ago.

Thanks so much for starting this thread!

I've been so stressed out by the whole visa process that I suggested to Sam that we just skip the wedding and do a justice of the peace or courthouse ceremony, just to get it done and out of the way. I haven't really had any fun trying to plan a wedding when we can't even choose a day yet.

I'd really appreciate hearing any wedding stories of last-minute planners that managed to create a special day. The problem for us is that we really, really want to get married on a beach, but I'm from the Chicago area. Having a wedding in Florida like we want to do means getting his family over from England and my family down from Illinois, all with short notice.

Has anybody ever head of a wedding on a Lake Michigan beach?

Anybody know if this same line of thinking applies to driving on a suspended license?

My fiance used to live in the states and about 11 years ago was fined for driving on a suspended license (from speeding). He, being a kid, decided to stay overnight in jail rather than come up with the money to pay the ticket.

I have no idea if we should answer yes or no!

i think in some ways because on the outside, our cultures seem so similar, that it's in fact harder for a Brit to adjust as they maybe arent so prepared for all the big differences and unfamiliar situations they find themselves in

maybe someone from a completely different country that speaks a different language etc. will find it easier as they will be anticipating the big differences and come more prepared and ready for the culture shock

I think I agree with this. My UK man and I lived in Thailand for about two years and the culture shock was never really a big deal at all, because we just knew that everything would be so different. After living in Ireland, Cambridge, and even Spain to some degree, it's been much harder to get over the little things that wouldn't ever have been an issue if the cultures were drastically different.

For instance, I have become completely enamored with Lurpak, which was absolutely unavailable where we lived in Ireland, and it drove me half-insane despite the fact that Ireland has really good butter anyway. (I know Lurpak isn't English, but that's where I was introduced to it.) Also, the hardest thing about living in Ireland and England for me was that everything closes too early and isn't open on Sunday - Sam has tried to explain the reasoning behind this to me, but I just can't seem to accept it. These little blips on the radar just simply wouldn't have been anything worth thinking about in a place so strangely different like Thailand.

We're lucky though as Sam lived in the states as a kid/teenager, so he's already prepared. Unfortunately, he long ago developed the pseudo-American voice that he would use to communicate with people who couldn't understand, and I absolutely HATE the voice. It makes me cringe! On the other hand, he hasn't been back to the states in a decade, so he's got all these ideas about what to expect and I think a lot of it has changed since then - I think he's still in for a big surprise!

Ok, so I finally got my Irish police report after quite the farce.

So I thought I'd let people know how I managed after 6 visits to the Garda Station!

1st - The instructions on the website, www.garda.ie are wrong, or at the very best incomplete.

2nd - These only work if you're in Ireland and are Irish

First you need to go to your local Garda Station in person. As far as the Garda could tell me, it's the local station for the area that you're living in at the moment.

You need to know the following things (I had a letter with all this stuff cos I was following the websites stuff

1. Name

2. DOB

3. Current Address

4. Length of Time living at that address

5. Country of birth

6. All previous Irish Addresses and lenght of time there

7. Purpose for applying for a Certificate - (I wrote "non-immigrant US visa")

At the station you'll be asked to fill in a form with all these details. If they don't know what you're talking about when you ask, keep trying. No one at the station I went to knew anything, except a senior officer that came out after 15 minutes. Don't let them tell you that you have to write to the Headquarters.

When you fill in the form you have to sign and date it (supposedly the date is very important?)

The Garda will then photocopy the following things.

1. Passport

2. LONG FORM birth cert

3. Any other documents which may support your application (ie. Request document from Embassy or Foreign Authority)

You need to bring these in for the Garda to photocopy, you can't photocopy them yourself, cos they have to verify the originals.

I accidentally on purpose forgot to include number 3 because I was applying before I'd received my packet 3 and I got it!

I included a Stamped Addressed Envelope as per the web instructions and it came back to me in that, but the form didn't mention anything about it.

There's no charge and it takes (in theory) 4 weeks. It took me 10 weeks from the first visit and 8 weeks from the final visit to the station. This might have been cos it was over Christmas though.

Anyhoo, hope that helps!

Good Luck!

Whoa!! My fiance and I just applied for his via post because we live out of the country now, but lived in Ireland all of last year. I was told from our district superintendent office that we needed to submit a written request listing all of the things you mention above, plus photocopies of any official documents that can prove identity. We sent everything off at the beginning of the week, assuming that all would be well.

Does anybody know what happens if we can't get one because we aren't physically present in Ireland? We're living in Spain at the moment, so popping over to Ireland for a day to get it done isn't really feasible...

I swear something gets me freaked out at least once a day with this whole process. Here I am spazzing out and paranoid again...

Thanks for the heads up!

Hi there, hoping someone can help with a quick answer. I've just found this website and realized that my fiance needs his police certificate in the UK - our attorney told us that we shouldn't do anything as the embassy would do the background check for us, so we didn't apply for this ahead of time. We've just sent off the forms this week to get the police cert, and are waiting on the embassy to send us packet three - NVC approved and sent his case file over to London embassy on January 5th. Question is, do we have to wait until the police certificate is in our hands to send send back the checklist and get an interview date, or can we continue on using the 40-day reference as a guide?

Thanks much!

Hi Dawn-

I was in this situation, backward, this month as well. Our file made it to London, and was transferred to Dublin even though we don't live in Ireland anymore. I called the London Embassy operator on Jan 15, who told me to send an email with my country in the subject line, as we were not in the UK at the time. She told me to expect and email saying it would be deleted, and to ignore it. I just explained the situation in the email, and ignored the automated reply like she said. A few days later, (Jan 18) I got a response saying that they updated my fiance's info and have requested his file be returned from Dublin. Lord knows how long that will take, but at least we got an answer. If you haven't had a reply to your email, perhaps you might try sending another with "Ireland" in the subject line?

Good luck,

Nicole