This is the waiting for packet 4 thread.

[garyandkris 0]

packet 4 is just a confirmation of your appointment date and a map showing the location of the embassy.. you can call and find out the interview date from the state dept a few weeks after sending in your packet 3.. ( i waited a week then OCD took over )

Must...not...call...State...Department.

Must...wait...two...more...days.

Must...not...obsess...about...interview...date.

Oh, who am I kidding? Now, where did I put that number for the State Department...

(rings SD, waits for a bit, talks to nice woman)

Right, now I know at least that they received packet 3 and put Gary's paperwork into the system as of March 12th.

[jlivings99 0]

I hope we all get our Packet 4s soon. Having other people waiting helps me be a little less crazy. Looking at recent history for London they usually send Packet 4 within 3 weeks of receipt of Packet 3 ... unless they lose the forms ... which seems to happen too frequently (sorry for Catica & Hawk&UK). It has been 2 weeks for us and don't think I can stand another week. Last phoned the State Dept. on Tues. so will probably phone again on Thurs. Also waiting to see if Embassy responds to a 2nd email ... inquiry about changing address is stated reason for email but maybe we will get additional information.

[jlivings99 0]

Yeah!!!!!!

Email to London Embassy worked ... got email this morning with interview date of April 18!!! Who knows how long it will take for actual Packet 4 to get to my husband.

Our Packet 3 was received by the Embassy on Feb. 28 but was not recorded as received until Friday, March 9. Sent an email concerning how to change my husband's address on Monday, March 12 and received a reply with appointment date on Thursday, March 15.

I used a lot VJ timeline data for the London Embassy to estimate when our interview date and it estimated April 16 or 17. VJ data is so much better than what the Embassy will tell you! Thank you all so much for keeping your timelines updated!

Hope everyone gets their appointment date soon ... many of you are right behind us so it looks good.

[garyandkris 0]

Yeah!!!!!!

Email to London Embassy worked ... got email this morning with interview date of April 18!!! Who knows how long it will take for actual Packet 4 to get to my husband.

Our Packet 3 was received by the Embassy on Feb. 28 but was not recorded as received until Friday, March 9. Sent an email concerning how to change my husband's address on Monday, March 12 and received a reply with appointment date on Thursday, March 15.

I used a lot VJ timeline data for the London Embassy to estimate when our interview date and it estimated April 16 or 17. VJ data is so much better than what the Embassy will tell you! Thank you all so much for keeping your timelines updated!

Hope everyone gets their appointment date soon ... many of you are right behind us so it looks good.

Congrats on the interview date. I was worried that we might not get an interview until early or mid May, but your news gives me hope that it'll be in late April. I know it's only a few weeks difference, but it means we might be reunited that much sooner.

I'll be sure to make Gary use the "change of address" excuse if he decides to email about his interview date. Oh, I almost forgot. The Embassy finally responded to an email he'd sent them nearly two months ago. He'd had the correct code in the subject line, but they didn't bother getting back to him with an answer until yesterday. The best part is they ignored one of the two questions he asked, and for the other question, they gave a form answer that wasn't actually applicable. How very helpful.

[helzie 0]

I need some advice.

My husband received packet four on 28th Feb. I filled out the forms online and then scanned everything back to him with explicit instructions as to what to sign, how to put it together, etc. It seems I wasn't as through as I thought and I forgot to send him an additional sheet for the countries he has visited. He is a courier, so he gathered everything together (besides that one sheet) and traveled down to the embassy and hand delivered the packet (with checklist and everything). Well, he rung me and told me that he put all the countries on a piece of paper and added it to the packet, but didn't put the dates he visited them! I made a covering letter with the sheet I forgot to send by email and asked him to deliver it as before. They wouldn't accept delivery. They told him he had to go to the post office and have it sent by royal mail special delivery.

The brunt of the documents were delivered by had, and the additional sheet was delivered two days later by special delivery. the state dept is sitting at the "packet three sent" info, so no info has been put in. I am just concerned that the papers were not accepted the first time (even though they were) because the second envelope was rejected and he was told to send it by royal mail.

