Approved at London!

[mattwood79 2]

Congratulations!!!

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

So happy for you! CONGRATS!

[Girl from Celebes 588]

We've avoided each other for 99% of our time on this site, I'm taking a special liberty to celebrate the occasion! I promise it won't happen regularly!

Congrats!

Oh well, I wish my husband will have one account here as well, . But he is not some kind guy who keens posted things on internet.

[BOS_LHR 829]

Congrats!

Oh well, I wish my husband will have one account here as well, . But he is not some kind guy who keens posted things on internet.

It's actually pretty great! We've both been very aware of the process from start to finish, which was particularly important during the USCIS backlog. We tend to stick to different areas of VJ but we both knew was going on and what had to happen every step of the way. I really think that helped our journey go smoothly, at least as much as the government would permit anyway Skype date nights always feature at least one VisaJourney-related discussion!

[Micanda 6]

Congratulations!!!!!

[Novembro 1,763]

Congrats! Woooooohooooooo!

[thedude6752000 360]

Congrats! Glad to know your nightmare is over

[London2Boston 59]

yay!!!!!!!! so so so ssooooooooo happy for you fellow london/bostonians!!! Any tips for my hubby on June 10?

[topoftherock2013 23]

Awesome news! Congrats and get a room asap!

Have a safe journey to your new home!

[jkelly07 120]

wonderful news,congratulations to both of you

[urbangirluk 73]

Congratulations

[Brit Abroad 166]

Congrats.

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I've had a few UK CR1 filers asking me what happened via PM so I thought I'd copy and paste part of my blog entry about the interview as it doesn't seem to want to let me post a review on here from my tablet.

I got the 2AM coach up to London from Exeter (who needs sleep right?) and was at the Embassy by just after 7am. There were already some eager people queueing outside the embassy at this point and I was about 30th in line. It was a beautiful morning but I was too nervous and full of adrenaline to appreciate it. When the queue starts moving you get your appointment letter looked at outside and then you go through security including a metal detector. As a slim guy I was holding my phone and belt in the plastic bag provided and hoping my trousers didn’t fall down! By 8 I was at the front desk being given my number, I was I908 meaning the 8th Immigrant Visa applicant of the day. All of the different visa types have different letters meaning it’s hard to judge how long it will take as different numbers get called at different speeds. I sat down in a large room full of other applicants and waited.

After about 15 minutes my number was called and the friendly guy at the desk picked up my file. He collected my passport and photographs and my courier letter and did a fingerprint scan. He didn’t request any extra paperwork as the NVC had already received them from me and forwarded them to the Embassy. I was told to sit back down and wait for my number to be called for my interview. I think this was the longest hour and twenty minutes of my life, the ” I” numbers in front of me seemed to take forever (it was about 20 minutes between each I number coming up) while a steady stream of work visas and non immigrant visas were called. Every time a new number is called up there’s a beep and it was funny watching all the heads look up at the screen and down again at every beep. By the time I was called I was pretty nervous and just wanted it over with having read practically all of the tourist brochures for the US on display by this point!

When my number was finally called I was faced by a friendly American man. I had to raise my right hand and swear an oath that the information I was giving was correct. He asked me how I met my wife, how often I’d seen her and where we’d married. He also said “tell me about her family” and asked about their occupations. These questions are so they can determine whether it’s a bona fide relationship (If you don’t know the names of your spouses family it’s suspicious right?) and I was able to answer them easily. The only unexpected question he asked was “Why didn’t you stay when you married her over there”? I explained that we didn’t do this as arriving in the USA on a VWP and adjusting status is not the right thing to do (and can potentially cause problems) and we wanted to do things the right way. He then asked when I planned to travel and said “I can tell you that I’m going to approve your application, congratulations.” I broke into a broad smile and thanked him. This part only took 5 minutes which seems short compared to other peoples reviews I've read but I was very glad for that.

I went to the London Zoo after my approval and they had squeaking otters! Can a day be made any better?!

Edited May 20, 2014 by Hotter Otter

[Ortolan 381]

Woah! Big congratulations to you boht! And welcome to the USA!

[London2Boston 59]

Hey guys, I was approved yesterday in London. It was actually the easiest part of the process so far. I live in Islington so it wasn't far for me to get down to the embassy. I got down there at 8am even though my interview was at 9 with a hefty amount of paperwork as evidence. All they wanted was my interview letter and passport throughout my interview. The first interview was 10 mins after I arrived. The guy asked me simple admin questions like whether I'd lived in the UK my entire life. It was over in a few minutes as all our paperwork was in order. After 40 mins I was called again to an American guy who fingered through our paperwork. He spotted a picture of us at our wedding and asked about the wife's tattoo which I knew plenty about as I was there when she had it done. The second question was why we'd decided to live in America which is due to my wife's job. He flicked a few more pages of our documents and said congratulations. I was done in under 2 hours!!