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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on June 13, 2011: |
BaronessHeather
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The #1 most important thing you need to take away from this review is: Do yourself a HUGE favor, and every form and certificate you're asked to submit at any point during the application process, however many copies you THINK you need, get another one. If we had done this, it would have saved a lot of expense and stress.
You need to have with you at your interview:
1. Your police certificate. If you didn't order an extra one when you first filed it in Packet 3, you'd better hope they gave you enough notice to order another one. We had so little notice of this that we had to pay extra to have the application overnighted and the certificate sent back in 2 days.
2. Your passport (and it MUST be in good condition)
3. Your LONG-FORM birth certificate (they will not accept the short form)
4. The Affidavit of Support from your American fiancé(e)and any supporting documents that go with it. Even though the embassy website specifically says that K-1 visa applicants shouldn't need it, they WILL ask for it, and it WILL be a big deal if you don't have it. I had to send him mine via global express mail at a cost of $50 so he would have it on time.
5. Proof of your relationship (though depending on the official you speak with, they may or may not decide they want to see that).
6. Money to pay the courier fee (varies depending on how fast you want it)
Now that that's out of the way, my fiancé's interview experience was very painless. He arrived at 7:00 for his 8:00 appointment, saw that there was already a small queue, but continued on to the drug store mentioned in other posts to store his phone.
Once he got in the queue, it went quickly. His was the second number called after checking in. He was asked for his passport, police certificate, birth certificate, and affidavits. His fingerprints were taken. He was sworn in. He was called back up for the actual interview, which consisted of the following:
How did your you meet your fiancée?
What does she do for a living?
When is the last time you visited her?
When is the last time she was here?
His answers were satisfactory to the official, who did not want to see any further documentation and went ahead and approved the visa. When Fraser went to pay the courier fee, he was told it normally takes 5-10 working days for the visa to get delivered, but the lady at the desk said she would make a note to expedite his, as we have some major plans we'd really like to keep.
The experience at the interview was pretty painless, which is good, because the entire application process was an exercise in frustration and terror. They messed up his x-rays at the medical exam and told us he had a giant tumor. Aside from the fear that something was seriously wrong with him, it cost a great deal more money in getting an ultrasound and new x-rays which they insisted upon, along with adding to the delay. They also lost some of our Packet 3, leading to another delay of over a month.
Another piece of advice: Once you send in Packet 3, be prepared to rush to that interview with no notice. Have money set aside for travel and accommodations in London; have all of the above-mentioned paperwork already organized and ready to go. Email the embassy if it has been more than 3 weeks since they received Packet 3 to see if your interview has been scheduled & you just haven't gotten the letter yet. In talking to other people, in some cases, the letter came AFTER the scheduled interview, so they missed it, had to reschedule, and dealt with more delays. Save yourself the hassle and just email them! You'll have to call the first time to get a code to put in your email's subject heading, but after that, you can just keep replying to the same email with the same code.
Good luck!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #7752