The DISASTROUS debacle that was my AOS experience

[Torontonian 0]

Here's a long story...you might want to get yourselves a coffee!

You won't believe what just happened. My interview was at 9:15 this morning. Everything started out well. I had a fantastic binder and folders with every possible piece of info they'd need, plus photo albums. We did not oversleep, and we dressed nicely. We got out of the house VERY early. Baltimore is about a 45 minute drive from home, so we decided to leave a full hour and 45 minutes early, over twice as much time as we would normally need to be sure and account for any traffic. We figured we'd get to Baltimore early get some coffee, etc.

Well, everything went swimmingly until we got less than 10 miles away from our destination, merging onto 95 N. Traffic ground to a complete halt. We felt fine, because we had over 45 minutes and we were less than a 10 minute drive away.

Well, we stayed still (or moved literally by inches) for the next TWO HOURS. I can't describe what a helpless and hopeless feeling it is to watch the clock tick past your interview time and there is not a THING you can do about it. My husband says he has never seen a traffic jam like that in all his years of driving around DC. There was absolutely nothing about an accident on the radio (and indeed there were no police around, and no construction either), I guess this is normal for Baltimore?!?!?! Thank GOD I don't work there. We literally could have walked faster. People were driving up the shoulders and jamming themselves in, which slowed it down even more. At one point 8 lanes were merging into one. I have never seen a traffic horror like that in my life.

Of course, by the time we parked the car in Baltimore, we arrived a full hour late for the most important interview of our lives. We ran into the room and asked the receptionist if there was any way they would still see us. She said she didn't see why not, and took the interview letter. PHEW!!

Another hour goes by. Then they call my name. The lady who is the officer assigned to interview us was clearly NOT amused and spoke to us in a very impatient voice, almost like scolding children. I tried to explain to her what happened, but she didn't want to hear about it. I was late, and she was pretty sure she would not be able to see us at all that day. I asked if there was any way we could wait just in case there was a slot open, or even re-schedule, but all she said was "that's up to you." and shut the door on us. I thought I would DIE on the spot. Would this mean there would be a black mark on our file, or worse yet that they would deny my application for being a no-show?? I can see being mad at people who are careless and late, but it was so obvious that this was not our fault.

We rushed out the door to call our immigration lawyer. He said that we should try to submit a note with my A# to say that we would be willing to wait all day if need be, and if that didn't work, he would re-schedule it for us. We decided to try this, and asked the receptionist if she would take our note. She said to "put it in the box outside the waiting room." We looked, and there was no box. The guard at the main desk (outside of the waiting room, not the receptionist) told us there was no box, the receptionist was wrong. Back in we went. Yes there IS a box, it's grey, shaped like a mail box. Out we go again. The guard says that the box has been closed for ages and it's just for appeals anyway. He suggests we go into the information room and speak to a manager.

In to the information room we go. We start to explain the problem to the receptionist in there, who begins to tell us that she only books infopass appointments. With great urgency we ask if there is any way we could leave our note to say we would like to wait. She then listens to our story and seems amazed that they are sending us away. She takes a copy of our appointment letter and disappears......

And comes back with noneother than the lady who kicked us out!!! We were told to step aside to talk to her. I thought for sure we were in deep trouble and that we were about to get a strip torn off us. On the contrary, like Dr. Jekyl and Mrs. Hyde, she was as pleasant and understanding as anyone could be. She told us that she had spoken with her supervisor, and that because our file was in such good shape, they would make this ONE exception for us and re-schedule for us, so we don't have to do it ourselves. We are to receive a letter from them with the new date. She said she was sorry, but there was no way she could see us today. We all shook hands, thanked her and left.

I am absolutely CRUSHED about this because who would ever anticipate that a 10 minute drive would take two hours??? I guess we are lucky that we will be getting a makeup interview. I think the new letter will probably arrive sometime in mid/late July, and I guess the interview will be in August/September sometime, but I haven't the foggiest idea. Talk about a nightmare!!!

Well....that's all to report for now. If anyone has an early morning interview in Baltimore, I STRONGLY suggest staying in a hotel overnight. That is definitely what we will be doing if we get another morning appointment.

Edited June 20, 2006 by Torontonian

[Kez/JWolf 6]

OH God I am so sorry to hear that you did not get seen.... who would have thought that a 10 min drive would take 2 hours....

I hope you get a new interview date soon and all goes well....

Kezzie

[alexil74 0]

OH God I am so sorry to hear that you did not get seen.... who would have thought that a 10 min drive would take 2 hours....

I hope you get a new interview date soon and all goes well....

Kezzie

I'm so sorry ....and I hope you get a new interview date soon...good luck

Edited June 20, 2006 by alexil74

[wherezdabearz 0]

What an awful experience. Glad you managed to talk to the same officer though so you can be reassured that you won't be penalised for not arriving on time. Hope you get another interview date soon

Alison

[Reba 2]

I'd have probably died of heartattack! Best of luck on your next try! Good idea to get a hotel room the night before

[ohiobuck 0]

OMG you had the worst day. Try and stay positive it will work out, just later than you wanted and with more hassle. As a thougtht make sure you check your newspapers and online for reports that mention the traffic jam, print them out if you find them and keep in case you need to prove your traffic nightmare so they will take simpathy on you.

I will pray for you and I wish you all the best that you get a new interview soon and this is all behind you.

Paula

[raymaga 25]

Sorry to hear about your experience. At least it's the AOS interview, and not the Visa interview. You are together, and it's just a matter of waiting for the new interview date.

Good luck in getting an interview date soon.

