Royal Mail Victim right here

[dkenj90 0]

Hi guys,

Alas my biggest worry has come true. I sent in my "Packet 3" to London Embassy on 16 Sep 08. Still waiting for the Packet 4 to arrive, i finally caved in and called the extortion line... Guess what, they sent me the Packet 4 already and I DIDN'T RECEIVE IT, i can only assume ROYAL FAIL have LOST it. So susbequently i missed my interview appointment date which was Oct 17 !!!! BAS*T**D ROYAL MAIL!!

So the moral of the story is, for DCF London you should receive your Packet 4 and interview date about 2 or 3 weeks after you send in your Packet 3, if you still haven't recieved anything by then, call the help line and get your secret email code so you can email the consulate.

Boooo,

Ken

Edited October 24, 2008 by dkenj90

[Laura+Tom 2]

Oh no! Did you get another interview date?

[dkenj90 0]

Oh no! Did you get another interview date?

I've emailed the consulate, when i called the helpline they gave me a special code to put in the subject line, so that they don't ignore the email. So i'm just waiting for a reply to my email!

BTW, i notice you say in your timeline that you're still waiting for NOA1 hardcopy. I never received that either, but i did get an NOA2 some time later. I figured I knew the NOA1 was going through OK as they took the money from my Visa.

Edited October 24, 2008 by dkenj90

[Laura+Tom 2]

Oh no! Did you get another interview date?

I've emailed the consulate, when i called the helpline they gave me a special code to put in the subject line, so that they don't ignore the email. So i'm just waiting for a reply to my email!

BTW, i notice you say in your timeline that you're still waiting for NOA1 hardcopy. I never received that either, but i did get an NOA2 some time later. I figured I knew the NOA1 was going through OK as they took the money from my Visa.

Yup it's taking it's time. My fiance (the USC) is stationed in Bahrain so it's probably going to take a while to get to him.

[MargotDarko 0]

Holy #######, that stinks!! Good job getting the special (stupid!) code to email them about it. Hopefully the rescheduled interview won't be too far way.

[chartreuse 0]

So the moral of the story is, for DCF London you should receive your Packet 4 and interview date about 2 or 3 weeks after you send in your Packet 3, if you still haven't recieved anything by then, call the help line and get your secret email code so you can email the consulate.

Thanks for that Ken. We sent the DS 2001 off on Oct 10th and have yet to hear anything, so maybe I'd best call the extortion line tomorrow.

Have you heard anything about another interview date yet?

[dkenj90 0]

So the moral of the story is, for DCF London you should receive your Packet 4 and interview date about 2 or 3 weeks after you send in your Packet 3, if you still haven't recieved anything by then, call the help line and get your secret email code so you can email the consulate.

Thanks for that Ken. We sent the DS 2001 off on Oct 10th and have yet to hear anything, so maybe I'd best call the extortion line tomorrow.

Have you heard anything about another interview date yet?

Hi,

I got the return email on Monday, they've set my new appointment for November 13. I'm hoping it's a good omen because that's my birthday! Actually i just came back from the London Embassy, my wife hadn't filed any US tax returns for 05/06, so we had to fill out the 1040's and 2555EZ's and take them to the IRS section at the Embassy, in order to get them 'filed' and also get our date-stamped copy for the I864 Affidavit form... She went in at 9.10 am this morning and was back out at 9.30, amazing!!

[chartreuse 0]

Hi,

I got the return email on Monday, they've set my new appointment for November 13. I'm hoping it's a good omen because that's my birthday! Actually i just came back from the London Embassy, my wife hadn't filed any US tax returns for 05/06, so we had to fill out the 1040's and 2555EZ's and take them to the IRS section at the Embassy, in order to get them 'filed' and also get our date-stamped copy for the I864 Affidavit form... She went in at 9.10 am this morning and was back out at 9.30, amazing!!

Good luck. I called the extorsion line this morning, got told it would be another couple weeks before I heard anything. Got home from work this evening to find an appointment letter that was dated a week ago. Go figure!

[dkenj90 0]

Hi,

I got the return email on Monday, they've set my new appointment for November 13. I'm hoping it's a good omen because that's my birthday! Actually i just came back from the London Embassy, my wife hadn't filed any US tax returns for 05/06, so we had to fill out the 1040's and 2555EZ's and take them to the IRS section at the Embassy, in order to get them 'filed' and also get our date-stamped copy for the I864 Affidavit form... She went in at 9.10 am this morning and was back out at 9.30, amazing!!

Good luck. I called the extorsion line this morning, got told it would be another couple weeks before I heard anything. Got home from work this evening to find an appointment letter that was dated a week ago. Go figure!

Hi chartreuse,

What exactly was in your appointment letter? It's been 4 working days since they emailed me my new appointment date and said 'a new letter has been sent to you', however the new letter has still not turned up (again...) Is it just a letter with the appointment date, or does it have any other instructions? I'm thinking i might end up having to just print out my email by way of showing the security guards my appointment!

