Visa approved!

vutapson · December 12, 2007

Greetings everyone, our final interview was earlier today. Just wanted to share our experience, which is similar to what many others have posted previously in their reviews of the Sydney consulate.

We arrived at the consulate at 7:30 a.m., half an hour early, behind a dozen other people, and yet still managed to be first in line (ticket #001) upstairs on the 59th floor simply because we got off the elevator first! A few minutes after 8 a.m. we were called to the window where the very pleasant Amber took our requested documents, said everything seemed to be in order, and asked us to wait while she looked them over. 20 minutes later we were called back and told all looked good. She asked when we planned to go to the States and we told her Monday! She said that would be possible and gave us a "Welcome to the United States" pamphlet and letter. We asked if we could pick up the visa rather than have it mailed, and she said it would have to be Friday afternoon (2 days hence). That was fine with us. Then she asked us to wait again, this time for the interviewer. 20 minutes later we were called to the interview window where a friendly fellow (whose name I didn't get) asked only a couple of questions: "How long have you been married?" and "Where do you plan to live?" Anna answered quickly and concisely, he and I joked about the Los Angeles traffic, and then our visa was approved. We were back out on the street by 9 a.m.

A very painless, even pleasant experience. I can't say enough good things about our dealings with the Sydney consulate, and want to assure anyone who is nervous about the final interview process there to relax and be completely optimistic. Another couple immediately behind us was approved also, and very quickly as well - we saw them on the street shortly afterward.

Thanks once again to everyone on VJ for being there for us throughout this whole process, and best wishes to those still going through it!