Quick summary of stuff upcoming that I have to pay for

[bigboss1984 8]

Hey all,

So I've been figuring out what is outstanding that I have to pay for, if people could chip in with stuff I've missed/got wrong that would be great - all my vaccinations are up to date and my police certificate has been ordered, I'm not including stuff like passport photos

1) Rail fare to London (I'm from up North so quite hefty) - about £150 return

2) Medical once I have the case number, I believe this is £250

3) DS-160 - I believe this has to be completed online, but paid for at the embassy - is this correct? Can it be paid before the interview? In any case, I believe this is $160

4) Rail fare (or flights, undecided yet) to London for interview - about £150 return

5) Overnight stay in London - £150-200

6) Embassy fee? Although I think I might be getting this crossed over with the DS-160 fee?

Am I missing anything massive off the list? This is just the NOA2 approval to the interview stage, I know when I land in the States and marry I'll need to file Adjustment of Status which is $1030 I believe.

[simonschus 58]

Congratulations on your journey so far bigboss1984. Those costs look pretty good so far - the hotel, travel to/from London, and travel to/from the London public transport hubs to the embassy are the costs which are slightly less easy to predict but they're good estimates. The trains might be cheaper if you can get an advance ticket. I flew down from Manchester to Heathrow for both my medical and interview and the cost was roughly in line with what you're estimating.

One clarification though... for the DS-160 fee, I think that you are thinking of the MRV fee which is basically paying for visa processing by the embassy and your delivery to depot at the same time (so 3 and 6 combined together into the same cost). The MRV fee is $160 per the guidance on this webpage. You would usually pay the MRV online using the links in the embassy letter that you'll receive confirming your interview (Packet 4). The webpage where you pay the MRV fee here although you'll need a confirmed interview date first. You can also pay a little extra for the courier to deliver to your home too rather than delivering to the depot which is included in the $160 cost. If you didn't use the MRV payment page, I imagine that the Embassy will let you use a cashier to take your money if you weren't able to pay online. It would probably be most efficient to do it online in advance though.

If you're looking to be absolutely exact then you'll need to add in the costs of passport photographs but I imagine you already have those, as well as the cost of getting any documents you need sent from your other half should you not have them already or not be seeing each other before the interview (I'm thinking about the signed I-134 affidavit of support).

Good luck!

Simon.

Edited April 12, 2016 by simonschus

[bigboss1984 8]

Congratulations on your journey so far bigboss1984. Those costs look pretty good so far - the hotel, travel to/from London, and travel to/from the London public transport hubs to the embassy are the costs which are slightly less easy to predict but they're good estimates. The trains might be cheaper if you can get an advance ticket. I flew down from Manchester to Heathrow for both my medical and interview and the cost was roughly in line with what you're estimating.

One clarification though... for the DS-160 fee, I think that you are thinking of the MRV fee which is basically paying for visa processing by the embassy and your delivery to depot at the same time (so 3 and 6 combined together into the same cost). The MRV fee is $160 per the guidance on this webpage. You would usually pay the MRV online using the links in the embassy letter that you'll receive confirming your interview (Packet 4). The webpage where you pay the MRV fee here although you'll need a confirmed interview date first. You can also pay a little extra for the courier to deliver to your home too rather than delivering to the depot which is included in the $160 cost. If you didn't use the MRV payment page, I imagine that the Embassy will let you use a cashier to take your money if you weren't able to pay online. It would probably be most efficient to do it online in advance though.

If you're looking to be absolutely exact then you'll need to add in the costs of passport photographs but I imagine you already have those, as well as the cost of getting any documents you need sent from your other half should you not have them already or not be seeing each other before the interview (I'm thinking about the signed I-134 affidavit of support).

Good luck!

Simon.

Thanks for this Simon! So one thing, what is the DS-160? From my gathering the DS-160 is a form you have to complete before London schedule your interview, do you have to pay for the DS-160 if the MRV fee is what I was mistaking it with?

I was thinking about flying too, I'm from Newcastle so it would save alot of time flying as opposed to getting the train - and I believe the Heathrow express goes to Paddington which isn't too far from the embassy.

