UK Wiki

[TracyTN 237]

I'll do whatever I can to help - specifically with the K1 section - but it's been almost 3 years since we went through London for that so I may not be the best candidate to offer up current processes.

BUT I am happy to help review and/or edit any of the sections for grammar, etc - I was an English comp teacher for a while after all!

[*julez* 124]

How about a wiki page dedicated to the merits of sending items to the US Embassy in London via special delivery vs regualr mail? I do believe there is a relevant thread that we could leverage for such information.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

How about a wiki page dedicated to the merits of sending items to the US Embassy in London via special delivery vs regualr mail? I do believe there is a relevant thread that we could leverage for such information.

Could people please just use this thread to add useful comments instead of trying to show how clever they are? I am sure there will be people reading this later on will be looking for useful information rather than attempts of witty banter. Thank you!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Maybe only Julez will get that last reply...

Tracy, you have a lot of knowledge that I'm sure will be extremely useful. It's great that this is turning out to be such a collaborative effort with multiple authors involved. We all just need to have good wiki hygiene and remember to update regularly and point to the wiki whenever possible.

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Maybe only Julez will get that last reply...

Tracy, you have a lot of knowledge that I'm sure will be extremely useful. It's great that this is turning out to be such a collaborative effort with multiple authors involved. We all just need to have good wiki hygiene and remember to update regularly and point to the wiki whenever possible.

Hey guys, glad to see that this topic has been revived!

Making a wiki page, and editing one is very very easy. It's basically just typing. If I remember there is a guide on this very matter in the VJ wiki itself. I'll see if I can dig it up, and add any extra info that someone creating/editing a page would need.

One of the biggest advantages to a wiki is of course that anyone can edit it, and if we get a bunch of placeholders in place, it becomes a simple matter of typing to keep the pages updated. With that said, if anyone feels a little daunted, but wants to contribute, they should simply type out their entry for a given topic in this thread, and then I or some other not-so-daunted person and simply c&p that in to the Wiki in the relevant page.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

1) Get template started (maybe ask Poiteen and/or Nich how they did this)2) Get a GoogleDocs chart going of who has agreed to write what -- this will be open for people to amend

Trompe -- I nominate you and Alan to be in charge of the article on whingeing about bacon, bread, cheese, kettles and duvets.

I don't know how I did it because I changed one tiny sentence of Poiteen's work to delete the talk about getting your HPV.

Glad you added the duvet part that Tromphe didn't put in.

I can help with K1. I've been keeping up with it and the changes. I also understand US tax returns and can explain what a complete tax return is to Brits and provide links to a tax transcript so Affidavit of Support is up my alley. There's a post (or ten)of mine that's fairly complete on the subject already.

So, how are we going to decide what's real and what's hysteria when gathering documents? You know how some people think they must bring the whole file cabinet on wheels to the interview and I tend to want to suggest only what the London webpage says to bring. Can we have a DOCUMENTS YOU MUST BRING section and below it DOCUMENTS THE HYSTERIAL AND PARANOID BRING.

Like just today posts have popped up in the interview thread about bringing the whole I-129 petition packet. Nobody in two years that I know of had to produce that packet at the interview. (I still maintain that suggestion on VJ is for the many non-English speaking brides who barely know their beloved and need a study guide to learn how they met, the parent names, etc.) Also when interviewing in London, you do not have to show the NOA2 approval notice. Nor do they have to have a notarized new letter of intent from each party.

And I really, really think Sundrop is the best resource for this project. She reads and studies, is eager, and is keenly interested in the K1/2 visa at this time while she waits on the NOA2. She's in the process and involved. If you think she's said something inaccurate, then discuss it and change it. We who have been through it have the historical background of watching many graduates pass through and can provide some guidance from that standpoint. We've seen the development of one incident getting retold and transformed into a giant rumor that suddenly is gospel for preparing for the interview.

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Ok, here's where I started when I was figuring out how to edit the wiki:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing

But like I said, if you don't feel like getting in to it, just post your entry here, and I'm happy to magic it up in to wiki form.

As for the volunteers - well, as you might have gathered from the other thread, I feel pretty strongly that one of the greatest strengths of VJ is simply the quantity of people who pass through. It's the sheer volume that means that we can extrapolate from personal experiences to wider trends. This is also why a wiki is a good idea. Anyone can contribute, anyone can edit, at any time.

[SunDrop 59]

And I really, really think Sundrop is the best resource for this project. She reads and studies, is eager, and is keenly interested in the K1/2 visa at this time while she waits on the NOA2. She's in the process and involved.