Thanks,

Ken

[newenglander 0]

So the moral of the story is, for DCF London you should receive your Packet 4 and interview date about 2 or 3 weeks after you send in your Packet 3, if you still haven't recieved anything by then, call the help line and get your secret email code so you can email the consulate.

Hi--How did you get them to email you back? My fiance's last packet was sent to London, signature required, on the 9th of September and we haven't heard anything. For a little while he was able to speak to someone there who told him that it was fine and that he would receive the interview letter by courier.

Now he can't get through by phone or email. He ended up getting the code and emailing them with the code in the subject line but got a nastygram in return.

So (anyone who knows) How do you email them? He used the 3 letter, 3 number code in the subject line and he addressed it to Londonconsular@state.gov. (That may be consulate, he was telling it to me on the phone.) All he got back was the DO NOT CONTACT US blah blah blah. TIA for any help.

[newenglander 0]

Okay, here's the email he got back from them. So does this mean that they WILL answer his email? Is this good or bad? Is this how you got your answer about your letter having been lost in the Royal Mail? Does this mean they're checking to see what happened and that they'll write back to him? I'm getting frantic about this waiting and not knowing.

From: London, Consular <LondonConsular@state.gov>

Subject: Acknowledgment of e-mail receipt

(his email address)

Date: Tuesday, 28 October, 2008, 3:47 PM

Your message has been received by the Consular Information Unit. We are

currently averaging three to four days to answer email correspondence.

There is no mechanism for "status checks" while a nonimmigrant visa

application is being processed. Inquiries concerning cases which

require administrative processing or background checks, and which have

been pending less than 60 days, will not be answered.

Please do not, under any circumstances, send a duplicate or follow-on

e-mail. Repeat messages slow down our response time, and we reserve the

right to permanently delete all e-mails from senders who transmit repeat

messages or status checks.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit

[chartreuse 0]

Hi chartreuse,

What exactly was in your appointment letter? It's been 4 working days since they emailed me my new appointment date and said 'a new letter has been sent to you', however the new letter has still not turned up (again...) Is it just a letter with the appointment date, or does it have any other instructions? I'm thinking i might end up having to just print out my email by way of showing the security guards my appointment!

Thanks,

Ken

Hi Ken

OK, so it contained:

- the letter, giving date and time of appointment

- Info about the interview, security arrangements etc.

- a list of forms and documents required.

- Info on photos

- a map

- DS-230 Part II.

It was about a week from the date on the letter to it arriving, so hopefully yours will turn up today or tomorrow.

[dkenj90 0]

Okay, here's the email he got back from them. So does this mean that they WILL answer his email? Is this good or bad? Is this how you got your answer about your letter having been lost in the Royal Mail? Does this mean they're checking to see what happened and that they'll write back to him? I'm getting frantic about this waiting and not knowing.

Hi Newenglander,

When i called the helpline i got through straight away, they took my LND case number, and told me i missed the appointment. So she gave me the ABC 123 code for the email to put in the subject line to enquire about getting a new appointment date.

Once i sent the email with this code in the subject, i got the auto-reply message that you just described, however the subject line did say 'Acknowledgement of email receipt'.

About 4 days later i got another email from LondonConsular@state.gov, this one had 'RE: ABC 123' in the subject line, so they were responding to my ABC 123 email code, and in the message they told me my new appointment date and said the appointment letter was being posted to me again. So based on this, it sounds like you'll be getting your email from them soon.

Hope that helps,

Ken

[dkenj90 0]

Hi chartreuse,

What exactly was in your appointment letter? It's been 4 working days since they emailed me my new appointment date and said 'a new letter has been sent to you', however the new letter has still not turned up (again...) Is it just a letter with the appointment date, or does it have any other instructions? I'm thinking i might end up having to just print out my email by way of showing the security guards my appointment!

Thanks,

Ken

Hi Ken

OK, so it contained:

- the letter, giving date and time of appointment

- Info about the interview, security arrangements etc.

- a list of forms and documents required.

- Info on photos

- a map

- DS-230 Part II.

It was about a week from the date on the letter to it arriving, so hopefully yours will turn up today or tomorrow.

OK thanks chartreuse that's really helpful, i figured it would contain info about the checklist forms to bring, but i didn't realise it also had the DS230-part II, worst case scenario i'll be able to print one off myself. Yes, still nothing in the post today, next Monday will be 5 working days from the email, so fingers crossed! If i don't get anything by Tuesday 4th i'll phone again and make sure they haven't somehow messed up my address.

Ta,

Ken

[dkenj90 0]

Hmm doesn't look like it's possible to download a DS-230 part II.... I'll have to keep my faith in Royal Mail.