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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on July 20, 2007: |
selly
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
My appointment was arranged for 10am so I arrived at about 9.15am. The two 'meeters and greeters' checked my name on the list and directed me to a line which was about 20 people long. Although there appeared to be some sort of order to who was going through the security room, there were the odd 'moaners' that were pushed through quickly. It took about 35 minutes of standing and waiting for my turn in what was a nice and sunny day. I'm just glad my interview was on the 19th and not the 20th as the 20th was WET and I'm not sure I would have wanted to stand in the rain waiting to get in for my interview. Once at the security I was relieved of my two electronic devices, key fob and mobile, and my bag was scanned while I walked through the metal detector. Once I had picked up my bag and numbered tag for my phone/keys I was directed around to the far side of the building.
The signs are very clear as to where you must go and I quickly found myself at the reception desk of the visa section. Once again my interview letter was checked and I was allocated a number particular to my type of visa. As soon as I walked in to the large waiting room I thought 'oh no this is going to take hours'. You will be met by hundreds of people sat waiting, however once I sat down and scrutinised the waiting screen, I realised that there were only three others in front of me.
After about a 20 minute wait, my nuber was called to go to window number 1 where I was met by an asian lady that was very polite and actually had a bit of a joke with me. I was asked to produce all of my supporting paperwork and a scan of my fingerprints was taken. She asked me a few questions about my paperwork just to clarify what I had given her. I signed some of the forms sent in with Packet 3 and was quickly banished to the visa payemnt window. On my return I was given a pink form and told to fill in the address detail for the courier and sent back to the waiting area to wait for interview 2. Word of warning it is extremely difficuly to hear the questions being asked as the background noise is quite loud and also in this interviewers case she was a little quiet.
After a quick sandwich and drink, purchased at the little cafe in the waiting area, I had literally another 20 minutes to wait before once again I was summoned to window 16. This time I was met by a young American lady, who had already pushed my original copies of documents back through the slot under the window. She scanned my left hand fingerprints again and asked me to swear that everything I had written and was about to say was the whole truth etc. I was then asked some very personal questions about how, where and when we met and why this was the one. Had we met each others family, when was the last time she had been over here, me over there etc. All the time the woman at the desk was just tapping away at a couple of keys on her keyboard and not appearing to be that interested. After about five minutes of arriving at the window, she smiled and said 'that's about it, I am pleased to tell you that we will be giving you your visa and it will be sent to you as soon as we can. The courier should deliver it within the next 3 - 5 days'. She then directed me to the couriers desk where I paid for the delivery and handed over the pink sheet of paper.
I then left the embassy and wandered around to the exit to collect my keys and phone, all the time being aware that I was grinning like the proverbial grinning cheshire cat.
I then phoned my better half and gave her the wonderful news to shrieks of delight. After six months of waiting and collating information we have finally got the visa......... 
The best advice I can offer anyone considering going through the K1 visa process is to read the pages on VJ, read the paperwork properly that you need to send in and most of all keep focussed on what you are heading towards, being reunited with your loved one. Good Luck to all.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #1818