Thanks Nich-Nick

Would love to be involved in this project and now that we've got our NOA2, I've been doing lots of work on the "NOA2 to Packet 3" preparations, so that's another sub-section for the list, since it gets a lot of anxious questions.

The other area that is really lacking, mainly through a comparative lack of applicants dealing with these issues is the K2/4 requirements. Again, happy to contribute all that I can find to a section on this.

Hmmm, what else. Current information about importing pets. Doghandler is the current UK VJer with a special interest, so maybe worth dropping her a PM to see if she's up for it?

Could also have a 'Introduction to US visa applications from within the UK' that covers the whole hysteria subject. Seems the variation in procedures from country to country is the main culprit for this and so a brief explanation of the differences and reasons could be helpful and reassuring.

A specific breakdown of the non-UK police certificate processes from within the UK would be helpful. Just today I have been tearing my hair out over getting my German one 'witnessed' since the information the German embassy provides is out of date. Example, you can't get a police station officer to sign to say that your personal details and address match your passport and proof of address. Whatever the forms says. I'm digressing a little, but it does depend where you are in the world, as to how you go about getting your non-UK certificates. And it's something that anyone could add to, as they bring other countries to the table.

If MARM is still floating around, would she be willing to do a "non-UK national applicant in the UK" section? There's lots of talk in the 2009 NOA2-P3 thread about AP, document sourcing, UK visa renewal/ timing, etc. that would be helpful to someone, I'm sure.

That's all that coming to mind right now, but there's lots more to include.

[bakofoil 27]

Wonderful idea having a fluid set of documentation that everyone can feel ownership of and contribute to. I'd be happy to put together info about the London Medical and any supplementary evidence required as a start in that area.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

other ideas:

sending money between UK/US

renewing British passport in the US

applying for British passport for children born in the US

Dual citizenship

Voting in UK elections from abroad

best places to buy British goodies online

watching football/rugby/cricket in the US

Happy to help with any of the above!

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Wonderful idea having a fluid set of documentation that everyone can feel ownership of and contribute to. I'd be happy to put together info about the London Medical and any supplementary evidence required as a start in that area.

Great!

I just pasted in the stuff that was in the NOA2 to Interview thread, which can be found here.

Going back to it, it was even easier than I remembered. Here's a quick guide to anyone that hasn't done a wiki before:

To link to an external link, simply put the link in square brackets, like this: [http://www.link.com]. If you want the link to be a clickable word, rather than the full address, simply put a space and the text in to the square brackets. So something like this: [http://www.visajourney.com/ VJ!], shows up as simply VJ!

If you want to link to another wiki page, in the VJ Wiki, you simply put the title of the page in double square brackets, so this: [[uK FAQ]], should become: UK FAQ

If you want to make something a heading, you put == around it. So the top headline of a page will be something like:

=UK FAQ=

The next important heading will be:

==On Topic stuff==

and so on.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Thank you all! I am having a dog of a day, deadline looming for something, and I think I just ate a moth. (Or its larva. I'm not kidding. So gross.) Many hands make light work.

[Justine+David 218]

Good work guys! I don't know what else to contribute at this point, but wanted to the effort.

Actually...maybe we could get treehugger on here to talk about her AP experience, which is odd because she is a British born citizen and has had her husband contact his Senators to get their involvement. Maybe something about calling DOS and all of that. Apparently if you're in true AP you really shouldn't call more than once a week because they get pissed off at you--they hung up on treehugger when she called twice in one week! Whereas, I call every day and they're not sick of me...yet

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

I just did some more tidying up, and adding some of the topics that are mentioned above.

Some of the topics mentioned (POE experience) wouldn't be UK specific, but that shouldn't stop anyone from doing a write up.

Nich-Nick, I've only now seen your suggestion to have the UK pages start with 'UK - '. Well it would have been good if I did it from the start, but I can't see how to change it without a lot of bother. I understand that this would have made all the UK articles group together when you go to the 'show all articles' page, but if we can ask, that anyone who makes a new UK info page, simply includes it on the main UK FAQ page, then they should all be pretty easy to find.

[bakofoil 27]

You're doing a fantastic job Poiteen. Maybe I'll look into another area to cover as the London Medical seems pretty well covered at this point. I'm sure there will be some additions and amendments along the way but for now it looks pretty comprehensive. Well done everyone, the wiki is looking very well organized finally!