Question about timeline for Interview in London

[LauraDP 10]

Morning, VJers.

I am wondering if I can pick the brains of those of you who have recently been scheduled for Interviews at the London Embassy.

The kids and I have our Medicals booked for 29 July and we sent off the DS230s to the London Embassy almost two weeks ago. I am just wondering when we should expect to hear from them with a date for the Interviews? It's not that I think we should have heard already, of course, just that we are going to be visiting my in-laws for two weeks (late July / early August) and I realise that we may not be at home to receive the letter about the date if it came in that time frame. Do they normally use the email address provided to inform you of the date?

How much notice do London give for an interview? I am trying to determine how much notice we would have as I a) don't want to miss the notice and, therefore, the interview and b) if we are attending the interview from here then I need adequate time to arrange travel and accommodation which is not as easy as it sounds for one adult and four kids.

Thanks

Laura

[lost_at_sea 995]

Hey,

No - they don't use that email address, unless you begged them for a last minute appointment then it sounds like they use the email in that scenario. Everyone else gets their appointment in the post (or they call the DoS line or Embassy to find out when it is).

Unless it's a last-minute appointment (taking a cancellation spot for soon-travel plans), London seems to give 3 - 5 weeks notice on appointments at the moment, judging by recent posts. When they send *out* the appointment letter seems to be fairly up in the air, however. I think how quickly they get on that depends on what date you said you have travel plans in your cover letter (ours came very quickly, but we are on a tight deadline - others who said plans for travel in Sept+, got interviews 2 or 3 weeks later than us).

If you think they're likely to send you something while you're away, you could just nag them by phone every other day or so...?

Edited July 16, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Jviddy 1]

Just as a reference

My visa and DS230/2001 were received at the embassy on the 1st July and i haven't had a date for my interview yet.

Lost at sea. How long before your medical did you send in your DS2001

[lost_at_sea 995]

Just as a reference

My visa and DS230/2001 were received at the embassy on the 1st July and i haven't had a date for my interview yet.

Lost at sea. How long before your medical did you send in your DS2001

Medical booked 14th June (the day Packet 3 arrived).

Sent DS-2001, DS-230 + cover letter (saying we had travel plans on 30th July) back on the 17th June (so 4 days later). They received it 18th June.

Had medical 20th June (2 days after they got the forms), embassy got results on the 25th and issued my interview letter on the same day (arrived on doorstep on the 28th).

Edited July 16, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[LauraDP 10]

Thanks for letting me know a rough guideline and that it will definitely be a letter (or us phoning) rather than an email.

My husband has set travel plans for going to the US but the kids and I do not so we were not able to stipulate that on the cover letter.

I guess it will happen when it happens but at least I know nothing should be stuffed up because of our time away.

Thanks

Laura

[lost_at_sea 995]

My husband has set travel plans for going to the US but the kids and I do not so we were not able to stipulate that on the cover letter.

For what it's worth - they do not ask to see any evidence of your travel plans. So it'll do no harm to put one down if you would at least like to be *done* by a certain date.

[LauraDP 10]

For what it's worth - they do not ask to see any evidence of your travel plans. So it'll do no harm to put one down if you would at least like to be *done* by a certain date.

Really? I have to admit I swithered about doing just that but then worried they would ask to see our tickets or whatever at the interview and didn't want to get caught in a lie. Honesty is the best policy after all.

I have already scheduled our Medicals simply because then it coincided with us visiting the in-laws and meant a train journey rather than flights and staying overnight so hopefully everything else won't get too annoyingly out of synch. Although my husband is moving out in September, he will have to find us a place to live etc before the kids and I are in a position to move out anyway, visas or not.

Thanks

Laura

[Jviddy 1]

I guess it will happen when it happens but at least I know nothing should be stuffed up because of our time away.

Thanks

Laura

The waiting is horrible.

[ChicagoSarah 127]

Thanks, everyone. This thread is incredibly helpful! We got our NOA2 on July 15th and are now waiting word from the London embassy. My Fiance has been getting all of the forms together so that once the packet is sent, we're ready to go. We're planning/hoping to get married at the end of October....and are obviously desperately hoping that our fiance visa will be approved by then! This thread has given me a little more piece of mind that having a visa by October isn't totally unrealistic. Thanks!

[LauraDP 10]

I am incredibly tired after a long two days away in London with the four kids but I thought I would update my post to say that the five of us had our medicals yesterday and had our visa interviews at the London Embassy today. Obviously we cannot be approved until they have our medical results but everything else went smoothly. I will write up my experience in more detail once I am not so exhausted. I believe there is somewhere on the forum where we are to write up our experiences of the interviews. Is that correct?

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has helped me out with all of this journey so far. I could not have done it without you. I was complimented several times over the past couple of days for being so organised and knowledgable and I think you guys are due the credit for that.

Thanks

Laura