Possibly "helpful" info re: London Embassy

[Twinkles 10]

I mailed my packet 3 and checklist in May, roughly the 20th.

It took a month of waiting for it to be logged on their system. With hindsight i would say i wasted alot of money calling them every week.

Two weeks after this i received my interview date for 30th July.

So i would say London are taking approx 6 to 8 weeks from you mailing your packet to you standing in the actual Embassy.

So if im hazarding a guess for you. I would say start preparing yourself for the back end of August early September for Londons trip.

They gave me a good months notice for my interview appt. At the time i swore blue air cos i thought i was good to go right there and then! But again with hindsight that months notice has been a god send.

I would say use this time to go over every detail of what you will take to the Embassy interview.

Check..double check..and then just take the last few weeks of the process on this side of the pond to just chill and torment family or friends you are going to be leaving behind before you start your new life.

Im having great fun tormenting my daughter xD but shhh

Edit:..Oops my bad, i didnt realise my first post was posted! Bending over

Edited July 24, 2010 by Twinkles

[AJones 2]

Reading what you have said it sounds very similar to what i panicked about just a few week ago.

Mailed my packet and checklist in may i think it was around the 20th. One month later it was on the system..frantic month of panic and i would say now with hindsight wasted phone calls to the Embassy every week on my part

Approx 2 weeks later i got my interview letter for July 30th.

So with all that being said i would say it is taking approx 6 to 8 weeks from the day you post your packet 3 and checklist to standing in the embassy. Hope that helps.

I try to keep in mind now they dont just deal with K1

Thanks, Twinkles, it does kind of help. I may restrict myself to calling the DoS phone number elmcitymaven posted. Part of my problem is that I've worked for the US gov't in one capacity or another for 12 years now, so I am hyper-aware of how often paperwork gets lost and other weird random problems occur.

Andrea

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Peace, young ones. You will be on the other side of this soon. I promise.

[Justine+David 218]

You guys should also be aware that DOS doesn't always give out correct information...I called every weekday after sending my P3 off and even after it was logged there were a few random days that they said that my P3 wasn't logged or that London hadn't received it yet.

[Twinkles 10]

Thanks, Twinkles, it does kind of help. I may restrict myself to calling the DoS phone number elmcitymaven posted. Part of my problem is that I've worked for the US gov't in one capacity or another for 12 years now, so I am hyper-aware of how often paperwork gets lost and other weird random problems occur.

Andrea

I understand. For me it was just my brain telling me Royal Mail takes a few days to deliver.

That plus i think when others receive mail from moi they open right away. I can vision them all googly eyed with excitement as they open it! Maybe i need help with this thought concept. Note to self: Not everyone is as excited with mail dropping on their mats as you Twinkles

So when i called the Embassy and they said "nope we aint got it" I was sitting there thinking LIES!! xD I then seemed to transform into some sort of FBI Agent and interrogate them on the phone. Diary in hand with my postal date..how long i had waited..The calls i had made to them..and a speech of how glorious our postal service is in this Country!

I was trying to make them crack. Mulder and Scully style and admit my packet 3 was now being used as a foot stool by a woman in the visa dept, who had hairy feet!

I dont think i have had to deal with such a big complex and what the heck do i do now system before. So this has really tested my mental endurance.

I found it extremely hard not to call them daily after that first call.

Its like someone had placed a chocolate cake infront of me and said "your not going to touch that are you??!"

and i would be sitting there thinking ask a daft question, why dont ya

My logical brain knows to just chill. But then theres my illogical side that just cant but help to pick up that phone and say "oi! have you been attacked by aliens or sumthinz??"

Thats my personal experience of just sending in the packet 3. You just dont want to know what im imagining for the medical and interview :s

[AJones 2]

So when i called the Embassy and they said "nope we aint got it" I was sitting there thinking LIES!! xD I then seemed to transform into some sort of FBI Agent and interrogate them on the phone. Diary in hand with my postal date..how long i had waited..The calls i had made to them..and a speech of how glorious our postal service is in this Country!

I was trying to make them crack. Mulder and Scully style and admit my packet 3 was now being used as a foot stool by a woman in the visa dept, who had hairy feet!

This is EXACTLY it. I am now all "They lost the paperwork, didn't they. I just have to KEEP CALLING until they admit they lost the paperwork and tell us to resend it. Which they will do, because I am going to badger them until they come clean!"

...really, they shouldn't have a contact phone number at all. I'd be able to be much more rational about this if I *couldn't* call. I didn't get nearly as neurotic about the USCIS part of things.

Peace, young ones. You will be on the other side of this soon. I promise.

I'm trying to be calm about this, Mom, but it's haaaaaard. MOOOOOOOM! Make the Embassy hurry up with my paaaaperwork!

And now, having called Maven "mom" I think I'd better run. *cough*

Andrea

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

This oven makes no buns. I am no one's mom. I am a horrible bossyboots big sister. RELAX!!!

When our P3 was sent in (Special Delivery, natch) I obsessed because it WAS NOT LOGGED IMMEDIATELY OMFGCRAPGAH!!!! And then all of a sudden it was. Huh.

If you have no movement after 3 weeks talking to DOS, send in the P3 paperwork again. It gets lost on random occasions (Nik+Heather, was that you?). But mostly it's just sitting. waiting, waiting, to get logged. They HATED us at DOS after a while; I was one of the biyotches that popularised the constant DOS calling. It is teh suck, I know (and I was a DCF b!tch as well, so hate me) but getting through all of this will seem nothing once your partner is here.

