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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on August 23, 2012: |
H and J
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We had our interview yesterday at the US Embassy in London. It went pretty well and we were approved. We expected this as we have been married for almost three years, together for three years before we were married, and are expecting a baby - but you never know, right? One piece of incorrect paperwork or a not nice officer and you can be on your way out the door!
I am the US citizen and my husband is British. We have a bit of a unique case - we started our IR-1/CR-1 visa process in Singapore, where were were living and working. I won't review the Singapore Embassy because the case was actually handled through the NVC and we didn't have much direct contact with the Singapore embassy. Our case was transferred to the UK as we left Singapore in July. It is worth noting that it took the NVC one month to transfer our case from the NVC to Singapore. I had emailed and phoned them asking them to send our files to London, they weren't able to do this although I had given them 6 business days notice). When the files arrived in Singapore, it took another month for them to be transferred to London. If you are planning on transferring your case just bear this in mind!
Our appointment was for 9 am. We arrived there at 7:30, dropped our phones off at Gould's (the amount of people storing things inside there is unreal - they must make a ton of money from the US Embassy), and waited in line until about 8:15 when people were ushered in. There was a woman there with tons of papers all over the place blowing in the wind - I turned to my husband and commented that I was glad that wasn't us. As recommended by other posters on VJ, we had copies of all the forms filed neatly organised in a clear plastic file folder. Since our case was competed at the NVC, the embassy had all the originals. As we got inside we were given a number and waited about a half hour to be called up for our first meeting with embassy staff. This was a British man, and he was friendly but knew exactly what he was doing. He went through all our paperwork to make sure it was in order and had my husband put his fingerprints through some sort of scanner. After noting that all our paperwork was in order he told us to sit down and wait for the consular officer to call our name for the interview. We spoke with him for about 15 minutes. We waited about 45 minutes and were called up for our interview with the consular officer. He was an American man and was friendly at well which put us at ease as we were not sure what to expect. We began by taking an oath to tell the truth. He asked us these questions: Where did you meet? Tell me your story. When did you get engaged? Where? Did he get down on one knee? Where did you get married? Have either of you been married before? Do you have any children? When I said I was currently expecting our first child in December he smiled and said congrats and asked if we would find out the sex. I replied that we wanted to keep it a surprise he smiled again. He then asked about our plans in the US. My husband said we were planning on moving somewhere in the NYC area and he then asked a few questions about what we do career wise and if we were going to continue in the US. I am a teacher and he asked me pretty specific questions about my state certification which I still have. He then said our case had been approved and that the visa would be issued in 5 business days so we said thank you and headed off to the courier delivery area, where you pay for them to deliver it. We left at about 10:30. Unfortunately you can't go to the Embassy in collect it, even if you live in the London area.
Since I am commenting on the whole process, I have to say that it was just okay. I felt that the embassy itself was quite fair and relatively well organised. I thought the staff I came into contact with face to face knew what they were talking about and were firm but fair, which is all I can ask for. I've posted before about my struggles with contacting the embassy hotline which you have to pay for and I feel the incompetent, nasty people working there really spoiled the experience for us - they actually gave us wrong information and told me we would have to fill out the DS 230 and the AOS again after changing the venue of our case from Singapore, which was untrue and I knew this because they hadn't expired. This caused major unnecessary stress and confusion. After I posted this on VJ another helpful VJer suggested to always use email to communicate with the London staff. This was good advice as I was able to communicate more directly and find out accurate answers to our queries. I just feel that unless they are going to have embassy staff with access to your files answering the phone and a good head on their shoulders, they shouldn't even have a hotline as it is a major waste of time, money and ended up causing unnecessary stress. While I understand the volume of questions and queries the Embassy receive can be enormous, they need to find another way of having valid questions answered. Now we are waiting for our visa to be delivered, before booking our flights to the USA! Thanks for all the help from Visa Journey!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10244