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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on August 24, 2011: |
newmrsvick
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My appointment was scheduled for 9.30am on a Tuesday morning. I spent the evening in a nearby hotel at Marble Arch (The Cumberland), I got a great deal and it was a really nice room with plenty of quiet, nice service and amenities, so I would certainly recommend it! I was up at about 7am, and had planned to walk to the Embassy (about 10-15minutes away) but it was pouring down with rain (thank you England), so I got a black cab from outside the hotel instead, which cost me all of £3.60 and got me there in 3 minutes. I was there a little early (but glad to know that I was where I was supposed to be), so I popped down to the Starbucks which is about 3 blocks opposite the Embassy and grabbed some breakfast etc. I joined the line outside the Embassy 8.15am, which was made up of about 15 people at that point - (note: there are two lines that are formed outside the Embassy, the one on the right as you look at the security booths and the building itself is the Visa one (there are signs) and the one of the left is for US Citizen Services - I only mention this as I noticed a couple of people we sent to other lines that morning). In less than 5 minutes, I was up to a lady who checked my appointment letter and my passport and sent my into a second line right next door that led up to a security man in a yellow vest. He checked my passport and appointment letter again and sent me into a short line that was directly outside the security booth (a small glass building with armed police standing outside). People were called into the security booth 4 at a time (listen up, it seems they don’t like to repeat themselves!), and it was very much like airport security - I placed my documents and umbrella in one tray, my bag directly on the conveyor belt and walked through a metal detector - as soon as my belonging followed me through I was free to exit, although I was a bit nervous incase they chased me down as no one was there to tell me I could go! I followed the Visa signs around the right hand side of the building to the main steps and doors and joined a short line at the reception desk where I was asked to show my appointment letter again and my MRV receipt. I was given a number that was stuck to my appointment letter (I-915) and told to head to the waiting room. Lots of chairs, toilets to the right down a small corridor that also housed interview booths, and 1-11 interview booths on the main right side of the waiting room (there were I think 25 booths in total). There were also basic refreshments available to buy at the far end of the room... very handy and not as expensive as you might think!
I took a seat and waited about 2 hours for my number to be called... N numbers were called constantly as well as a few E and D numbers, but the I’s were more sporadic... about 2 every 20 minutes or so. When I was called up, I went to a booth down the corridor (lucky 13!) and was met by... no one! I kinda stood around for a minute wondering what I should do, when I LOVELY lady walked toward me from the back of the office with a huge smile and told me not to be nervous  (I needed that, I wear my tension on my face!)... She looked at my appointment letter and passport (no copy needed), asked me the petitioners name and who he was to me, and went to get my file. When she came back she started to go through all my paperwork that I had previously sent it, checking a few things of the lists and asking a couple of questions along the way. Then she asked for my birth certificate and copy, police certificate and copy and my fiance’s financial ‘bundle’ (affidavit and evidence), of which she didn’t need all that I handed over. She was asking questions all the way through this process in a very informal, almost ‘girly’ manner - like how we met, how it all ‘just happened’, whats the weather like in TN, when’s the wedding, has my fiance enjoyed an English christmas yet, lots of giggling and general chit chat - was really really NICE! She also asked where we were honeymooning and warned me not to leave the country (ie. Hawaii) as many flights get redirected through Canada and that would be bad... She told me about the next stage of AOS etc, and gave me my xray DVD and warned me about the brown envelope I can’t open, took my fingerprints, as well as advising time between connecting flights when I arrive in the USA. She seemed really impressed that I was so organized and told me it was a pleasure, which I thought was a really nice thing to say. She also seemed very concerned that the process so far had been enjoyable for us (as it were) and that we had received help along the way from all the people who should. She gave me a pink courier slip to fill out while I waited and that was that, a total of about 15 minutes.
I returned to the waiting room for another hour or so, then was called up to a second booth with a more formal but still nice enough American lady, who took my fingerprints again, had be swear an oath, asked when the wedding date was and who was coming and told me I was approved and to go pay the courier. 30 seconds and it was over. Seriously. I paid £36 to have my passport delivered between 6am and 8am so I cannot miss it, and I was off to go celebrate. By the time I left, I had been in there about 4 hours.
Overall my experience was a fantastic one, really nice people, friendly chatty service every where from the officers to the courier folks, and the only real annoyance being the waiting time that you just cannot avoid. I will say that I was SOOOO nervous when I went in, and they put me at ease right away. Good luck to everyone, and enjoy the journey! It’s all worth it in the end!!!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #8182