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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on January 25, 2012: |
Mad_Scottish
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Hey folks,
Given some of the reviews that have been written and had helped to relax me about the whole process I wanted to write my own so that hopefully others can find the same strength to get through what is a very stressful process at times.
My interview was at 9am and I got there at 0745 because I was up and about and was so antsy that I just needed to get there and get on with it. This turned out to be a very good decision as I got in and ended up being called up around 9am anyway!!
You queue outside and are split into US citizen services and non US citizen services. You are called forward and you show your interview date confirmation letter and then you join a smaller queue as you wait to get through security. At this stage you are simply just stood outside the embassy on the pavement.
This process of going through security is easy and you are literally in there for about a minute. They just scan the stuff in your hands (wallets and belts etc will be in a see through bag) and you walk through the detector. Grab you stuff and you are on your way into the Embassy.
Once inside you show your interview date confirmation letter again and are given a number, which will be an I tagged number. You are then told to go sit in the room up the stairs. It is a wide room with televisions in the middle that show you the numbers that are called along with it being announced over an intercom system.
Everyone has said it and I will say it again, the I tickets are few and far between so you do have to wait a while. You get sick of hearing about the people with the N tickets getting called up lol I thought to myself a couple of times, COME ON CALL ME UP ALREADY. This was mainly due to nerves and just wanting to know if I was getting the visa or not.
The first time you are called up you just go to the window and hand over the documents, all the things that london have asked you to collect so make sure you have them all with copies and it makes life easier. I took a folder with me and had everything labelled and in separate pockets. The woman commented on the organisation and to be honest I am not that organised but it made life so much easier. I could produce it when asked for it and it made her job a lot easier because I wasn't messing about looking for paperwork in the folder.
Be pleasant to the woman/man that you get at the first window and they will be pleasant in return. It is mostly very straight forward although I had a problem with a name change due to my mother getting remarried and I haven't ever had a formal document listing the name change. It just happened etc so there was no deedpole or anything relevant to the name change. This is where I thought things had all gone wrong for me as she made quite a deal about it and said that it will cause me problems but that will be down to immigration officer. PANIC STATIONS at this stage for me, I was literally trying not to stress out and then freak out.
You go back to sit down and wait to get called forward again for your actual interview with the immigration officer. I waited for what felt like an eternity but it only worked out to be about 30-40 minutes and I was called back up again. I was trembling with nerves by this point and as I got to the window I had practically convinced myself that the name change issue was going to stop the whole thing for me!
The immigration officer asked me how I was doing and I was honest and said freaking out and immediately brought up the name change issue myself. The person you see the first time marks a list of things and I had a huge X on the list because of the name change so I wanted to bring it up and get it resolved!
I took all my documents and by all my documents I literally mean everything. I had all my academic certificates, driving license, oath of allegiance (I was in the Army) and everything else that had my surname on it to show that although the name had changed and is obviously different from the one on my birth certificate I have used is consistently without issues. The only reason I did this was because I had a lingering feeling that the name change may have cropped up and I was so so so so happy that I had taken everything with me.
Thankfully the woman (who was lovely and really friendly) accepted that the name change was fine and that I was clearly legit and there were no issues. She went over all the paperwork and said that because I had brought so much evidence to show that I was using the surname consistenly she was happy not to worry about it. She asked me how my fiance and I met and that was it and that is all she asked me. I was sort of surprised and a bit let down because my fiance and I have been going over all the info to make sure that we can answer all the questions haha...was not even needed!!
I was there for a grand total of 5-10 minutes and when she said I dont see any problems and said I was approved I nearly just burst into tears. Wanted to hug and to kiss her and be all THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!.
As long as you have the paperwork listed on the list that London ask for then there is absolutely nothing to worry about at all. They are fantastic and things run very smoothly. I was in by around 8:15 am and out by 10am, which was ROCKING!!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9052