K1 interview today in London

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

Firstly, I’m delighted to say that I was approved!

 

Description of the day (know when you’re preparing for your own interview, it’s always nice to read these):

 

I spent the night at my sister’s in Highbury New Park - convenient for the embassy as only 30 minutes by bus/tube, but not open to the public. Also, their dog woke me up by licking my face, which was disconcerting 🐶😆.

 

Got to Vauxhall station at 10:40am (my appointment was at 11:30am - but once a dog has face-slobbered you awake, it’s hard to fall back asleep), so took the scenic route to the embassy along the river with a coffee. Got some great Instagram content 😆🤷🏻‍♀️. 

 

Arrived at the embassy at just before 11am, having stopped at the big Waitrose next door to grab a drink (you can take bottles in the embassy, as long as they’re sealed and made of plastic - definitely worth grabbing a drink and a snack, as you may be in there for a while and there’s no vending machines).

 

As soon as I entered the immigrant visa waiting area, @Meg101 came over to say hi - was great to spend the time with someone else going through the same thing!

 

I was called to the first window where I was asked for my current passport, reaffirmation of intent to marry (my petition expired last month, hence me needing one), my ACRO, birth certificate, affidavit of support and supporting proof (2018 tax transcript). I wasn’t asked for anything else, even though I was like “hey, I hunted through boxes in the attic to find my old passport, you could at least look at it!” 😆😆.

 

There was then a wait of about an hour until I was called to the second window - although I believe that was pretty quick - Meg and another lady we were talking with, Lena, both were waiting for around 2 hours for their second slot.

 

I was at the second window for about 4-5 minutes - and had a nice chat with the interviewing officer - the only questions she asked me were around why I had a B1/2 visa and when I planned on moving (literally, that’s it!) - however, I do talk a lot, so maybe I answered some potential questions without being asked 🤷🏻‍♀️😆.

 

She then told me I was approved and I should get my visa within the next couple of weeks 🎉 🎊 🇺🇸 .

 

I waited after my interview for 5 minutes for Meg and Lena to finish theirs and then we all walked to the tube station together, having all been APPROVED! WHOOP WHOOP!  

 

And congratulations also to the lady in the white shirt who completed her interview just before ours and also was approved (if you’re reading this) - sorry, I didn’t catch your name 🙃.

 

So yeah, if you have your interview coming up:

 

1) It honestly is nothing to sweat over - everyone is incredibly nice there.

2) Take a drink/snacks.

3) Do the river walk if you can - it’s lovely.

4) Avoid being woken by dog tongue.

 

Now I plan to start my emigration checklist and researching AOS intently 📖 (don’t relax just yet @Wuozopo, I’ll have more questions for you! 😆).

[Richard Purves 58]

Congratulations!

[little immigrant 801]

31 minutes ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Avoid being woken by dog tongue

I don't get it

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

16 minutes ago, little immigrant said:

I don't get it

It was a callback to paragraph 3...🤔

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

Just now, Zoeeeeeee said:

It was a callback to paragraph 3...🤔

Though can also be taken as advice for general life. Not a great way to wake up. Avoid if possible.

[fip & jim 452]

Congratulations to you both!

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

2 hours ago, fip & jim said:

Congratulations to you both!

Thank you!! I was very calm at the embassy, but now it’s starting to hit home that I’m going to be leaving - mixture of excitement and sadness! 😳

[fip & jim 452]

1 hour ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Thank you!! I was very calm at the embassy, but now it’s starting to hit home that I’m going to be leaving - mixture of excitement and sadness! 😳

Yes, it's bittersweet. 

[fs2439 46]

On 9/10/2019 at 6:11 PM, Zoeeeeeee said:

Thank you!! I was very calm at the embassy, but now it’s starting to hit home that I’m going to be leaving - mixture of excitement and sadness! 😳

I know that feeling

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

Had an email this morning to say my visa was dispatched - CEAC updated yesterday to say it was issued - so looks like my planned departure on 13th November will be happening 🙃.

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

On 9/11/2019 at 12:30 AM, fip & jim said:

Yes, it's bittersweet. 

 

1 hour ago, fs2439 said:

I know that feeling

It definitely is bittersweet - for everything you gain, you seem to lose something - but having said that, I can’t wait to see my fiancé again - I’ve been back for less than a week from visiting and time is moving so slowly (but I also only 8.5 weeks and so much to do!)...

[Richard Purves 58]

5 hours ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Had an email this morning to say my visa was dispatched - CEAC updated yesterday to say it was issued - so looks like my planned departure on 13th November will be happening 🙃.

That's incredibly quick! Well done again! Bon voyage!

[GOOOOOB 4]

10 hours ago, Zoeeeeeee said:

Had an email this morning to say my visa was dispatched - CEAC updated yesterday to say it was issued - so looks like my planned departure on 13th November will be happening 🙃.

First congratulations of having your visa approved! I'm at the stage where I'm waiting for the appointment letter from the embassy in London as it says that it's ready for interview on the ceac website. Hopefully I'll get that in the next week or so.

 

When did you fill in your DS-160? Did you wait until you had the letter and interview confirmation before completing it? Or did you do it as soon as you got your case number?

 

Also thanks for confirming that the interviewer is nice and not trying to catch you out. Although I'm still likely to be nervous!
 

 

Congratulations again!

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

1 hour ago, Adam.T said:

First congratulations of having your visa approved! I'm at the stage where I'm waiting for the appointment letter from the embassy in London as it says that it's ready for interview on the ceac website. Hopefully I'll get that in the next week or so.

 

Hi Adam - so, first of all, you don’t need to wait for the letter before you start prepping/booking things in. Some people never get a letter. I’d recommend asking your fiancé to call up to see if your case number is ready (the one beginning in LDN) - once you have that, you’re good to go. That’s assuming you’re wanting to move things along as quick as possible (I delayed mine quite a lot).

 

When did you fill in your DS-160? Did you wait until you had the letter and interview confirmation before completing it? Or did you do it as soon as you got your case number?

 

Ok, scrub what I said above, sounds like you’ve got your case number! Nope, I filled in my DS-160 way before booking my interview. In fact, if my memory serves me correct, I think you may need to fill in the DS-160 first, as you might need some confirmation info off it when booking the interview. I may be remembering that wrong though!

 

Also thanks for confirming that the interviewer is nice and not trying to catch you out. Although I'm still likely to be nervous!

I’m sure you’ll still be nervous, it’s only natural - but honestly, there was no grilling - I think some stories on here can be scary...but we’re incredibly fortunate to be from the UK and so not under suspicion in the same way.

 

Congratulations again!

 

Thank you! 

 

[Zoeeeeeee 797]

6 hours ago, Richard Purves said:

That's incredibly quick! Well done again! Bon voyage!

Looking at flights this weekend 😍.

 

Fiancé has also just booked us a suite at Hotel Paris in Vegas for the weekend after I arrive (before anyone says, I know I haven’t got the visa in hand yet, but if there is a mistake , I have two months to get it fixed...) - we’re going for the RnR marathon there, so it’s going to be a combined welcome-to-America road trip, romantic weekend with fiancé, racing with my running buddies and future husband trip - and I haven’t stayed at Paris before, so can’t wait! 🙃