People between NOA2 and Interview ~2009~

[haleywynne 0]

So my fiance posted his packet 4 forms on Aug. 27th (next day) so they should have received them Aug. 28th...

What is usually the average wait between London receiving packet 4 and my fiance receiving his interview letter? I noticed a couple of yall here waited about a month, is that faster than/slower than normal?

We're getting impatient here haha.

[macd 1]

So my fiance posted his packet 4 forms on Aug. 27th (next day) so they should have received them Aug. 28th...

What is usually the average wait between London receiving packet 4 and my fiance receiving his interview letter? I noticed a couple of yall here waited about a month, is that faster than/slower than normal?

We're getting impatient here haha.

Hi there haleywynne, our timeline is very similar to yours! Ha - "Impatient" is a very familiar word to me too at the moment! I have been waiting just over 4 weeks now for my interview date letter to arrive.

I would call the embassy if I were you, and make sure they received the documents and checklist, then ask how long it might be. They obviously won't give you a specific date that you'll receive the letter, but I find it is good to have something you can actually do so you're not just sitting around feeling really frustrated!

[Tamanna 0]

Hi,

My name is Tam and I have been following this forum for a long time (since my K1 petition as sent off) but have never posted on any of these forums. I currently am "stuck in a situation" and was hoping for some advice/suggestions.

Essentially, my fiance and I received the NOA2 on the 31st of July, which was then forwarded to NVC where it was stuck at AP for a bit. Finally on the 17th of August, it was finally forwarded to the US embassy in London. Now, since the 17th, I have been waiting for my packet 3 to be generated and this has yet to happen (even after waiting for almost a month now).

I have been on the phone numerous times these past few weeks with both the DOS and the embassy (via the premium line) only to be told that packet 3 has not been generated yet. Now for the confusing bit - there were two occasion where I was told by the embassy, there was a slight glitch and it showed on the system that I was currently awaiting an interview date. This is the part that confuses me seeing as I never sent in any forms to the embassy as yet. I was given a reference number and told to email the consular services. So I emailed the embassy, telling them its been a month and I have not received packet 3 as yet, only to be told to download the forms. That was it, no instructions or advice as to when packet 3 was going to be generated or when to send the forms in. So I called the premium line again today, only to be told to wait as my packet 3 had still not been generated yet, and to call in a week.

So to cut my long, confusing story short, my question is, what do I do now? I have filled out all the paperwork for packet 3 (just waiting to send it off) and all the documents needed for the interview have all been sorted. Anyone have any suggestions, or anyone else, who is in the same boat as me??? PLS HELP!!!!

[macd 1]

Hi,

My name is Tam and I have been following this forum for a long time (since my K1 petition as sent off) but have never posted on any of these forums. I currently am "stuck in a situation" and was hoping for some advice/suggestions.

Essentially, my fiance and I received the NOA2 on the 31st of July, which was then forwarded to NVC where it was stuck at AP for a bit. Finally on the 17th of August, it was finally forwarded to the US embassy in London. Now, since the 17th, I have been waiting for my packet 3 to be generated and this has yet to happen (even after waiting for almost a month now).

I have been on the phone numerous times these past few weeks with both the DOS and the embassy (via the premium line) only to be told that packet 3 has not been generated yet. Now for the confusing bit - there were two occasion where I was told by the embassy, there was a slight glitch and it showed on the system that I was currently awaiting an interview date. This is the part that confuses me seeing as I never sent in any forms to the embassy as yet. I was given a reference number and told to email the consular services. So I emailed the embassy, telling them its been a month and I have not received packet 3 as yet, only to be told to download the forms. That was it, no instructions or advice as to when packet 3 was going to be generated or when to send the forms in. So I called the premium line again today, only to be told to wait as my packet 3 had still not been generated yet, and to call in a week.