Maven's prescription: GIN. Much. Lots and lots of gin.

[AJones 2]

This oven makes no buns. I am no one's mom. I am a horrible bossyboots big sister. RELAX!!!

When our P3 was sent in (Special Delivery, natch) I obsessed because it WAS NOT LOGGED IMMEDIATELY OMFGCRAPGAH!!!! And then all of a sudden it was. Huh.

If you have no movement after 3 weeks talking to DOS, send in the P3 paperwork again. It gets lost on random occasions (Nik+Heather, was that you?). But mostly it's just sitting. waiting, waiting, to get logged. They HATED us at DOS after a while; I was one of the biyotches that popularised the constant DOS calling. It is teh suck, I know (and I was a DCF b!tch as well, so hate me) but getting through all of this will seem nothing once your partner is here.

Maven's prescription: GIN. Much. Lots and lots of gin.

I had the bun-making bits of my oven BURNED SHUT because, seriously, I don't even like puppies and kittens. They are tiny terrorists. Also, how can I relax when they have not yet ADMITTED they lost the paperwork?! Or admitted they have it?! MY GOD THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ALCOHOL FOR THIS PROCESS.

It has been 3 weeks, in fact it was 3 weeks exactly (looking at my calendar) from when it was mailed that I talked to dude at the Embassy. So maybe we should re-send if the DOS still knows nothing about it when I call this week? HELP ME MAVEN.

Gin is sort of nasty, unless you have tonic to go with it. I'm a bourbon girl, myself.

Andrea

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I had the bun-making bits of my oven BURNED SHUT because, seriously, I don't even like puppies and kittens. They are tiny terrorists. Also, how can I relax when they have not yet ADMITTED they lost the paperwork?! Or admitted they have it?! MY GOD THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ALCOHOL FOR THIS PROCESS.

It has been 3 weeks, in fact it was 3 weeks exactly (looking at my calendar) from when it was mailed that I talked to dude at the Embassy. So maybe we should re-send if the DOS still knows nothing about it when I call this week? HELP ME MAVEN.

Gin is sort of nasty, unless you have tonic to go with it. I'm a bourbon girl, myself.

Andrea

Shhhhh. Drink more bourbon.

Sorry if I've missed something, but have they received it and just not entered it, or have they not received it at all?

[Y&E 12]

Did you say that you send P3 in to the embassy in two stages? If I read that correctly above. In that case they may have got confused with your paperwork because sending in the checklist is what they process to say that you're ready for your interview. If that wasn't included with all the paperwork at the first instance they may not have put you into the system until they received it. As someone else has suggested, you may want to send in your paperwork again if they've still not logged you as they do manage to lose things sometimes - particularly when there is paperwork missing.

[AJones 2]

Shhhhh. Drink more bourbon.

Sorry if I've missed something, but have they received it and just not entered it, or have they not received it at all?

That's the thing, I don't know. The guy I spoke to at the Embassy said it wasn't in the system. I asked should we resend it, then, because it had been about a month, and he said no, that it can take 4-8 weeks to get it in the system and until it's there they can't confirm whether or not they've received it. Which is why I am all "FINE I WILL JUST KEEP CALLING UNTIL THEY ADMIT THEY LOST IT" because you'd think they'd at least know they got it?

Did you say that you send P3 in to the embassy in two stages? If I read that correctly above. In that case they may have got confused with your paperwork because sending in the checklist is what they process to say that you're ready for your interview. If that wasn't included with all the paperwork at the first instance they may not have put you into the system until they received it. As someone else has suggested, you may want to send in your paperwork again if they've still not logged you as they do manage to lose things sometimes - particularly when there is paperwork missing.

The instructions my fiance got in the letter they sent said to fill out the DS-230-I part I, DS-156, and DS-156K and whatever else, and go ahead and send that in and schedule the medical, then send the checklist in when all the other docs had been gathered. So that's what we did.

[AJones 2]

I LOVE YOU ALL A LOT. They clearly did not lose the paperwork, I called DoS using Maven's number this morning and my fiance has been scheduled for an interview on August 12th! YAY! It is now time for celebratory bourbon vice soothing bourbon, I assume!

Andrea

[Twinkles 10]

I LOVE YOU ALL A LOT. They clearly did not lose the paperwork, I called DoS using Maven's number this morning and my fiance has been scheduled for an interview on August 12th! YAY! It is now time for celebratory bourbon vice soothing bourbon, I assume!

Andrea

Good Times

Heres a video. This will be me when i emigrate! Haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZt7Pu2jc6Y

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I LOVE YOU ALL A LOT. They clearly did not lose the paperwork, I called DoS using Maven's number this morning and my fiance has been scheduled for an interview on August 12th! YAY! It is now time for celebratory bourbon vice soothing bourbon, I assume!

Andrea

WOOT

Now be a little love and take a page out of my book and get DRUNK.

[Rob and Jill 82]

Heh.

Rob called the embassy a and they said they had the paperwork.

I called the Dept. of State today to check and they told me he had to send in his paperwork that London doesn't have it.

Hilarious. I should have him call every day and I should call everyday just to see how long it takes them to get it right. It might be an entertaining way to pass the time.