America/Australia March Posting

[HeidiDaniel 0]

Found this http://canberra.usembassy.gov/niv_fees.html hope it helps if anyone else has any problems........Im sooooooo annoyed..Thanks for everyones help

[USAand OZ 2]

Hey Gypsy

Received my packet 4. It states in the email about paying the $420 fee at the post office.

You need to take to the interview your passport, the receipt for the $420 and a copy of the email they send. My interview is at 11.00am on the 3rd Aug.

It doesn't say anything about taking any evidence but i sure will be they may not ask for anything but I am planning on taking everything. I am flying in on the Monday afternoon staying at the Travelodge i have heard that is the closest to the consulate got it for $119 a night.

I want so much to give my notice at work but Bill is being very cautious and says I shouldn't do it until after the interview and I know everything is a goer. It is so hard to concentrate and get involved in anything but I believe he is right so I will wait.

How did your medical go?

Cheers Kathy

[jazzkat78 0]

Hey guys-

It’s been forever since I posted so here is my update.

Matt and I had a great time in Thailand so nice and relaxing hard to come back to reality. During our vacation I got an email from the Sydney embassy with the packet 3 info, never got anything in the mail like I thought we would… is this normal or did you guys get a hard copy of packet 3?

Matt is in Adelaide and has his exam with Dr. Miller today. We thought it would take a few weeks as stated in Dr. Miller’s letter but he was able to get the blood and x-ray done last week and Dr. Miller got him in today. So if all goes well Matt will get the packet sent this week and we then wait for the interview.

For the interview how long did it take for the embassy to contact you? Did they contact you by phone, email, post? Do they have many options for the interview day or is Aug 3rd it for August?

Also what is this about the $420 fee? What is it for?

Kathy the Travelodge is great to stay at, just your basic hotel. I stayed there a few time and it’s centered around everything and a 15min walk to the harbor. My suggestion is book the shuttle service to and from the airport-hotel. I can’t remember the name but the hotel will know or just goggle it. You will save yourself some $$ cause it’s a $40 taxi ride, compared to a $12 shuttle ride.

My fingers are crossed for us all xxx

Caren

[USAand OZ 2]

Hey Caren...Great to hear you guys had a a fantastic vacation.

You received packet 3 correctly the consulate sends it by email. It was sent to Bill in my case and he forwarded it to me.

Once Matt sends packet 3 back you will receive another email with an interview date. This may take 2 day to a week to get and once again it was sent to Bill in my case. They interview every Tuesday so he could get an interview later for Aug or early Sept.

The $420 is for the immigrant visa fee it has to be paid at the post office and Matt will have to take the receipt with him to his interview. The post office knows all about it and are very happy to take your money LOL.

I was thinking of catching the train from the airport to the city in Sydney i have hear the train station is right near the Travelodge.

Everything is happening so fast now and you will find that once Matt send everything in it will fly by for you. I still haven't resigned from work yet Bill wants me to wait till after my interview just to make sure everything is ok. We are probably being too cautious but better to be sure than not. If all goes well I will be looking at flying to the States hopefully around the 14th/15th Sept. I have taken this week off work I was finding it all to difficult to concentrate so this week I will go through things and really narrow down the things I want to ship over.

Keep in touch Kathy

[jazzkat78 0]

Hi so Matt's exam went fine except the blood place forget to test for Rubella, no biggie Matt will just get the results on Thursday and send the packet in for a early next week arrival. Kathy thanks for the heads up about the Tuesday interview day, if all goes well Matt should hopefully have his interview then on 8/10 or 8/17

Kathy, probably a good idea about work since the visa paperwork from the embassy says don't do anything until you have Visa in hand. For the interview do they say how long/days you should be in Sydney? How long are you planning on staying?

Best of luck xx

[HeidiDaniel 0]

The K-1 fee is $350USD, that doesnt automaticlly make it $420AUS does it? Or is that just the exchange rate at the time of the updated fees? From my understanding now, $350USD is about $388AUS. Tell me if im wrong, im going to pay this tomorrow....Thanks

[EandR 0]

Approved!

The Australia post computer tells them how much it is for the correct visa type (so tell them it's a K fiance visa and they find it in the list) and they'll tell you how much, presumably based on an exchange rate some time in the past couple of months, and adjusted periodically. When I paid mine about a week ago, it was still $420.

[HeidiDaniel 0]

Approved!

The Australia post computer tells them how much it is for the correct visa type (so tell them it's a K fiance visa and they find it in the list) and they'll tell you how much, presumably based on an exchange rate some time in the past couple of months, and adjusted periodically. When I paid mine about a week ago, it was still $420.

