Interview date!!!

[StoryAngel 4]

I just got packet 4 in the mail.... the Amsterdam Consulate appears to be REALLY efficient which is nice!! My interview is scheduled for 17th December!! I am so excited. But I also already have a trip booked to the UK on 24th December... What should I do about my passport? I have to hand it in at my interview so they can mail it back with the visa... Does anyone have any experience of how I can get them to issue the visa immediately (assuming no problems) or wait till I return (I'll only be gone a week) or else have some assurance that I'll get my passport back in time? I can't travel to the UK without it and I don't want to miss Christmas with my family. I am AMAZED I've got my interview date before Christmas, I just need my passport back in time!! Any suggestions?

[RosemarieL 0]

You should try contacting them to see what your options are. Looking at the timelines most people at Amsterdam seem to get their visa about 2 to 4 days after the interview but there is, of course, no guarantee.

Edited November 22, 2007 by RosemarieL

[StoryAngel 4]

Yes indeed.... I'm just thinking the week before Christmas the post is likely to be busier (this is NL not UK where there doesn't seem to be much of a postal system at the moment, hehe!) But I don't want to be stranded without my passport... my SO is flying here 4 days before my interview (we already had his flight booked!) and we're going to the UK together to spend Christmas with my family for the first time... it's a pretty important trip. I can't call the Consulate till Monday, I checked their opening times. A few more days sitting around I guess...

[Eli the Barrowboy 16]

Doesn't the visa get couriered? Therefore it isn't ransom to the Christmas rush the way the post is. If I had waited since May I'd put off going on holiday if I was given the choice ... the visa is enough reason to be happy.

[~Chad~ 0]

Congrats on the interview date, good luck

[Zee Bee 61]

Congratulations and good luck!!!!

[StoryAngel 4]

Doesn't the visa get couriered? Therefore it isn't ransom to the Christmas rush the way the post is. If I had waited since May I'd put off going on holiday if I was given the choice ... the visa is enough reason to be happy.

Oh believe me I am THRILLED about the visa!!! I didn't exactly plan to go on holiday a week after my interview, I can't really control when Christmas is can I... I had no idea my interview was going to be then, and with my SO flying over from the US we'd already decided we wanted to spend Christmas together with my family. We haven't done that before (I've spent the last 2 Christmases in the US). I can't alter that trip now (to the UK). But I'm sure you understand that however happy I am about the visa, I don't want to find myself stranded from my family (even if I DO have my visa) just because my passport is stuck in the mail somewhere. I don't think that's unreasonable.

[kingstonjamaica 3]

Congratulations on your visa date, mine is on the 18th. I actually want to enter the US on the 26th or 28th ie, IF i can get a flight on such short notice, i will have to try on the 19th. I was born on new years eve, so spending my birthday with my SO would be super. My passport will be delivered by courier service and i think the embassy will close at the end of that week. I'm crossing my fingers that the courier wont wait untill next year to deliver my passport. It would be great if i get to spend Christmas with my family and my birthday with my SO.

If you don't mind wainting until next year for an interview, I think you can ask the embassy for another date. All the best.

[StoryAngel 4]

Congratulations kingstonjamaica!! I so hope you get to be together for your birthday... what a wonderful present!! For us, the thing is, our UK flights are already booked. I organized them before we even had NOA2... I just couldn't have foreseen everything happening Christmas week... We're praying that the A'dam Consulate's supreme efficiency will extend to processing the visa to completion! I've been really impressed with them so far... packets 3 and 4 were sent out the same day they received the info.