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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on March 17, 2021: |
Liam&Lizz
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
A little backstory: I (petitioner) have a chronic medical condition that has only been recently diagnosed in the summer of 2019. We filed our I-129F petition in October of 2019 and things moved swiftly from there. We were ready to schedule our interview for March of 2020. This did not go well. He had 3 interviews scheduled and canceled between June and August due to the COVID 19 pandemic. We were at the point of no light at the end of the tunnel. We took a chance with asking for an expedited interview via email on December 5th, 2020. We were granted the interview for December 8th, 2020 at the London Embassy. Holy Cannoli!!! Since there was such a delay from the shut down to now we knew that his medical and police certificate were out of date and we would not be able to furnish this at the interview. That being said here's the review:
Liam got to the Embassy about 45 min ahead of his interview time at 0915 am. He brought all the regular paperwork and an additional email sent by the embassy that was required for his entry. He walked around the building and took a few really cute mask pictures in front of the building and then went inside about half an hour early to see if they would let him in early (because of covid restrictions the email stated no more than 15 minutes early for interviews but it was cold!). When he said he was checking in they could not find his name on their list initially because of how quickly the interview was granted, however after checking the computer his name was there and off he went to the 1st floor (second floor for Americans lol). He went through an airport style security check and onto to the elevators. There weren't many people waiting so he checked in with all his paperwork at the first window right away. The gentleman at the window joked with him saying, "I haven't done one of these in a while (K1) I'm not sure I remember how". The window agent did note that his police certificate and medical were out of date. He was given his paperwork back along with a window number and asked to have a seat. His number came up around 5 minutes later for the Consulate Agent window. He had to raise his right hand and swear that his statements were true. The female agent asked a few questions about the K1 (where I live, how we met etc.) but really began to hone in on my medical condition. This makes sense as this was the reason we were granted the expedite to begin with. Saying that we had to submit a letter from my doctor to the Embassy ahead of time. Here was our first mistake - he didn't bring the letter assuming that it was already there because of our request. BIG WRONG. The agent went from a happy demeanor to suspicious right away. She seemed to dismiss the explanation from Liam and admitidely he got a bit frazzled. She said that we woulnd't qualify under a medical exception but we would under a National Interest exception. She kept his passport and gave him a 221(g) on green paper. The scary thing about a 221g is that is is marked "Refused". What it meant in our case was it was refused until he got a new medical and police certificate sent over to them. She did not look at a single tax transcript, bank record, paycheck stub or anything else that he brought. She advised him that should the visa be issued under the National Interest exception he would have only 30 days to travel to the United States. He left the interview and we had much researching to do as we were treading dark waters at this point. All in all I would say that it went as best it could given the global pandemic, the lack of information as to specific paperwork to bring (pro-tip bring it all) and the confusion on our part as to the next steps. My fiance's opinion is that he would rather never go through that trial by fire again for the rest of his life. The London Embassy is doing the best they can given the circumstances so I won't knock them for that.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #29329