UK CR-1 FILERS

[Kamahoi424 0]

Congrats to all those who have completed the process! Here's to those of us still awaiting something! ANYTHING!

[BobbeD 0]

Hi everyone

Just a quick note to let you know I got my visa!!!! It should be mailed in a few days. I'll post a more detailed embassy review as soon as I have time but for now I'm just relaxing with my husband - finally! It was a challenging experience - lots of nerves and a surprising amount of questions at the interview, but we got there and I can't tell you what a relief it is, I feel so much calmer now and ready to prepare for my departure.

Good luck to those with interviews coming up - I promise I'll do my full review as soon as poss.

Bobbe

:dance:

[imaisha 0]

CONGRATS!

Can't wait to hear all about it

grapeeyes any updates?

[dvrjwh 0]

Hi everyone

Just a quick note to let you know I got my visa!!!! It should be mailed in a few days. I'll post a more detailed embassy review as soon as I have time but for now I'm just relaxing with my husband - finally! It was a challenging experience - lots of nerves and a surprising amount of questions at the interview, but we got there and I can't tell you what a relief it is, I feel so much calmer now and ready to prepare for my departure.

Good luck to those with interviews coming up - I promise I'll do my full review as soon as poss.

Bobbe

:dance:

Fantastic, congratulations!!

Interested to hear about the questions. But enjoy time with hubby first.

Mine's due over on 18th in plenty of time for the interview. We're just double checking required documentation this weekend - don't want to get caught short!!

Best wishes to everyone.

[NotworkSte 19]

Great news BobbeD, I am very happy for you, good news like that makes me forget for a short while my long wait, genuinely pleased for you.

[BobbeD 0]

Hi everyone

Finally here is my review – I’ll post this here and on the general embassy reviews section. Thank you all for your kind wishes and congratulations.

My appointment was at 8:30am and unlike all the people who seemed to arrive incredibly early, my husband and I only arrived just on time. He’d barely slept and my stomach had been in knots so it had been a difficult morning!

We found the embassy easily as I’d checked where it was after my medical exam and we joined a long but clearly marked queue for visa applicants. Several officials were checking those in the queue to make sure we didn’t have any electrical items, weren’t wearing any metal items (belts etc had to be removed) and that we had invitation letters. I had emailed the embassy to inform them my husband would be joining me and received a reply confirming he would be added to the ‘list’ for the day, but no-one seemed to check any list before they let him through! When we got through this queue, the invitation letter was checked yet again before we even stepped foot into the security booth. Our bags and we were x-rayed and then we went through. We followed the signs round to the main entrance, went in and presented the invitation letter again at reception and were given a ticket number and told to wait in the main hall. I have to say I was pretty (perhaps naively) shocked when I went into the hall – it was absolutely heaving with people. It was a bit like Argos – huge TV screens with ticket numbers and announcements coming up every second – “ticket N300 to window 3” etc. We found a seat and waited… and waited… and finally at around 10am we were called to a counter. A perfectly nice guy took my fingerprints, gave me my x-ray, checked through the documents and asked me when I was planning to travel. He gave me a piece of paper to fill in with my details for the courier and asked me to take a seat again. We waited around another half an hour and then were called to another counter for the interview. We got a young, dark-haired lady who was very pleasant. She checked my fingerprints again (quite fascinated by the fact they did this twice in quick succession – anyone know why?!), looked through the documents and ‘swore me in’. She then told my husband that he was allowed to stay at the window but could not intervene in the interview. Her face changed at this point and she became completely poker faced, started twiddling her pen and stared at me. She asked me around 20 questions in very quick succession and I just responded – I don’t remember much about it because I think I was ‘in the zone’ but my husband says it was a bit like watching a ping-pong game because we were both so fast!! He also says she went back and forth from subject to subject, possibly trying to catch me out. I was very surprised at the number of questions, given other reviews I’ve read, but just kept on answering them. So, the questions, in no particular order:

- when and where did you meet?

- why did you meet? (worked for the same company)

- which company did you work for?

- when did you begin your relationship?

- when did you get married?

- where did you get married?

- is this your first marriage?

- is this his first marriage?

- do you have children?

- does he have children?

- how many times has he visited you in the UK?

- how long did you work in the USA?

- what is the longest time you have spent there apart from that?

- how have you kept in touch during the long-distance relationship?

- have you ever had any trouble with immigration?

- have you ever been arrested or had any trouble with the law in any country?

- which countries have you lived in for more than 12 months since the age of 16?

- why did you choose to live in the USA and not the UK?

I think that was all! She then stopped, smiled and told me that she was very pleased to say that my visa had been approved. She told me a few things about the courier service, how long it would take, the envelope that mustn’t be opened etc – but to be honest I was quite oblivious as all I could think about was the fact that my visa had been approved. We then queued up, paid for the courier service and left, still in shock. She hadn’t looked at a single document, although we had been the most organized we’ve ever been!! We took copies of our USCIS and NVC files, along with originals and copies of marriage certificate, birth certificate and police certificate (I’d had two of all of these from the start), plus Charles’ tax returns and pay slips and a big pack of emails, photos, wedding cards etc. My poor hubbie lugged this all to the embassy for nothing, but I’m still glad we took it just in case.

Still waiting for the courier, but hopefully it’ll arrive soon. We have our flights booked for 21st July.

In case anyone is looking for a good hotel, we booked the Darlington Hyde Park via laterooms.com and were very happy – about 20 mins walk from the embassy and very pleasant and good value.