So to cut my long, confusing story short, my question is, what do I do now? I have filled out all the paperwork for packet 3 (just waiting to send it off) and all the documents needed for the interview have all been sorted. Anyone have any suggestions, or anyone else, who is in the same boat as me??? PLS HELP!!!!

Hi there Tam, I'm sorry to hear you've been so delayed thus far.

Packet 3 is really just the forms and checklist that you need to fill out and send back to the embassy. Seeing as you have already filled all that out, all you need to do now is post it all to the embassy!

Check out this link for more info: http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/iv/iv_15.html

(Packet 3 nowadays is often just a letter from the embassy which contains your case number and this link to online documents that you fill out and print)

[haleywynne 0]

Thanks for the advice macd! Only we heard someone worse than we were expecting

Royal Fail strikes again, my fiance sent packet 3 next day delivery on August 27th, but the embassy said they didn't receive it until September 9th! Grrrrrr...

Then he said 6-8 weeks for packet 4 and then 6-8 weeks from then for the interview. So much for being here for Christmas

[Lisa and Ian 7]

Thanks for the advice macd! Only we heard someone worse than we were expecting

Royal Fail strikes again, my fiance sent packet 3 next day delivery on August 27th, but the embassy said they didn't receive it until September 9th! Grrrrrr...

Then he said 6-8 weeks for packet 4 and then 6-8 weeks from then for the interview. So much for being here for Christmas

Hopefully, they are giving the worst case scenario on those dates.

[macd 1]

Thanks for the advice macd! Only we heard someone worse than we were expecting

Royal Fail strikes again, my fiance sent packet 3 next day delivery on August 27th, but the embassy said they didn't receive it until September 9th! Grrrrrr...

Then he said 6-8 weeks for packet 4 and then 6-8 weeks from then for the interview. So much for being here for Christmas

Yeah, the same sort of thing happened to us actually. I sent it recorded 1st class delivery on 5th August, and somehow it took about a week to get there. I'm with Ian and Lisa on the dates thing - the embassy is probably just covering themselves, so fret not! Frustrating as it is, at least you know what's going on now, which is better than being in the dark.

[Tamanna 0]

Hi there Tam, I'm sorry to hear you've been so delayed thus far.

Packet 3 is really just the forms and checklist that you need to fill out and send back to the embassy. Seeing as you have already filled all that out, all you need to do now is post it all to the embassy!

Check out this link for more info: http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/iv/iv_15.html

(Packet 3 nowadays is often just a letter from the embassy which contains your case number and this link to online documents that you fill out and print)

Thanks for your advice macd. Just to let u know, I sent another email to the embassy after posting onto this forum, asking them when I could send in my forms. To my surprise, they sent a reply within 8 hours, which is as below.

"As long as you have a case number, which you do, you download the forms from the website and complete and return them to the Immigrant Visa Unit. If you wish to wait for official notification, you should allow a further 3 – 4 weeks. You will not be sent forms, however, you will be instructed to download them from the Embassy website."

Needless to say, I went straight to the post office after getting this email, to post off the forms. Now we wait and see what happens next. Thank you once again macd for taking the time to reply. It just nice that somebody actually understands your frustrations about this whole crazy visa process. Cheers!

[WelshDave86 0]

I think, and recent history proves, that London are just being overly cautious with their approach to Interview times.

Looking at the past month or so, here are the figures for Interviews being processed

Date Packet 3 Sent - Day of Interview....................... Days in between are worked out approximately

08/25 - 09/25 30 days!

08/21 - 09/30 39 days!

08/17 - 09/02 16 days!!!!

08/24 - 09/14 19 days!!!

08/14 - 09/16 32 days!

08/19 - 09/18 29 days!

08/14 - 09/10 26 days!

08/14 - 09/28 44 days

07/23 - 08/14 21 days!

Here's hoping that we all get ourselves off to see our loved ones ASAP!!!!

[macd 1]

I think, and recent history proves, that London are just being overly cautious with their approach to Interview times.