One question when you had your interview, what proof of income did you take for your fiances affidavit of support? I have the affidavit of support, but need to get proof of income from her father who signed it for us - any suggestions?

[Tricked 33]

1) Rail fare to London (I'm from up North so quite hefty) - about £150 return

2) Medical once I have the case number, I believe this is £250

3) DS-160 - I believe this has to be completed online, but paid for at the embassy - is this correct? Can it be paid before the interview? In any case, I believe this is $160

4) Rail fare (or flights, undecided yet) to London for interview - about £150 return

5) Overnight stay in London - £150-200

6) Embassy fee? Although I think I might be getting this crossed over with the DS-160 fee?

Am I missing anything massive off the list? This is just the NOA2 approval to the interview stage, I know when I land in the States and marry I'll need to file Adjustment of Status which is $1030 I believe.

I'm in a similar situation, Medical this Friday, so can give my costings.

Flights to/from Heathrow £90

Underground £10 (ish)

Medical £250 (plus any vaccinations needed, fairly sure I've got all mine)

Flights to/from Heathrow £90ish (I hope)

Underground £10 (ish)

Depending on time of interview (overnight stay £lots)

MRV £160

Flights to States/Movers/Boxes/Cases/etc

Drivers Licence/etc

Wedding

AOS ($1000 or so... glad it's not £)

DS-160 is what you fill in for the embassy at or before the Medical.

It goes...

NOA2

NVC

DS-160

Medical

Notice of Readiness

MRV fee - once letter recieved for interview

Interview

The DS-160 is also quite the task, took me two hours to complete, though 45 mins was spent arguing with the photograph upload part...

Edited April 12, 2016 by Tricked

[bigboss1984 8]

I'm in a similar situation, Medical this Friday, so can give my costings.

Flights to/from Heathrow £90

Underground £10 (ish)

Medical £250 (plus any vaccinations needed, fairly sure I've got all mine)

Flights to/from Heathrow £90ish (I hope)

Underground £10 (ish)

Depending on time of interview (overnight stay £lots)

MRV £160

Flights to States/Movers/Boxes/Cases/etc

Drivers Licence/etc

Wedding

AOS ($1000 or so... glad it's not £)

DS-160 is what you fill in for the embassy at or before the Medical.

It goes...

NOA2

NVC

DS-160

Medical

Notice of Readiness

MRV fee - once letter recieved for interview

Interview

Awesome! Keep me updated with your timeline, sounds like we have a fairly similar case good luck for your medical!

[Tricked 33]

Ha, the embassy can't sneeze near me without me updating the timeline in my signature.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Here's a cut/paste of a list I made. The transportation and such is not included.

K1 London route = $1705 + £295

$340 (USCIS) I-129F petition

£45 (ACPO) Police certificate just before petition approval

£250 (Knightsbridge Doctors) medical exam. Pay at exam.

$265 (Embassy) Visa fee prior to interview. Online pay.

$30 Courier fee if home delivery, $0 to pick up at a depot. Online.

$1070 (USCIS) Adjustment of Status/Work Authorization/Advance Parole (after marriage)

Note: if it is paid to the US government, the price is in $$, but your credit card will get charged in ££ depending on the exchange rate of the day.

[bigboss1984 8]

Here's a cut/paste of a list I made. The transportation and such is not included.

K1 London route = $1705 + £295

$340 (USCIS) I-129F petition

£45 (ACPO) Police certificate just before petition approval

£250 (Knightsbridge Doctors) medical exam. Pay at exam.

$265 (Embassy) Visa fee prior to interview. Online pay.

$30 Courier fee if home delivery, $0 to pick up at a depot. Online.

$1070 (USCIS) Adjustment of Status/Work Authorization/Advance Parole (after marriage)

Note: if it is paid to the US government, the price is in $$, but your credit card will get charged in ££ depending on the exchange rate of the day.

Thanks for this breakdown, much appreciated - I read a few reviews for London saying they paid the visa fee on the day of the interview - is this still something you can do? If the visa fee is paid online, I'm right in thinking nothing is to be paid when you're at the embassy right?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Thanks for this breakdown, much appreciated - I read a few reviews for London saying they paid the visa fee on the day of the interview - is this still something you can do? If the visa fee is paid online, I'm right in thinking nothing is to be paid when you're at the embassy right?