What should I do? Should we just wait (it has been 9 days since he delivered most of the papers) or should we send everything again by special delivery? I know he was just trying to be helpful (he is a courier by trade and goes to the embassy all the time) but I think he might have accidentally f*?~ed us!

Advice please!

[jlivings99 0]

Just wanted to pass on a bit of info to those waiting for Packet 4 & Interview Date from London Embassy. I looked at the timelines of 43 couples who have had (or have scheduled) London Embassy interviews from Jan. 2007 through now (I am a bit of a geek). The average number of days from sending in Packet 3 to Interview Day is 49 days. So take your Packet 3 send date and add 49 days and you may have a fairly good estimate (e.g. March 1 Packet 3 sent results in estimating an April 19 interview date). (This assumes that the Embassy is actually able to find your forms after you mail the forms to them ... they seem to misplace quite a few.)

For my husband & me, this formula was 1 day off from our actual scheduled date.

[Buxton babe 0]

Just wanted to pass on a bit of info to those waiting for Packet 4 & Interview Date from London Embassy. I looked at the timelines of 43 couples who have had (or have scheduled) London Embassy interviews from Jan. 2007 through now (I am a bit of a geek). The average number of days from sending in Packet 3 to Interview Day is 49 days. So take your Packet 3 send date and add 49 days and you may have a fairly good estimate (e.g. March 1 Packet 3 sent results in estimating an April 19 interview date). (This assumes that the Embassy is actually able to find your forms after you mail the forms to them ... they seem to misplace quite a few.)

For my husband & me, this formula was 1 day off from our actual scheduled date.

I would be interested to see what the Min/max days were for the 43 couples.

[jackson.arw 0]

Just wanted to pass on a bit of info to those waiting for Packet 4 & Interview Date from London Embassy. I looked at the timelines of 43 couples who have had (or have scheduled) London Embassy interviews from Jan. 2007 through now (I am a bit of a geek). The average number of days from sending in Packet 3 to Interview Day is 49 days. So take your Packet 3 send date and add 49 days and you may have a fairly good estimate (e.g. March 1 Packet 3 sent results in estimating an April 19 interview date). (This assumes that the Embassy is actually able to find your forms after you mail the forms to them ... they seem to misplace quite a few.)

For my husband & me, this formula was 1 day off from our actual scheduled date.

I would be interested to see what the Min/max days were for the 43 couples.

Me too, Ive just sent in Packet 3, whats the procedure, numbers, email addresses for chasing the Embassy about a date ?

Edited March 16, 2007 by Adrian + Shannon

[Hawk&UK 0]

I would be grateful for this information also......the phone number for the State Department in particular.....

My fiance, Phill and I have been waiting on Packet 4, with much of the same problems as the rest of you. He first sent in his Packet 3 documents in mid January and got confirmation that they were received the next day. He was only waiting on his police check to send in his Packet 3 checklist. The medical exam was done on Feb. 8th and he got his police check a few days later and sent it in on the 15th of Feb. A week or so later he got a letter from the Embassy stating that they could not proceed until they had his Packet 3 documents!!!!!! Seems they were "lost" on someone's desk!! That's the only explanation.....We were so distraught!!!

I tried to email the Embassy and kept getting back responses saying that our email was deleted without being read. So Phill just resent the documents on Feb. 28th. And now its the waiting game again.....We had a flight booked and everything.....he should have been here by now.

Everything has went sooooo smoothly up until now. Ive been a member of this site for a while and only just lurked a bit. There is so much information here and reading about other's experiences has helped Phill and I keep the faith!!! We went thru a lawyer and its something I'll never regret. But getting to this place with Packet 4 is out of everyone's hands now.....

I wish you all the best and God's speed till you are together!!! I miss my Honey!!!!

Edited March 16, 2007 by Hawk&UK

[PCKAA 0]

Hi Guys,

Good luck to all in waiting for packet 4 (well knowing the interview date at least).. This was the most frustrating time for me throughout the whole process..

