Packet 4 confusion - visa payment/police check and other anomalies

[aliya 0]

Hi folks

Pleased to say that I got my Packet 4 email today and an interview date which is not far off - however, there is an attachment which has asked me to bring several things and it is confusing. I have several questions regarding the attachment requirements:

Firstly, the visa payment options checked are:

FEES: Payable at the Consulate by Cash, Credit Card (American Express /Visa / Mastercard / Diners) Money

Order or Bank Check payable to “U.S. Consulate Generalâ€

x1AUD$460.00 or USD$400.00

x1AUD$51.75 or USD$45.00

However, it is my understanding that the K1 is a non-immigrant visa and shouldn't I therefore pay AUD$150.65 at any Australia Post outlet and bring the receipt with me to the interview? (This option is also on the attachment, but is not checked in my case).

Secondly, the following is checked as required documents on the attachment:

POLICE CERTIFICATES FROM:

Attached are the appropriate instructions where the certificate is required from.

Submit the original or certified copy

Submit one photocopy

However, there are no instructions for this as far as I can see - would this be referring to my United Kingdom Police Check? I put the return address on the application for this as the Immigrant Visa Unit, U.S. Consulate General Sydney etc and do not expect to receive it here.

Thirdly, the attachment states: We require the translation of your Birth Certificate. I am REALLY confused by this, as my birth certificate is in English! I do have another certified copy of the same, but the one I sent was the original.

Fourthly, the attachment states: You did not include your Australian Police Certificate with the required documents although you did mark off the checklist that you had supplied it. You will need to supply the Australian Police Certificate on the day of your interview. I'm pretty sure I didn't mark it off as supplied on the checklist and marked N/A, but anyway I did state in my cover letter with the Packet 3 contents that this would be forwarded to the Consulate (as per the instructions on the US Consular Services website which states: For NSW and Queensland residents, your police record will be sent directly to the U.S. Consulate in Sydney by the police department regarding getting an Australian Police Certificate in Queensland.) Just to clarify - I live in Queensland!

Lastly, I needed to correct my title, as I am addressed on the correspondence from the Consulate as Mrs instead of Ms!!!

I have just emailed them about all this, but can anyone enlighten me on any of these seeming anomalies while I wait for their response? The waits are always grueling!

Edited September 16, 2008 by ali and joe

[kaffy 2]

They are silly sometimes.. they kept addressing me (married woman applying for CR1) as Ms

Have you had your fingerprints done for the QLD police check yet? If so give them (the police) a call and they will be able to tell you when it was processed and mailed off to the Consulate. I think when I rang to enquire about mine they said it was finalised within a week of my fingerprinting and I emailed the Consulate too to confirm if they had received it.

Sorry I don't know about your UK police cert or your visa payment but hopefully someone else knows the answer!

[aliya 0]

They are silly sometimes.. they kept addressing me (married woman applying for CR1) as Ms

Have you had your fingerprints done for the QLD police check yet? If so give them (the police) a call and they will be able to tell you when it was processed and mailed off to the Consulate. I think when I rang to enquire about mine they said it was finalised within a week of my fingerprinting and I emailed the Consulate too to confirm if they had received it.

Sorry I don't know about your UK police cert or your visa payment but hopefully someone else knows the answer!

Thanks Kaffy, yes, I had the fingerprint check done a few weeks ago, while we were waiting for the Consulate to receive the petition from the NVC, so I will call them to check...it's funny how confusing the Consulate part of the process actually is - another example of this is that my Packet 3 requested that I mail in all the forms/documents prior to the interview, but this contradicts the website instructions (which they point you to via a link in Packet 3) - it states that you must bring them with you to the interview! I emailed them about this and they stated "Our website is in the process of being updated with the new requirements. Please follow the instructions in Packet 3 and obtain all the required documents and forward them to our office. This will expedite the processing of the visa." I emailed them at the time about the police checks and they replied "When your police certificate is received in this office, it will be placed in your file." Perhaps the people answering emails have no contact with the Officials processing the cases...

Anyway, I'm pretty certain they have made some errors with the requests in Packet 4 - I'll post when I get a response from them to my email...

[aliya 0]

They are silly sometimes.. they kept addressing me (married woman applying for CR1) as Ms

Have you had your fingerprints done for the QLD police check yet? If so give them (the police) a call and they will be able to tell you when it was processed and mailed off to the Consulate. I think when I rang to enquire about mine they said it was finalised within a week of my fingerprinting and I emailed the Consulate too to confirm if they had received it.

Sorry I don't know about your UK police cert or your visa payment but hopefully someone else knows the answer!

Thanks Kaffy, yes, I had the fingerprint check done a few weeks ago, while we were waiting for the Consulate to receive the petition from the NVC, so I will call them to check...it's funny how confusing the Consulate part of the process actually is - another example of this is that my Packet 3 requested that I mail in all the forms/documents prior to the interview, but this contradicts the website instructions (which they point you to via a link in Packet 3) - it states that you must bring them with you to the interview! I emailed them about this and they stated "Our website is in the process of being updated with the new requirements. Please follow the instructions in Packet 3 and obtain all the required documents and forward them to our office. This will expedite the processing of the visa." I emailed them at the time about the police checks and they replied "When your police certificate is received in this office, it will be placed in your file." Perhaps the people answering emails have no contact with the Officials processing the cases...