Once you are assigned an interview date, you go online and pay prior to interview day. Print the receipt of payment to show the document checker (first time called up) at the interview.

We (K1s) used to pay on the day and I think spouse visas maybe still do. However if your online paying fails, there is still a cashier available and they will take your money then. It just slows them down to add that step on interview day so they switched to online.

[simonschus 58]

I was thinking about flying too, I'm from Newcastle so it would save alot of time flying as opposed to getting the train - and I believe the Heathrow express goes to Paddington which isn't too far from the embassy.

I ended up just getting the London Heathrow underground from Heathrow rather than the Heathrow Express as I had a lot of time to spare (about a 50 minute journey with one change, getting off at Bond Street which is about 3 minutes from the embassy). Heathrow Express historically has generally been quite expensive if you buy the ticket on the day, but you can get cheap tickets if you book in advance.

In terms of flying, if you've ever collected any British Airways airmiles (Avios) then you might be able to fly down at a reduced cost. Using that option, I managed to get my flights for £35 return using about 8000 of my airmiles. There is still the hassle of getting to the airport early so you'd have to think about the cost/benefit of flying versus getting the train or other alternatives (e.g. National Express). Although it will differ from Newcastle, I probably spent the same amount of time at the airport and on the flight as I would have been on the train from Manchester, although I thought it was still worth it if only for the excitement of being in the air! The equation might differ as I believe that the flight from NCL-LHR is quite regular, as are the trains so you have a range of options to consider.

P.S. Apologies about my error earlier with misstating that the K1 MRV fee is $160, it is indeed $265 as Nich-Nick stated.

Edited April 12, 2016 by simonschus

[yuna628 9,677]

OP: Hey fellow Newcastler! That makes my husband smile, afraid I cannot help you much on the price to get down to London via train.. we did look into that and hotels but it was just too much money. He ended up getting up in the wee early hours and driving down to London and back in the same day for every time he went down there (paying for parking of course). If you want to make things a little cheaper, my best advice from recollection is to find a hotel outside of the central area, and either walk or take transport in... that way you can shave a few £'s off the price.

Also AOS (with EAD and AP) is $1070 not 1030. If you have used BA prior, I'd encourage looking into Avios which can knock down the price or upgrade your class when you make the big move. You'll also get less for your money these days.. the £ has fallen against the $ lately. There are many flights a day from NCL to LHR, and the Underground does get you nearish to the embassy. Not sure if this cost would work out cheaper than a full rail ticket.

[SariEva 17]

Here's a cut/paste of a list I made. The transportation and such is not included.

K1 London route = $1705 + £295

$340 (USCIS) I-129F petition

£45 (ACPO) Police certificate just before petition approval

£250 (Knightsbridge Doctors) medical exam. Pay at exam.

$265 (Embassy) Visa fee prior to interview. Online pay.

$30 Courier fee if home delivery, $0 to pick up at a depot. Online.

$1070 (USCIS) Adjustment of Status/Work Authorization/Advance Parole (after marriage)

Note: if it is paid to the US government, the price is in $$, but your credit card will get charged in ££ depending on the exchange rate of the day.

If the embassy fee is paid online, is it possible for my fiance to pay with my credit card to avoid the credit card/exchange rates? With all these expenses on the UK side, I want to help without having to transfer funds and pay exchange rates. Has anyone done this?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

If the embassy fee is paid online, is it possible for my fiance to pay with my credit card to avoid the credit card/exchange rates? With all these expenses on the UK side, I want to help without having to transfer funds and pay exchange rates. Has anyone done this?

Yes. You can pay and forward the email receipt to him. I don't know that they charge an additional fee for the exchange. It is a standard US fee but is converted to the local currency depending on exchange rates. The price could be £185.10 today and two weeks from now £186,12 just because of currency fluctuations. Two years ago the same $265 visa fee was £158 ish

[SariEva 17]

Good to know, Thanks!