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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on November 2, 2013: |
philhaymes
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Interview was at 8:30am but turned up for 7:15 - as soon as Gould's Pharmacy opened to store my stuff. I traveled from Leeds so decided to get an apartment overnight within a few minutes walk. This is something I totally recommend if you are travelling a distance - it made life much easier, I was more relaxed and well rested and I'm sure that came across. Plus being able to have a shower and coffee before heading out is a good thing!
Anyways, you queue up outside the embassy and are sent through in groups of four. You go through a security checkpoint similar to an airport and you get sent through to the embassy from there. Seriously, no electronics - I saw a bunch of people sent away from the queue for having phones and iPods. They take it VERY seriously.
Inside it's pretty simple, there's seating for at least a few hundred people and several cubicles, 16 total split between two rooms. There are facilities for Tea/Coffee and food as well as some toilets in the hallway between the two rooms. I didn't try any of the food or drink but it didn't look great 
There's a big board on the front left of the room where you'll see the numbers being called. When you get sent into the embassy you'll get given a ticket with a number mine was I903... which means that I was 3rd in the queue for Immigrant visas. There's a bunch of other types, N for Non-Immigrant, L for I think work visas and then there's E and V which I'm not sure on. The I's don't seem to go so fast... Although thankfully I was done in less than 2 hours as I was so early!
The first interview was with the now famous African American lady at cubicle 13. Wow she was a hoot and it was very fun. We had a good laugh about a bunch of things, she checked out my paperwork package from the NVC which was complete and she remarked that it's rare to have absolutely everything there and nothing else was needed from me - even the photos were there. She handed back the x-rays and we chatted a bit more then she said everything was good, go head back and wait for interview number two. This process took about 10 - 15mins.
I waited for what seemed an eternity (no clocks!) chatting with a new friend I'd made outside the pharmacy (hope yours went well! let me know if you read this). I guess the wait was around an hour. Lots of I numbers went up in the meantime for their first interviews and it got to I think I914 before I got called for the second interview.
The dude was pretty cool and had an awesome beard. He greeted me by name, said that everything looked in order. Took my fingerprints again and remarked that yep I'm the same person I was in the first interview. He asked how I met my wife and I started answering "Online through some mutual friends over skype" and he cut me off and said "well basically you're approved, let me type some notes". All told it was less than two minutes for the second interview. He explained the courier details and said I was free to go.
w00t
So yeah a very pleasant experience. I went in armed with backup copies of everything and a second folder full of skype records, emails, wedding photos and more but needed none of it.
Flying out on the 15th - one day before our 1 year anniversary. So. Freaking.Happy.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #13165