UK CR-1 FILERS

[aidy 0]

wildcat thats great news.! congrats

i do have a question tho..lol, what did you take with you to the interview as proof of your relationship? i've read you should take copies of e-mails, photo's etc..

which is easy to do but my inbox has over 200 pages of e-mails between me and my wife.! surely i dont need to print them all???

[wildcat42539 0]

wildcat thats great news.! congrats

i do have a question tho..lol, what did you take with you to the interview as proof of your relationship? i've read you should take copies of e-mails, photo's etc..

which is easy to do but my inbox has over 200 pages of e-mails between me and my wife.! surely i dont need to print them all???

I took my wedding album, Wedding DVD and Photograph CD (even though I knew they wouldnt be able to watch them, but it was professionally done and came in a case). I have over 9 years of emails, invoices and receipts of presents, plane ticket stubs and e-ticket copies, valentines and birthday cards, etc., so I well know your dilema. I just printed off about a dozen from each selection to show that our relationship wasn't just a short term thing and included pictures of us with family and friends from the visits with each other (never been so grateful for forgetting to take off my timer on the camera).

All in all I had a wedding album and a large document folder containing my selection of evidence and also duplicates of everything we had submitted along with duplicates of original documents in case any were missing... hence the reason for the shoulder bag. I did wonder if I would be able to get through security with my bag, as everyone else just had small clear document cases with them containing a few scraps of paper, however they just treated similar to a carry on bag at an aiport security and never batted an eyelid.

..... and now for the Bomb Shell

THE NEVER ASKED TO SEE A DAMN THING!!!!!

I felt like complaining and demanding they look through every scrap of paper. If they had only known the amount of time I had gone through to collate it all, and all the double, triple and quadruple checking I did once it was all packed, and the panic on the way there that I would have forgotten that one vital piece of paper that they needed to approve me

So its hard to say what to take, because you might be like me and go overkill and stress about it only to have them not ask for anything... or not pack enough for them to say "is that it?". So better err on the side of caution like me and put together what you think will do... but believe me you will never think it is enough

Good luck in your interview.... it really isnt as bad as your mind may think it will be. But then maybe its not such a bad thing to be nervous, because there is nothing like the feeling that floods your body when you are told you are approved, its amazing.

[aidy 0]

all that and they never asked to see anything..lol i would have been mad.lol

so now your approved and good to go when are you planning on leaving the UK?

[Kamahoi424 0]

Thanks for the info wildcat!

My husband and I spent the first two and a half years of our relationship separated by two oceans and a continent so we know the frustrations of being apart. Thankfully, like you pointed out, we've been able to be together for the last four and a half years. AND we get to stress each other out in person during this process!

[wildcat42539 0]

all that and they never asked to see anything..lol i would have been mad.lol

so now your approved and good to go when are you planning on leaving the UK?

Brought my ticket today, so now I am just hoping the visa comes through next week like they promised.

Flying out on the 26th and have got myself a 4hr layover, so I hopefully don't have to sprint through the airport to catch a connecting flight like on my last visit.

I will let you guys know what to expect at POE as there doesn't seem to be much information on here as to what to do next.

[aidy 0]

all that and they never asked to see anything..lol i would have been mad.lol

so now your approved and good to go when are you planning on leaving the UK?

Brought my ticket today, so now I am just hoping the visa comes through next week like they promised.

Flying out on the 26th and have got myself a 4hr layover, so I hopefully don't have to sprint through the airport to catch a connecting flight like on my last visit.

I will let you guys know what to expect at POE as there doesn't seem to be much information on here as to what to do next.

wheres your POE gonna be? theres reviews of POE's on here, i only found them myself the other day.!

[wildcat42539 0]

all that and they never asked to see anything..lol i would have been mad.lol

so now your approved and good to go when are you planning on leaving the UK?

Brought my ticket today, so now I am just hoping the visa comes through next week like they promised.

Flying out on the 26th and have got myself a 4hr layover, so I hopefully don't have to sprint through the airport to catch a connecting flight like on my last visit.

I will let you guys know what to expect at POE as there doesn't seem to be much information on here as to what to do next.

wheres your POE gonna be? theres reviews of POE's on here, i only found them myself the other day.!

My POE is Charlotte NC. I have had a look at the reviews but there are not that many entry's for it but they are all good. Hopefully that bodes well that I am not going to be stuck in a long queue as you would at say JFK or Chicago

[GoddessGrrrl 0]

Flying in to a smaller airport is almost always better for when you clear customs. I would avoid Chicago, JFK and Atlanta, and go for airports like Seattle, Salt Lake etc. (Just naming the airports I have gone through, although my experience as a USC would for sure be different.) Not that you would probably have difficulty, but like you said, Wildcat, the lines are much shorter at the smaller airports. Just like I avoid London and try to fly directly into Manchester when I go over there.

