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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on October 2, 2020: |
The4Sands
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
This is my husband's review of his IR-1 interview at the London Embassy:
I found the embassy a very inviting and approachable place to go, much more so than the old embassy. There was plenty of street signage guiding people there so it was easy to find. At security there was a sign saying “Visas†that pointed to a locked door and another sign saying “US Citizen services†that was manned by security. The security person on the US Citizen side directed me to a third door that had a small sign that said visas and someone came out to meet me and check my papers. After having my papers checked I went through security with no problems then up the slope to the visitor entrance. I was quite early but they let me and directed me to the 1st floor to a large waiting lounge, but kept the confirmation of my appointment at the desk and told me to come back shortly. I took that opportunity to use the toilet and take a few pictures and then went back down to the desk a little later, where they gave me my appointment confirmation back with a ticket number stuck to it. I wanted to take another picture of a quote on the wall but the person behind the desk told me I needed to get back upstairs because they might have called my number already! So I went back up to the 1st floor, left, left to the area with the booths that had a smaller waiting area with seats.
There were only 4 or 5 other people waiting in that space and my number was already on the screen when I arrived so I went straight to the booth. You are allowed to take your mask off because there is a full screen between you the person behind the counter, which was very helpful. The gentleman behind the counter was very friendly and helpful and took my documents including: our birth and marriage certificates + photocopy, police certificate + photocopy, my passport, the affidavits of support with the supporting tax documents (I had the petitioner’s 2019 tax transcript and the joint sponsor’s 2019 tax return and that was fine) and my two passport photos. He also asked when I planned to go to America and I explained that my wife was going in a few weeks’ time and that I hoped to join her after half term with our children. Then he gave me a form indicating what fees I needed to pay and told me to go straight to another booth to pay for the visa, which I did. Make sure you keep all the receipts they give you as you will need them later.
Then back to waiting, I think I waited 15-20 minutes and then my number came back up again and I went to the booth to speak to another person, this time a woman, who was not as friendly as the first. She wanted to see the fee receipts from paying for the visa (I think she kept one of them) and asked me some questions:
-how long have you been married?
-how did you meet?
-where did you meet?
-what jobs did you both do for the organisation where you met?
-why did you decide to get married?
-why are you moving to America?
And then she asked whether or not I had been given the document that explained my rights to me. I hadn’t so she gave it to me and also returned my original documents and then told me my visa was approved. It was so sudden that I was a little taken aback and asked, “oh, are we done now?†and she said, “yes.†I was not asked any questions about intent to domicile (or any documents toward that, although I did have some) and they did not ask for the public charge questionnaire (though I had that too). So that was that and I was out the door about 35 minutes after my allotted interview time.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #28635