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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on February 17, 2021: |
Zeppeli
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I had my interview today in London, 17th of February at 10:30. The embassy is incredibly hard to miss and is impressive and formidable structure! I entered the security building at 10:10 and was greeted with no queues and very friendly staff. I was asked to show my passport and DS-260 confirmation here and open an app on my phone to show that it's working. Had a brief chat about the crazy weather the past few weeks and went on my merry way to the main building.
First things first, those doors are no joke. I really struggled to get it open and joked with the lady at reception about it to which she replied with a laugh and said "yeah we get that a lot". She placed the stickers that have my number on it and she told me where to go.
The waiting room was really nice and quiet and I proceeded to wait until my number appeared on the screen. I went to the first window and provided my civil documents, one passport picture and this is where I hit a small blip. I had previously changed my name by deed poll when I was 16 and couldn't get my details on it (though my previous surname and date of change is on my birth certificate) but more on this later. I gave my finger prints and he gave me a leaflet about immigration rights which I read as I waited for the interview.
When I was called up to the window, I was asked to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth and then, she asked me about my name change. I told her that I changed my surname at 16 to match my mother's maiden name and this was fine. The brief panic I had whilst waiting was quelled.
She asked me 3 questions, "How did you two meet? "Why are you moving there instead of him coming here?" And finally, "Did you read the leaflet and do you have any questions about it?" Once I had finished this she said "I'm approving you today and your passport will be with you in 1-2 weeks!" I nearly burst out in tears of joy and said thank you and ran to call my husband! Bless him it was about 3am by that time.
So the main takeaway is, if you've changed your name by deed poll, I really recommend you take this with you, just in case!
All in all, it really is the easiest bit. Everyone was really nice and it was very efficient in there. I left the building at 12pm. So total time was 50 minutes.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #29173