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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on October 15, 2012: |
jenniferjones101
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I'm writing this review on behalf of my husband who had his interview at the London embassy this morning. He arrived at the Bond Street Station around 6:35am (left from Leatherhead, which is about an hour train trip), got a coffee at McDonald's and walked down to the embassy. He arrived at the embassy at approx. 6:50am and there were a few people who had started making their own line so he joined it. Around 7am they brought the desk out and started checking people in from 7:30am. He didn't bring any electronics with him, so there was no issue with having to go to Gould's. He was inside and got his "I Number" by around 7:45am. At 8:00am they booted up the screens and started calling numbers. He said there were a lot more "N numbers" than "I numbers" being called.
Shortly after 8:00am, he got called to the first window where a British man reviewed his paperwork and took his fingerprints and passport. He also signed off this DS-230, was given the pink sheet for the courier, given back his disk from his medical. The man asked if we had submitted a copy of my W-2 (which we did not since I submitted 3 tax transcripts and pay stubs). This did not end up being mentioned again, so it was no problem not having the W-2. He was then asked to sit back down and wait for his number to be called again.
He was called up the second time by name (his number didn't come on the screen a second time) to Window 14 around 8:30am. He was asked by an American man to confirm his address and swore to tell the truth and that the information in the documents were also true. The interviewer then went through all our paperwork again. He was asked these questions:
How did you meet?
When did you meet? (in person)
How long was first visit?
How often have you seen each other?
What's the longest time spent together?
When did you get married? Where?
What does your wife do for a living?
Why did she lose her last job? (teaching position was eliminated due to budget cuts)
How long has your wife worked in her current job?
Does she have any siblings? What do they do? Do they have any children?
What do her parents do?
Where does her sister live? Her mom?
What does her mom do for a living?
Are you planning to work in the US? What will you do?
Have you ever been in trouble with the police in any country? (which was weird seeing as his police certificate was completely clear of anything and he's never been in trouble lol)
If you're approved for your visa, when do you intend on entering the US?
It seems like a lot of questions, but Rich said he wasn't there really long! After that the gentleman passed him back all his original documents and said "I'm satisfied with your answers, I've approved your visa." He was then directed to the line to pay the courier, which was 14.80GBP for 8am-6pm delivery and had to be paid on card (NO CASH!). He was out of the embassy by 9:00am!
All in all, it was a pretty quick and painless process for how nervous we were. We highly recommend getting to the embassy early, regardless of your appointment time since they see you in the order that you arrive and not based on your scheduled appointment.
I made one error when filling out the DS-230 paperwork (oops!) on Question 35 "List dates of all previous visits to or residence in the Unites States"...I misread the question and put NEVER for that question (because I thought it was asking for residence only...but fortunately looking at his passport, they could determine that he had made several visits and that it was a mistake, so there wasn't a problem...but it sure scared Rich when they mentioned that!! Oops...sorry babe 
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10630