Thanks heaps for that. Grats on your approval

[EandR 0]

So about my interview:

I arrived from Melbourne the night before, since I had an 8am appointment, and I didn't want to be rushed, or risk getting fogged in at Melbourne (which is not uncommon at this time of year). I decided to stay at the Westin - not the cheapest, but I wanted to make sure I got a really good night's sleep, which I did. The other feature was that the Westin is on Martin Place, less than a block from the consulate, so was only about a minute's walk, and easy enough to ensure my navigationally challenged self wouldn't get lost. The hotel itself was lovely too - fabulous bath, which I luxuriated in that evening, and I can highly recommend it, but I digress.

I woke up early on Tuesday morning, which was slightly annoying, but gave me time to have a long shower, and try to relax a bit. E called me at 6:30, which was when I intended to wake up, to wish me luck. I went down for breakfast, and probably ate too much for my nervous stomach to handle (i.e. anything at all). I checked out of the hotel (in hindsight, a mistake, given how quick my interview was), and wandered up to the consulate at about 7:45am.

I caught the lift up to level 10, the lifts were kind of around the back of the building, but not too hard to find. Once you get out of the lift, there are all sorts of medical offices and stuff that you have to walk past, around what is a surprisingly long corridor. There was no queue at security, so I went up, they made me take my phone out of my bad for screening, and checked my name off on the list. Once I was duly screened, they put my bag in a cubby hole thing, and gave me a card for reclaiming it, and told me to keep my paperwork and my wallet (which I didn't need, but anyway). Then they told me to take a seat in the front row - there were 4 rows of 6 chairs, and I was person number 6, so the last in the front row. There was a DVD playing which I didn't really pay attention to. After a while, at about 8:05 a security guard came and took the 6 of us in the front row to the lift up to the 51st floor. I let the others go in front of me, so I was last person in the lift, and first person out.

On the 51st floor, you take a right out of the lift, and right again. Another security guard asked to see my passport, before letting me into the consulate itself. Once inside, you take a number from the little machine - I was ticket #1, and take a seat. I was too nervous to go and look at the view, which in hindsight, I regret. I was called up to the window after only a minute or so, and the lady had my file in a big pink folder. She took my appointment letter, passport and receipt from Australia Post, and noted that my appointment letter had not said I should bring an express post envelope. I said I had noticed that too and thought it strange, and had brought one just in case: so she took that too. I could see on my file, it said "Approved", but on closer inspection, the date on the stamp was 24 May, which was the date of NOA2. I was told to take a seat again while she checked everything, and after a couple of minutes, the same lady called me up again, to take my finger prints. She then told me to go and take a seat in the next waiting area. I watched her drop my hot pink folder into an in-tray in front of window #6, and after a bit, another guy came and started reading it. He spent maybe 10-15 minutes going through it and taking notes before he called me up.

So then he starts the interview, questions as best as I can remember:

* How did you meet E?

* When did you meet E?

* When did you start talking to E outside of the game?

* Where did E live when you first met him in person? (We met in NY, but he lived in Washington)

* When did you first visit E as part or pursuing your relationship?

* What did E do for work when you visited on that trip?

* Where does E work? What does he do there?

* Have you been married before?

* Has E been married before? When? When did it end? Wait, that's the same year (I explained why that was). Where was E's wife when she died? (He then flicked through the file until he found the death certificate and spent some time reading it).

And with that he said that everything appeared to be in order, and that I was approved. He gave me my birth certificate and police certificate back and handed me two sheets of paper - one which was a "congratulations you're approved" one, which explained what happened from here in terms of them sending me my passport back, and a yellow envelope that I was not to open, and another that explained the K visa was single entry only and I had 90 days to get married after entering the country.

I glanced at the clock as I left - 8:35am. I went down and collected my bag from security on level 10, and they remarked how quick I was, and then I gave E a call and told him how it all went. I wished I hadn't checked out of the hotel, since my flight wasn't until the afternoon, and I could have gone back up and slept another couple of hours. Oh well. I walked around Sydney for a bit, before heading to the airport and back home to Melbourne.

[jazzkat78 0]

Hi-

So Matt mailed in packet 3, fingers crossed that we can get an interview date for 8/17 or 8/24

Kathy best of luck for tomorrow

xx

Caren

[empyre84 0]

Hello All.

So I'm up to just sending off my packet 3 today.

I had help from a lovely member who advised me one step ahead as I went and made the process a lot smoothly and stress free.

If anyone has any questions that I can help with please feel free to drop me a line. I had my medical in Brissy so anyone heading that way I can let them know about my trip.

My partner is coming over for a visit on the 7th of Sep so hopefully I will have had my interview by then and I can fly back with him.

I'll be down in Florida so anyone heading that way or from there let me know. ;-)

Good luck to everyone - its so worth it all to be happy!

[USAand OZ 2]

Went for my interview today. I'm glad I flew in on the Monday to Sydney seeing they had storms and they were diverting planes this morning.