[graham_ni 0]

Hi there, I had my interview on Friday and it all went well, I thought I'd pass on a few thoughts and observations. It was in the London office.

1. Please please please make sure you read the Embassy-specific notices, up to and even on the day of the interview. I saw a few people be moved out of line and sent to the nearest storage facility (probably Paddington Station) for having electrical items (ANY sort that they could not throw into the trash, electric car keys etc). I had to bin my keyfob because it had a battery inside, they are that strict. We got there at around 7:30am, were fifth or 6th in line, and were inside and seated by 7:50am.

2. We were third (my wife was over from the US with me) of the CR-1s, and were seen initially at around 8:20am.

3. The first part seemed to be more of an admin section, making sure that all the documents were in place (they were fine before the day, so this was all good). We were given an address form for postage to fill out.

4. We then went back to the waiting area to, well, wait. This took a while, I'm assuming that the actual case agent was going through the documents. We were recalled at around 10:30am.

5. The actual interview was at a counter (no seats), and after introductions I was asked to swear an oath (non-religious) that I was giving the truth to the best of my ability.

6. I was told that my wife could remain at the counter with me, but I was instructed not to look at her during questioning and to refer to her in the third person.

7. The questions related to our relationship, the wedding, and the current financial situation. On the latter we were slightly atypical, so it required some explanation on a few things, but everything was fine and in order.

8. The agent then said 'congratulations', told me that I had been successful, and asked if I had any questions. I asked if I could hug my wife... :-)

9. We then had to take the postage form to the DX counter and pay for that, it was around £15 for the basic one with no delivery time constraints.

10. We went home and had some champagne.

All in, it was handled very efficiently, everyone was very polite, but they are very strict and very security conscious, so err on the side of caution at all times.

ga

[imaisha 1]

Thanks for the info Graham ni!

Did you have to turn in two passport photos as well or did they use the ones you sent to NVC?

[graham_ni 0]

Thanks for the info Graham ni!

Did you have to turn in two passport photos as well or did they use the ones you sent to NVC?

They already had them, but I've gotten used to always carrying two US and two UK passport photos with me at all times, just in case :-)

[imaisha 1]

Thanks for the info Graham ni!

Did you have to turn in two passport photos as well or did they use the ones you sent to NVC?

They already had them, but I've gotten used to always carrying two US and two UK passport photos with me at all times, just in case :-)

haha genius!

[wildcat42539 0]

Visa arrived this morning...... WOOO HOOOOO

Off on the 26th, just got to think about packing all my stuff up and being ruthless as to what to take with me!!!

I will let you know how my POE experience goes just so you know what to expect when you arrive, and anything that I get upto when I am getting settled., ie. SSN, Driving Licence, Bank etc...

Good Luck to you all

[imaisha 1]

HOORAY! Glad to see they're back to printing the visas quickly. Thanks for the update- keep 'em coming (please)!

[BobbeD 0]

Hi there, I had my interview on Friday and it all went well, I thought I'd pass on a few thoughts and observations. It was in the London office.

1. Please please please make sure you read the Embassy-specific notices, up to and even on the day of the interview. I saw a few people be moved out of line and sent to the nearest storage facility (probably Paddington Station) for having electrical items (ANY sort that they could not throw into the trash, electric car keys etc). I had to bin my keyfob because it had a battery inside, they are that strict. We got there at around 7:30am, were fifth or 6th in line, and were inside and seated by 7:50am.

2. We were third (my wife was over from the US with me) of the CR-1s, and were seen initially at around 8:20am.

3. The first part seemed to be more of an admin section, making sure that all the documents were in place (they were fine before the day, so this was all good). We were given an address form for postage to fill out.

4. We then went back to the waiting area to, well, wait. This took a while, I'm assuming that the actual case agent was going through the documents. We were recalled at around 10:30am.

5. The actual interview was at a counter (no seats), and after introductions I was asked to swear an oath (non-religious) that I was giving the truth to the best of my ability.

6. I was told that my wife could remain at the counter with me, but I was instructed not to look at her during questioning and to refer to her in the third person.

7. The questions related to our relationship, the wedding, and the current financial situation. On the latter we were slightly atypical, so it required some explanation on a few things, but everything was fine and in order.

8. The agent then said 'congratulations', told me that I had been successful, and asked if I had any questions. I asked if I could hug my wife... :-)

9. We then had to take the postage form to the DX counter and pay for that, it was around £15 for the basic one with no delivery time constraints.

10. We went home and had some champagne.

All in, it was handled very efficiently, everyone was very polite, but they are very strict and very security conscious, so err on the side of caution at all times.

ga

Hi Graham

Thanks for this info! I see you had your wife with you - did you have to notify the embassy in advance of this? My hubbie will be with me and I'm not sure if and how I need to notify the embassy.

Thanks

Bobbe