If you want to call the state department to find out if you have been issued a date for interview here is the number:

Call (202) 663-1225, then hit 1, 0, 0. That will put you in the operator queue to talk to someone.

They will give you the same information at Washington State Dept as the operators on the London $$ telephone number..

FeatherB - i see you got your Visa from your embassy feedback. CONGRATS!!

[jlivings99 0]

The longest time I found for sending Packet 3 to Interview date is 95 days and the two longest after that are 84 and 86 days.

(There may be reasons for these long waits but if couples don't disclose than we don't know ... already adjusted one that was 120+ days since it turned out the couple rescheduled the interview because she was giving birth around the time of the 1st interview)

Four couples were scheduled in 24 to 28 days after sending Packet 3.

(Either very lucky or special circumstances)

Most of the interviews are scheduled from 31 to 60 days. A little over 80% of the couples had interviews by 60 days. Almost 89% had interviews by 70 days (only 5 couples went past 70 days)

I was going to upload my Excel spreadsheet but it does not seem to allow Excel to be loaded. Then I thought I would upload it as a pdf but that file was too large. If you want the actual file, you can email me.

[Hawk&UK 0]

Thank you for that number!! I just called and they told me that the Packet 3 documents were uploaded today and that Phill's status for interview is eligible, but no interview date was assigned yet! This is still good news!!! At least they didn't "lose" the documents again!! And Packet 4 should be on its way!!

Its such a relief to get to talk to someone who is willing to help and not push you off to some dead end!!!

Thanks again!

Hugs!!!

Lisa

[PCKAA 0]

Hey Hawk - thats great news - any day now !!!

Glad to be of assistance ! Hang in there

[TheZilla 0]

Man, thank you Jlivings and GaryandKris! Your combined statistics and info have been so helpful on these forums, your time and effort is so kind. Much appreciated

Called the State Department and their feedback pretty much just consisted of "It's being processed". So we still have no idea how close or how far we are away from interview. I've examined loads of timelines too, but I have a sneaking suspiscion that we're all caught up in another backlog wave or something. My fiance' sent his forms as he went along as well, starting back in January. He was instructed to do so, but now I'm feeling nervous that he should have sent it all at once. Didn't realize what a rep the Embassy has for losing things, though I shouldn't be surprised really. My contention is that you shouldn't be able to work at the embassy unless you've personally gone through this experience. Man, imagine how efficient they'd be then???

Want to thank GaryandKris again for pointing us in the direction of calling the State Dept. Many, many thanks for your help. Good luck to everyone enduring this wait as well, here's hoping for good news for all of us soon!

[heishe 2]

packet 4 is just a confirmation of your appointment date and a map showing the location of the embassy.. you can call and find out the interview date from the state dept a few weeks after sending in your packet 3.. ( i waited a week then OCD took over )

Must...not...call...State...Department.

Must...wait...two...more...days.

Must...not...obsess...about...interview...date.

Oh, who am I kidding? Now, where did I put that number for the State Department...

(rings SD, waits for a bit, talks to nice woman)

Right, now I know at least that they received packet 3 and put Gary's paperwork into the system as of March 12th.

Congrats

See, sometimes our OCD pays off.

Yeah!!!!!!

Email to London Embassy worked ... got email this morning with interview date of April 18!!! Who knows how long it will take for actual Packet 4 to get to my husband.

Our Packet 3 was received by the Embassy on Feb. 28 but was not recorded as received until Friday, March 9. Sent an email concerning how to change my husband's address on Monday, March 12 and received a reply with appointment date on Thursday, March 15.

I used a lot VJ timeline data for the London Embassy to estimate when our interview date and it estimated April 16 or 17. VJ data is so much better than what the Embassy will tell you! Thank you all so much for keeping your timelines updated!

Hope everyone gets their appointment date soon ... many of you are right behind us so it looks good.

And mucho congrats to you too!