|
|
| London, United Kingdom |  Review on August 15, 2014: |
bunnygirl
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
We’re K1/K2 applicants but, as my son is only 5 (and a monkey!) I decided not to bring him with me to the interview.
I stayed over at a nearby hotel the night before, didn’t sleep particularly well as was too nervous, so ended up in the Starbucks just round the corner from the Embassy at 6am. Finally got to the Embassy at 7am (my appointment time was 8.30am) and started queuing with everyone else behind these trolley type things that they wheeled out. Some Embassy workers walked through the queue asking us to have our passports, DS160 printouts and appointment letters ready for checking, and handed out plastic bags for mobiles and tablets. They also told the men to take off their belts and empty their pockets. When I got to the front of the queue the lady wrote ‘IV’ on my letter and checked both mine and my son’s names off her list.
I then had my paperwork checked again by a security bloke before heading into the airport-style security hut (they send you through in groups of 4). You then have to walk round the Embassy building to the entrance where your paperwork is checked again by a receptionist and she stuck a sticker on my appointment letter with my ticket number on it (I906 – so I was the 6th immigrant visa of the day).
You then enter a big waiting room with windows lined up along one wall and then more around the corner. As others have said, there is a section at the bottom of the room that sells snacks and drinks etc. I sat down at 7.50am (so didn’t take that long to get into the Embassy) and then, at 8.15am, I was called to booth 1 to go through my paperwork. Very abrupt Chinese woman who just wanted originals (no photocopies) of all our documents. She took:
One passport photo for each of us (which she scanned in)
Payment confirmation for the MRV fee and courier receipt
Birth certificates for both of us
Divorce decree
Deed poll
Police certificate
I134 and letter from my fiance’s employer
She never asked for any of my fiance’s pay stubs or tax returns. She scanned my fingerprints and then told me to go and sit down to be called for my interview. I tried to read on my kindle but, because the screen flashes up ticket numbers every couple of seconds, you have to look up every time it dings to see if it’s your number! I was finally called for my interview at 9am and had to go around the corner to booth 15. Very nice American guy there who made me hold up my right hand and swear an oath. Then he had to take my fingerprints twice (once to ‘sign’ my oath for me and then again to ‘sign’ for my son). Lots of clicking on his screen and didn’t talk to me for a few minutes, then he handed me back all my original documents and asked me the following questions:
How to pronounce my fiance’s surname (it’s polish)
How did we meet
Where does my fiancé live (then we had a bit of a chat as he has family in south Texas)
How does he get on with my son
Have I met his children
Have we both just been divorced the once
How to pronounce the name of the eye condition I have and how it affects me (I can’t drive)
Then he asked me about my son’s father. This was the bit I was freaking about as I have 2 letters from my ex - one granting me full custody of our son, the other giving us permission to move (with associated parenting plan) but neither of those documents were notarised. He asked me if my son’s father was aware of move to the US. I said yes, and that I had letters from him if he’d like to see them. The guy’s response was ‘nah’. I’m actually surprised he didn’t even want to look at them given how serious a problem that could potentially be!
Anyway, he then said that our visas were approved and we should get our passports back in 2 weeks :-D
I left the Embassy and called my fiancé (3am his time but he hadn’t slept as he was too excited/nervous!) and then went and had a good old British fry up :-D
| |
|
Consulate / USCIS Member Review #15016