Good luck to everyone else!!

[imaisha 0]

BobbeD, thanks for all that

Weird that you got all those questions! Seems like nothing crazy though so I'm not too worried.

I think they do the fingerprints twice because they have to verify that you're still you or something. Who's to say that you were you when you had the prints taken in the first place though?

[imaisha 0]

Interviews:

7/14....aidy (and GodessGrrrl)

7/29....TayRivers

7/31....dvrjwh

8/4......imaisha

In progress:

blue123: Waiting on case complete

start a new life: Waiting on case complete

ArthurRoberta: NVC

NotworkSte: USCIS

Kamahoi424: USCIS

All Done:

7/1.....BobbeD............Approved! .......POE 7/21

6/30...Grapeeyes.......?

6/12...wildcat42539...Approved! .......POE 6/26

6/12...graham_ni.......Approved! .......POE 6/27

[JustJ 0]

Could a red-headed Irish stepchild join your group? I'm so lonely....LOL.

Waiting is horrible.

[aidy 0]

CONGRAT'S BobbeD.!

so just to keep you all posted i had my medical last week and im assuming it all went well as they haven't called me back, im off back to london today for my interview tomorrow so once im home i'll pop on and let you all know how it went..

thanks for the review by the way Bobbe.! and welcome aboard justjulie

[imaisha 0]

best of luck tomorrow aidy!

glad to hear your medical went well- my husband's did as well. hooray!

[aidy 0]

ok.. so today was a crazy day.! i stayed at my dads monday night as he lives just outside london, being a london cab driver i assumed my dad would get me to the embassy on time (i was wrong.! i was there at 6.30am..lol) .. any way.. so i waited for Goulds chemist to open at 7.30(by the way the guys in there are great) i dropped off my ipod and mobile for the bargain price of £3 and quickly made my way to join the the line at the embassy.!

i waited in line and after removing everything from my pockets and my belt and puttining them in a tiny bag i got to the front and explained i hadn't got an interview letter yet but i'd come for my CR-1 interview (all is going well so far right?) the guy took my name and began to look down his list of people that was having interviews, and then said... im sorry but your not on the list.! (my heart stopped for a second.. or three)

i explained that NVC had confirmed my date with me and we both went through his list.. sure enough i wasnt on it.! he said security wouldnt let me through and i started to panic a li'l..

i went back to get my phone so i could call Rach, i told her what had happened and asked if she could call the embassy as my battery was low and my credit almost gone( damn prepay mobiles.!)

so Rach called the embassy and spoke to some guy named Steven who said i should be on the list and i should go back in line and if i had any problems to get the embassy staff to contact him and he'd ok it.! so i went back to the chemist and as i'd only been gone about 30mins they agreed to not charge me again for leaving my stuff(which was pretty nice of them to be fair)

i jumped back in line and as i got closer to the front i noticed the guy that told me i wasnt on the list make a sharp exit to the other line.! once i got to the front i explained what had happened and a very nice lady explianed i was on the list and her idiot co-worker had checked the wrong list(i was a li'l angry but relieved at the same time.!)

anyway.. so everything went smoothly from then on, i had my first chat with some british guy after waiting a while who just checked through my paperwork and told me to take a seat till i was called again(and gave me my courier form).. i sat and waited and my number was finally called, a very nice american lady went through the same questions everyone else has stated and then asked if there was anything outstanding with my medical, i told her i'd had to have another MMR jab but it was 2 days after my medical and the nurse had faxed the paperwork to knightsbridge straight after.. she said they hadnt had my medical back and i should call knightsbridge to see what was going on but she was happy to approve me if my medical was ok and to take my form to the courier desk and once they had my medical my visa would be sent.!

i called knightsbridge and they told me not to worry my report was out with their couriers today and the embassy would get them by the end of the day.!

soo... the only things that are bothering me are they never took any pics off me and didnt charge me for my fingerprints.. i was under the impression it was £90 for my prints but they didnt even ask me for it.! im i worrying over nothing????

well thats my story folks.. for all you guys that are gonna have interviews if they tell you your names not on the list make them triple check ALL there lists.!

good luck folks

[imaisha 0]

HOORAY! What an adventure. I'd have had about 30 heart attacks but sounds like you handled it all excellently! Not sure why you thought you'd have to pay them for the fingerprints- are you thinking of the biometrics that AOS applicants do here in the US?

Well anyways, congrats! Any ideas for POE yet?

[BobbeD 0]

Congrats Aidy! It sounds like there were some pretty scary moments but glad you got through it ok - not sure I would have coped so well!

Good luck to everyone else waiting - I am now staying with my family until I fly out next week and relieved that I'm almost finished with this journey, but will definitely keep checking this site for news.

[imaisha 0]

Interviews:

7/29....TayRivers

7/31....dvrjwh

8/4......imaisha

In progress:

blue123: Waiting on case complete

start a new life: Waiting on case complete

ArthurRoberta: NVC

NotworkSte: USCIS

Kamahoi424: USCIS

All Done:

7/14....aidy (and GodessGrrrl)....Approved! ....POE ?

7/1.....BobbeD............................Approved! ....POE 7/21

6/30...Grapeeyes.......................?

6/12...wildcat42539....................Approved! ....POE 6/26

6/12...graham_ni........................Approved! ....POE 6/27

Good luck to your parents for tomorrow TayRivers!