Looking at the past month or so, here are the figures for Interviews being processed

Date Packet 3 Sent - Day of Interview....................... Days in between are worked out approximately

08/25 - 09/25 30 days!

08/21 - 09/30 39 days!

08/17 - 09/02 16 days!!!!

08/24 - 09/14 19 days!!!

08/14 - 09/16 32 days!

08/19 - 09/18 29 days!

08/14 - 09/10 26 days!

08/14 - 09/28 44 days

07/23 - 08/14 21 days!

Here's hoping that we all get ourselves off to see our loved ones ASAP!!!!

Thanks for that! I think I will be nearer the 44 day mark, as I have been waiting since August 11th...

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I just heard that there were postal strikes in London yesterday, which means there will be backlog, which then means that correspondance from the embassy will be slowed up for the next week or so. Blah. Oh well, it's good to keep this in mind... I'm assuming we can call the embassy and be told our interview dates over the phone in the meantime. Keep the faith, people!

[Nik+Heather 121]

I think, and recent history proves, that London are just being overly cautious with their approach to Interview times.

Looking at the past month or so, here are the figures for Interviews being processed

Date Packet 3 Sent - Day of Interview....................... Days in between are worked out approximately

08/25 - 09/25 30 days!

08/21 - 09/30 39 days!

08/17 - 09/02 16 days!!!!

08/24 - 09/14 19 days!!!

08/14 - 09/16 32 days!

08/19 - 09/18 29 days!

08/14 - 09/10 26 days!

08/14 - 09/28 44 days

07/23 - 08/14 21 days!

Here's hoping that we all get ourselves off to see our loved ones ASAP!!!!

Thanks for that! I think I will be nearer the 44 day mark, as I have been waiting since August 11th...

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I just heard that there were postal strikes in London yesterday, which means there will be backlog, which then means that correspondance from the embassy will be slowed up for the next week or so. Blah. Oh well, it's good to keep this in mind... I'm assuming we can call the embassy and be told our interview dates over the phone in the meantime. Keep the faith, people!

Seriously how reliable is the mail over there???? Postal strikes made the delivery of the wedding invites pretty late, and now I'm wondering if the little things I want to send him before he leaves would get there in time! Erk.

[macd 1]

Yeah, tell me about it. We've had loads of strikes over the summer. They are such a pain. Info on the latest one here:

BBC news

There are so many strikes lately I can't keep track. I only know about this one because I was complaining to a friend about not getting any post, and she told me there are strikes down south this week. They should sort it out already! Grrrr

[macd 1]

Hi there Tam, I'm sorry to hear you've been so delayed thus far.

Packet 3 is really just the forms and checklist that you need to fill out and send back to the embassy. Seeing as you have already filled all that out, all you need to do now is post it all to the embassy!

Check out this link for more info: http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/visa/iv/iv_15.html

(Packet 3 nowadays is often just a letter from the embassy which contains your case number and this link to online documents that you fill out and print)

Thanks for your advice macd. Just to let u know, I sent another email to the embassy after posting onto this forum, asking them when I could send in my forms. To my surprise, they sent a reply within 8 hours, which is as below.

"As long as you have a case number, which you do, you download the forms from the website and complete and return them to the Immigrant Visa Unit. If you wish to wait for official notification, you should allow a further 3 – 4 weeks. You will not be sent forms, however, you will be instructed to download them from the Embassy website."

Needless to say, I went straight to the post office after getting this email, to post off the forms. Now we wait and see what happens next. Thank you once again macd for taking the time to reply. It just nice that somebody actually understands your frustrations about this whole crazy visa process. Cheers!

No trouble : ) Support is why we are all here. God knows we all need each other, as only people who are going through this process can really understand. Glad you've got the documents off in the post now. Good luck with the next stage!

[haleywynne 0]

Thanks everyone I know that's exactly what I've been thinking, too... but I just wanted to hear what everyone else had to say!

[MARM 7]

If it gives any comfort it seems as if London is getting back up to speed with their processing time.