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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on May 21, 2012: |
PantomimeGoose
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband (beneficiary) and I arrived at the embassy about 30 minutes before his 9 am interview on April 27th. He was slightly overdressed in his suit, judging by the line that had already formed. We waited about 15 minutes to get to the initial contact, who was checking names and interview times off the list. Since we didn't call ahead to see if I could accompany him, I wasn't on the list and wasn't allowed in.
I went down the street to the Starbucks that the lady checking the list had recommended. Only annoying thing about that was I had been expecting to go in to the embassy, so didn't bring my kindle or my phone and got hopped up on coffee while sitting in suspense for two and a half hours  .
The interview only took about 15 minutes total. The woman who checked him in behind the counter asked why the heck we had so much documentation for a CR-1 visa, as did the man who interviewed him. The only two questions were how we met and what we did for our anniversary.
The interviewer was very pleasant and told my husband we were approved pending a copy of our sponsor's W-2. Actually he apparently phrased it "Now you can never enter the US! Ha! Ha! Ha!...No, no. It's fine. Just get us the W-2 and you'll be alright." Rookie mistake: since they didn't ask for the W-2 at the NVC and our checklist said the I-864 and supporting documents were in order we didn't think we would need it and didn't happen to have a copy in the additional evidence we brought. We brought an updated I-864 since tax time had just gone by but they didn't take that or any other additional evidence at all.
We were able to get the W-2 off my lappy about an hour later, but we weren't allowed to return to the embassy, so we had to go home to Leeds and wait for the courier to show up after the weekend and the Monday bank holiday. The courier arrived at 8 am that Tuesday and dropped off an envelope. He told us he was just dropping off an envelope, not picking anything up, even though we had the W-2 ready. Turned out he didn't realize he was supposed to be picking up so after several phone calls and waiting at home until 6 pm, somebody from the courier's made a last minute run to pick it up.
About a (working) week later, they delivered his passport and visa back. There was no alert beforehand, so we found out by just checking the courier confirmation number online daily, this time only waiting till the early afternoon for the delivery.
Overall, it was a little anticlimactic. Apart from the confusion with the courier and wishing they had been more specific about needing more documentation before the interview, it wasn't a bad experience.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #9700