Anyone from the UK bring their US wife/husband to the interview?

[homesick_american 1]

I am not sure that you need both names on the list. I dont think both our names were on the list anyway.

If you're a USC you don't need to make an appointment to go to the embassy anyway; you can just show up. Bonus! :thumbs: My name wasn't on the list for my husband's appointment, but all I had to do was whip out the US passport and they were happy.

[Dawny&Tommy 0]

Tommy is coming to London with me for my interview when it happens

Dawn.

[NikkisPrecious 0]

Surely there has to be a more offcial way than just whipping out your passport right? I woulda thought it would have to be arranged.. anyone in the know??

[homesick_american 1]

Surely there has to be a more offcial way than just whipping out your passport right? I woulda thought it would have to be arranged.. anyone in the know??

All I can tell you is what happened when we visited the US Embassy in London on September 11th, 2006, the fifth anniversary of 9/11, when security was extremely tight...we're talking guys with mirrors on sticks looking under cars, the park in front of the embassy was closed, bomb-sniffing dogs and cops with machine guns everywhere, concrete blast barriers in front of the building...you get the picture.

We arrived at the embassy an hour before my husband's appointment. We showed his interview letter to a girl with a clipboard. She handed us plastic baggies for our liquids and other naughties that we weren't allowed to take in with us and she guided us to a short queue. We showed our passports to a very large security guard who had a fat book on a podium, checking that my husband was supposed to be there. My name was nowhere on that list. I asked him if it was OK if I accompanied my husband, and he said "Yes, American citizens don't need an appointment to come in here."

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

[arwensun1965 0]

My Husband (then Fiance) came with me to the interview, and if our CR1 interview is in September then he will be coming again, like Homesick said as long as you have an American passport they will not refuse you entry into the Embassy.

[NikkisPrecious 0]

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

I'm not completely discounting your experiance, i beleive you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what i've learnt in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst i'm in the interview!

thanks for all the help guys

[homesick_american 1]

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

I'm not completely discounting your experiance, i beleive you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what i've learnt in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst i'm in the interview!

thanks for all the help guys

It's the US Embassy. I'm a US citizen bearing a valid US passport. Why on earth would they not allow me to enter? The US is not a police state.

[arwensun1965 0]

I'm not completely discounting your experience, i believe you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what I've Lent in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst I'm in the interview!

Let's put it this way, if I turned up at the British Embassy in say South Africa (this is an example guys so bear with me)

I would be seen because I have a British passport, it is the same with American's. They do not generally need an appointment to go into the American Embassy, you see essentially it is American Soil, in other words any American with a Valid American passport can go into the Embassy without recourse.

At the front of your British passport it says......... Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be neccessary.

The above statement allows me as a British Subject to be allowed into a British Embassy because essentially it is British Soil.

Does this make more sense???

Edited May 16, 2007 by arwensun1965

[broma25 2]

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

I'm not completely discounting your experiance, i beleive you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what i've learnt in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst i'm in the interview!

thanks for all the help guys

It's the US Embassy. I'm a US citizen bearing a valid US passport. Why on earth would they not allow me to enter? The US is not a police state.

Brings to mind what happened to me in the British Embassy in NY.

I had to get some further information for the fiance visa for my husband to come to the UK. We had to leave both passports in the British embassy and return to the day after with our additional evidence.

My husband (USC) was allowed straight in because he had picture ID, I was almost refused entry as I did not have picture ID, my passport was already in the embassy, and I had the old style UK licence (no picture).

I was almost demented by the fact that some American guy would not allow me into my own embassy, eventually he relented and let me in.

[homesick_american 1]

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

I'm not completely discounting your experiance, i beleive you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what i've learnt in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst i'm in the interview!

thanks for all the help guys

It's the US Embassy. I'm a US citizen bearing a valid US passport. Why on earth would they not allow me to enter? The US is not a police state.

Brings to mind what happened to me in the British Embassy in NY.

I had to get some further information for the fiance visa for my husband to come to the UK. We had to leave both passports in the British embassy and return to the day after with our additional evidence.

My husband (USC) was allowed straight in because he had picture ID, I was almost refused entry as I did not have picture ID, my passport was already in the embassy, and I had the old style UK licence (no picture).

I was almost demented by the fact that some American guy would not allow me into my own embassy, eventually he relented and let me in.

LOL....yikes! Most of the employees at the US embassy that we encountered were British, tho, so if someone hadn't let me into my own country's embassy it would have been a Brit!

I guess next time you'll have another form of picture ID.

[NikkisPrecious 0]

i seeeeee!!! thanks

[broma25 2]

If you want to call the embassy and double-check, it's up to you. I think it's kind of weird to completely discount my experience just because it's not what you're expecting to hear, tho.

I'm not completely discounting your experiance, i beleive you and the others that have posted i just would kinda thought being such a tough place to get into there would have been a more official way to accompany your spouse than just turning up and showing your passport. But from what i've learnt in this thread thats what we will be trying now. I just hope it works and my poor wife isn;t left outside whilst i'm in the interview!

thanks for all the help guys

It's the US Embassy. I'm a US citizen bearing a valid US passport. Why on earth would they not allow me to enter? The US is not a police state.

Brings to mind what happened to me in the British Embassy in NY.

I had to get some further information for the fiance visa for my husband to come to the UK. We had to leave both passports in the British embassy and return to the day after with our additional evidence.

My husband (USC) was allowed straight in because he had picture ID, I was almost refused entry as I did not have picture ID, my passport was already in the embassy, and I had the old style UK licence (no picture).

I was almost demented by the fact that some American guy would not allow me into my own embassy, eventually he relented and let me in.

LOL....yikes! Most of the employees at the US embassy that we encountered were British, tho, so if someone hadn't let me into my own country's embassy it would have been a Brit!

I guess next time you'll have another form of picture ID.

Well now I do have other forms of picture ID, when I got married in the UK changed my name so got a new DL with a pic on and also have my passport.

For the US have my DL and also Green Card (which technically is not a form of ID).

[Lou Lou 1]

I had my interview back in the days when everyone had their medical in the morning, and then trudged over to the embassy for the interview, and then wait for medical results, and then wait for them to stick the visa in the passport. It used to take hours and hours. OH was with me as he lived with me at the time and he's a nosey ####### so wanted to come along. As nipped off to the loo I got called for the interview. The interview was so short, by the time he got back, I was already back in my seat and for a very long time he didn't actually believe I'd been done and dusted until he heard my name called for the passport pick up.