Anyway, I'm pretty certain they have made some errors with the requests in Packet 4 - I'll post when I get a response from them to my email...

Good news! I received an email from the Consulate this morning - that's incredibly prompt! They have amended (with apologies) the Packet 4 attachment to the correct fee ($150.65) and nothing else is needed accept a photo, passport and the Police Check results (they didn't mention anything about it being sent to them, but I have just contacted the QLD Police Information Center and they apparently sent it to the Consulate on September 9th - I'll email the Consulate as you suggested Kaffy)

[kaffy 2]

That's great! Glad they got back to you quickly and clarified everything.

good luck for the interview!!!

[aliya 0]

That's great! Glad they got back to you quickly and clarified everything.

good luck for the interview!!!

Thanks!

[Kath 0]

hi ali and joe

congrats on getting your interview date..

good luck to you although you probably wont need it..its a quick interview just the waiting that gets to you..

take a look at some of the australian consulate reviews to help you out on any hints that other aussies have come across for the interview day..

if you are planning on leaving australia fairly quickly i would stay an extra day to go into the consulate and collect your passport and brown envelope...if you have time to spare before you leave you can get it mailed out to you..

enjoy the view from the large window...its gorgeous...shame you cant take photo's i reckon...ohh take some munchies with you an a mag to read..if your in there for ages it gets boring plus it takes your mind off things also...

take care

kath

p.s. when you go to the post office..make sure the assistant understands what you are paying for...i have a scan of my receipt if you want to check it out...

Edited September 17, 2008 by Kath

[aliya 0]

hi ali and joe

congrats on getting your interview date..

good luck to you although you probably wont need it..its a quick interview just the waiting that gets to you..

take a look at some of the australian consulate reviews to help you out on any hints that other aussies have come across for the interview day..

if you are planning on leaving australia fairly quickly i would stay an extra day to go into the consulate and collect your passport and brown envelope...if you have time to spare before you leave you can get it mailed out to you..

enjoy the view from the large window...its gorgeous...shame you cant take photo's i reckon...ohh take some munchies with you an a mag to read..if your in there for ages it gets boring plus it takes your mind off things also...

take care

kath

p.s. when you go to the post office..make sure the assistant understands what you are paying for...i have a scan of my receipt if you want to check it out...

Thanks Kath, I have checked out the reviews and they mostly seem to be quite painless! What exactly did you ask for at the post office...so I don't confuse them?! I recall seeing a scan of someone's receipt here on VJ, but if you could post yours that would be great

[aliya 0]

hi ali and joe

congrats on getting your interview date..

good luck to you although you probably wont need it..its a quick interview just the waiting that gets to you..

take a look at some of the australian consulate reviews to help you out on any hints that other aussies have come across for the interview day..

if you are planning on leaving australia fairly quickly i would stay an extra day to go into the consulate and collect your passport and brown envelope...if you have time to spare before you leave you can get it mailed out to you..

enjoy the view from the large window...its gorgeous...shame you cant take photo's i reckon...ohh take some munchies with you an a mag to read..if your in there for ages it gets boring plus it takes your mind off things also...

take care

kath

p.s. when you go to the post office..make sure the assistant understands what you are paying for...i have a scan of my receipt if you want to check it out...

Thanks Kath, I have checked out the reviews and they mostly seem to be quite painless! What exactly did you ask for at the post office...so I don't confuse them?! I recall seeing a scan of someone's receipt here on VJ, but if you could post yours that would be great

I nearly forgot to mention that I got an email response almost immediately from the Consulate confirming that they had received my Australian Police Check - phew. As far as the English one goes I'm not sure - might call the department in the UK this evening...if anything holds us up it could be this...

[aliya 0]

hi ali and joe

congrats on getting your interview date..

good luck to you although you probably wont need it..its a quick interview just the waiting that gets to you..

take a look at some of the australian consulate reviews to help you out on any hints that other aussies have come across for the interview day..

if you are planning on leaving australia fairly quickly i would stay an extra day to go into the consulate and collect your passport and brown envelope...if you have time to spare before you leave you can get it mailed out to you..

enjoy the view from the large window...its gorgeous...shame you cant take photo's i reckon...ohh take some munchies with you an a mag to read..if your in there for ages it gets boring plus it takes your mind off things also...

take care

kath

p.s. when you go to the post office..make sure the assistant understands what you are paying for...i have a scan of my receipt if you want to check it out...

Thanks Kath, I have checked out the reviews and they mostly seem to be quite painless! What exactly did you ask for at the post office...so I don't confuse them?! I recall seeing a scan of someone's receipt here on VJ, but if you could post yours that would be great

I nearly forgot to mention that I got an email response almost immediately from the Consulate confirming that they had received my Australian Police Check - phew. As far as the English one goes I'm not sure - might call the department in the UK this evening...if anything holds us up it could be this...

Update - I called and the ACPO in the UK mailed my Police Certificate to the Consulate on Sept 16th, so it will hopefully be there in time for my interview...