Consulate Review: London, United Kingdom
Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
February 14, 2010 |
| Embassy Review : |
My day went like this:
Arrived in London the day before and stayed at the Milennium hotel, which is literally across the road, (you could see the American Embassy from our hotel window).
We scouted around after we got there, just to be sure I knew where I was going the next day.
Woke up at 6.30am after hardly any sleep, due to being full of a cold and not being able to breathe lol
Took a shower etc and left the hotel at 7.30am...a minute later I was at the Embassy and joined the queue of people that were already there....I estimate around 30 or so people were before me.
Make sure you have your passport and interview letter out and handy....and if you go in February..make sure to wrap up, because it was freezing and we were outside for an hour at least.
Anyway..joined the line and got to a checkpoint with two ladies who check your appointment letter to see if you have the right date. this was fine, so back into line until the next checkpoint with another lady, who tells you when to step forward and checks your passport and interview letter. Once she sees they match, you join a separate line to go through security.
Security is a little glass building outside the embassy. You are called through in two's and just like in the airport, you put your stuff into a box that goes through x-ray and walk through a metal detector...if you have a drink with you, they will ask you to take a sip and anything electronic you have on you, then goes into the bin, (at least that's what I assume since I saw a guy bin his ipod earphones and charger). It's all very quick and efficient.
Once they tell you you are okay..you exit the little building, turn right and then left..then climb the steps around the side of the building...to another queue.
Here, there is a lady at a desk, who takes your interview letter, checks the details and then sticks some stickers on the front of your letter...these will have your ticket number on, (mine was I858). Make sure the stickers are loose enough to peel off, as the first person I saw had a little moan that they were stuck down so well.
When you get your letter, with stickers, back from the lady...she will tell you to go up the stairs and take a seat.
At the top of the stairs is the waiting room: Lot's of seats, 8 TV screens which show the numbers being called, a shop at the very far end, the courier pay desk at the left as you go in and lot's of cubicles along the right hand side....you just find a seat and wait.
When I got in there, it was quite empty...there were LOTS of 'N' numbers being called out, (it's fast and constant and any chance you thought you might have to read a book etc...forget it lol), and while I waited...and waited, the room filled up, until the point that there were no more seats left and people had to stand...and there were still people coming in.
I estimate around 300 N numbers were called before my I number was called...
I picked up my stuff, (lost my seat immediately), and went to booth #1 where I was greeted by an Asian lady, who was so softly spoken, I could barely hear her.
I gave her my letter and passport. She rolled her eyes and moaned a little because she couldn't peel the stickers from my letter lol. She checked my name and then asked me a question.
Now with all the people in the room and all of the noise, it was REALLY difficult to hear what she was saying, so I THOUGHT she asked me "when did you decide to get married". I answered her and she made a note, then shuffled some papers, added more to our file, then said to me "you didn't get married at that time", I replied that I knew this...she then said, "well you told me you got married on this date"...I realised I had misheard her and told her my mistake...she corrected it, but I was worrying then in case it had an impact on my actual interview. In the end, I just told myself that I had nothing to hide, so not to let it worry me.
She also asked me when I was planning to move over there.
She took my fingerprints: right hand first...just the four fingers, then the same with the left hand...then they do both thumbs together.
She went to get my medical results, told me they were all fine...opened the x-ray envelope and gave it to me, gave me a pink paper that had my ticket number on and the courier details for if I got approved, (you take this to the desk at the back of the room), and also gave me the appointment letter back, then told me to take a seat and wait.
Once again, it was forever until my number was called...there were so many people there now and hardly any of the windows were dealing with 'I' numbers, so it was an age of waiting.
Finally, my number was called to go to window 25.
The interview windows are separate from the first windows...you go down a short corridor out of the main room.
I got my stuff and walked to the window and was greeted by a nice American man.
He told me I came quicker than he expected and wasn't quite ready for me yet, so I apologised and he said "no, it's fine". I used those few seconds to sort my stuff out and put it on the counter.
He asked me for my papers and then asked me to raise my right hand to swear an oath that everything was true.
He then asked me to do the fingerprints again, which I did and I signed part 2 of the DS-230.
He then asked me the following questions:
When did you meet
Where did you meet
Does my husband work
Where will we live
Will I work and if so, what will I do
He asked a few others, but it was more like a casual conversation than one question after another, he made it very informal and relaxed.
He then looked at me and said, "well I am going to go ahead and approve your visa, it will be printed tomorrow and you should have it within a week, he then told me what it looked like, not to open etc etc then said....welcome to the family and I hope you have a wonderful life in America".
A huge grin spread over my face and I said "thank you so much", he said I was very welcome.....He also gave me back my marriage and birth certificates.
That was it...it took all of 2 minutes and he didn't even ask about any of the moutains of paperwork I brought with me lol
I joined the queue to pay for the courier, which was £14.50, then left the building grinning from ear to ear.
We are both so relieved that is finally over and now we can put final plans into action...it's such a wonderful, but strange feeling....but the relief is immense.
My whole experience took just over 3 and a half hours, as I got back to the hotel just after 11.15...we spent the rest of the day sightseeing with an occaisional me going "yayyy" randomly lol |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0