[j3dnight 0]

there is construction work going on, it's been backed up on 95 for awhile now, I got caught in it myself once but I jumped off, an alternate route is 295 which takes you to downtown Baltimore, check that out, we haven't had traffic problems but just AOS problems with Baltimore which the timeline shows, I wish you lots of luck

[shirlJ831 0]

what a horrible feeling !!!! I hope things work out to the very end for you both good luck

[Torontonian 0]

ohiobuck, that was a GREAT idea about printing off any news items. Sure enough, we just read that there are 80,000 tourists jamming up 95 for a Baptist convention!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/b...l-news-breaking

Thanks for all your comments guys, it's so great having people who understand. ((((HUGS))))

[Torontonian 0]

sorry, double post.

Edited June 20, 2006 by Torontonian

[pj1959us 0]

So sorry to hear of your experience, but at least you aren't considered a "no-show"! What a nightmare!

That was exactly what I was afraid of when David and Chris' AOS interviews were scheduled and I was SO glad we travelled there the day before and stayed the night in a downtown hotel. They had never been to Chicago (except the airport!) and were able to see some sights and then we could just walk to the interview the next morning.

Best of luck on the NEXT go-round!

[pbgirl 1]

Oh my gosh! What a nightmare come to life! And to have someone shut you out and then turn into a helpful provider. Gheesh!

Good luck with the next interview session and hope the letter comes soon!!

[JRluvsLhyn 0]

Here's a long story...you might want to get yourselves a coffee!

You won't believe what just happened. My interview was at 9:15 this morning. Everything started out well. I had a fantastic binder and folders with every possible piece of info they'd need, plus photo albums. We did not oversleep, and we dressed nicely. We got out of the house VERY early. Baltimore is about a 45 minute drive from home, so we decided to leave a full hour and 45 minutes early, over twice as much time as we would normally need to be sure and account for any traffic. We figured we'd get to Baltimore early get some coffee, etc.

Well, everything went swimmingly until we got less than 10 miles away from our destination, merging onto 95 N. Traffic ground to a complete halt. We felt fine, because we had over 45 minutes and we were less than a 10 minute drive away.

Well, we stayed still (or moved literally by inches) for the next TWO HOURS. I can't describe what a helpless and hopeless feeling it is to watch the clock tick past your interview time and there is not a THING you can do about it. My husband says he has never seen a traffic jam like that in all his years of driving around DC. There was absolutely nothing about an accident on the radio (and indeed there were no police around, and no construction either), I guess this is normal for Baltimore?!?!?! Thank GOD I don't work there. We literally could have walked faster. People were driving up the shoulders and jamming themselves in, which slowed it down even more. At one point 8 lanes were merging into one. I have never seen a traffic horror like that in my life.

Of course, by the time we parked the car in Baltimore, we arrived a full hour late for the most important interview of our lives. We ran into the room and asked the receptionist if there was any way they would still see us. She said she didn't see why not, and took the interview letter. PHEW!!

Another hour goes by. Then they call my name. The lady who is the officer assigned to interview us was clearly NOT amused and spoke to us in a very impatient voice, almost like scolding children. I tried to explain to her what happened, but she didn't want to hear about it. I was late, and she was pretty sure she would not be able to see us at all that day. I asked if there was any way we could wait just in case there was a slot open, or even re-schedule, but all she said was "that's up to you." and shut the door on us. I thought I would DIE on the spot. Would this mean there would be a black mark on our file, or worse yet that they would deny my application for being a no-show?? I can see being mad at people who are careless and late, but it was so obvious that this was not our fault.

We rushed out the door to call our immigration lawyer. He said that we should try to submit a note with my A# to say that we would be willing to wait all day if need be, and if that didn't work, he would re-schedule it for us. We decided to try this, and asked the receptionist if she would take our note. She said to "put it in the box outside the waiting room." We looked, and there was no box. The guard at the main desk (outside of the waiting room, not the receptionist) told us there was no box, the receptionist was wrong. Back in we went. Yes there IS a box, it's grey, shaped like a mail box. Out we go again. The guard says that the box has been closed for ages and it's just for appeals anyway. He suggests we go into the information room and speak to a manager.

In to the information room we go. We start to explain the problem to the receptionist in there, who begins to tell us that she only books infopass appointments. With great urgency we ask if there is any way we could leave our note to say we would like to wait. She then listens to our story and seems amazed that they are sending us away. She takes a copy of our appointment letter and disappears......

And comes back with noneother than the lady who kicked us out!!! We were told to step aside to talk to her. I thought for sure we were in deep trouble and that we were about to get a strip torn off us. On the contrary, like Dr. Jekyl and Mrs. Hyde, she was as pleasant and understanding as anyone could be. She told us that she had spoken with her supervisor, and that because our file was in such good shape, they would make this ONE exception for us and re-schedule for us, so we don't have to do it ourselves. We are to receive a letter from them with the new date. She said she was sorry, but there was no way she could see us today. We all shook hands, thanked her and left.

I am absolutely CRUSHED about this because who would ever anticipate that a 10 minute drive would take two hours??? I guess we are lucky that we will be getting a makeup interview. I think the new letter will probably arrive sometime in mid/late July, and I guess the interview will be in August/September sometime, but I haven't the foggiest idea. Talk about a nightmare!!!

Well....that's all to report for now. If anyone has an early morning interview in Baltimore, I STRONGLY suggest staying in a hotel overnight. That is definitely what we will be doing if we get another morning appointment.

Sorry it's time for the waiting again Hope you'll get your interview letter sooooooooon! don't think about it too much sometimes things bound to happen that cannot be avoided & we could not control. the best thing is you made it guys and handle it very well

[Octa 0]

wow, I know how terrible it must have felt....we missed our own wedding because of traffic....we dressed up twice in one week:)) I was crying, my grandma was crying, my mom was crying. what a mess!

it's good you persisted. hopefully, the new interview letter comes soon and you can both feel better.

OC