My appointment was for 11am but decided to go in at 10am. I went to level 10 and everyone was so pleasant and friendly. Had to go through the scanner a few times I kept buzzing but they kept making a joke about it so it made you feel comfortable ended up being my necklace I was wearing.

I had a immaculate folder with all my evidence (well I think it;s immaculate LOL) but they didn't even ask to see anything a little disappointed with so much thought went into it. They don't mind you going in early nothing was said about me being early so go for it I was out by 10.25am. Everything was going well no long waits and asked a few questions like how did you meet?, what was your longest stay in the U.S.?, When did we decide to get married?,

Then she went through the paperwork and asked if I had Bill's original divorce certificate I said no I didn't know I had to have let alone that I had to send it in. She said well we can't approve it until we sight the original and marry it up with the copy they had. I felt so deflated. They took my passport and said they will send the Visa as soon as they get the paper they require.

I went down stairs and called Bill a few tears but I know it will be approved but I just wanted to hear those words YOUR APPROVED..disappointed, frustrated, annoyed and of course upset. With that though Bill has FedEx the Divorce papers to Sydney today so hopefully they will have it by the end of the week. Then hopefully I will have my Visa next week. I called my boss and resigned and have booked flights for the 14th Sept.

Kathy

[HeidiDaniel 0]

Went for my interview today. I'm glad I flew in on the Monday to Sydney seeing they had storms and they were diverting planes this morning.

My appointment was for 11am but decided to go in at 10am. I went to level 10 and everyone was so pleasant and friendly. Had to go through the scanner a few times I kept buzzing but they kept making a joke about it so it made you feel comfortable ended up being my necklace I was wearing.

I had a immaculate folder with all my evidence (well I think it;s immaculate LOL) but they didn't even ask to see anything a little disappointed with so much thought went into it. They don't mind you going in early nothing was said about me being early so go for it I was out by 10.25am. Everything was going well no long waits and asked a few questions like how did you meet?, what was your longest stay in the U.S.?, When did we decide to get married?,

Then she went through the paperwork and asked if I had Bill's original divorce certificate I said no I didn't know I had to have let alone that I had to send it in. She said well we can't approve it until we sight the original and marry it up with the copy they had. I felt so deflated. They took my passport and said they will send the Visa as soon as they get the paper they require.

I went down stairs and called Bill a few tears but I know it will be approved but I just wanted to hear those words YOUR APPROVED..disappointed, frustrated, annoyed and of course upset. With that though Bill has FedEx the Divorce papers to Sydney today so hopefully they will have it by the end of the week. Then hopefully I will have my Visa next week. I called my boss and resigned and have booked flights for the 14th Sept.

Kathy

Wow, Had my interview at 8 the same morning, had my own immaculate folder with everything they asked for and got the same thing as you. Didnt ask to see anything except the only thing I was NEVER asked to provide, Daniel's divorce papers. So annoying, I emailed my lawyer and he said that he thinks she was just trying to show me her power....lol, anyway, papers are on the way, hope to have my visa soon too. I was also approved...YAY

[USAand OZ 2]

Hey Heidi

How ironic that you had the same thing the same day. LOL. Probably had the same interviewer. My lawyer also said that they have never heard of a consulate asking for originals especially divorce papers. I was so angry though as I really didn't need that on that day. But I have been tracking the documents Bill sent and they have arrived at Mascot airport in Sydney, so tomorrow the consulate should have them and I should be sent my Visa next week. I pray that there is nothing else.

I have organised my flight into the States for Tuesday 14th Sept can't wait. Bill is meeting me in LA and were spending a few days there before flying back to Tennessee.

All the best Kathy

[HeidiDaniel 0]

Hey Heidi

How ironic that you had the same thing the same day. LOL. Probably had the same interviewer. My lawyer also said that they have never heard of a consulate asking for originals especially divorce papers. I was so angry though as I really didn't need that on that day. But I have been tracking the documents Bill sent and they have arrived at Mascot airport in Sydney, so tomorrow the consulate should have them and I should be sent my Visa next week. I pray that there is nothing else.

I have organised my flight into the States for Tuesday 14th Sept can't wait. Bill is meeting me in LA and were spending a few days there before flying back to Tennessee.

All the best Kathy

Hi Kathy

I was devestated when she asked me for Daniel's divorce papers. Daniel has sent his papers, but he sent them to me and I have to then send them to Sydney, so it will take a bit longer , oh well. I am planning on heading to the States at the end of August, I want to be there for my Birthday on Sep 1, I couldnt ask for a better birthday present. You wont be far from me, Ill be living in Alabama, we are planning on getting married in Tennessee, not sure if that will happen tho. Anyway, best of luck with everything.