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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on July 30, 2008: |
Nich-Nick
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Interview appointment July 29 at 9:00 am.
I’m the USC and went to London with my fiancé. There was no problem with me being allowed to go inside the embassy with him by showing my passport. We arrived outside the embassy at 8:20 and found it different than described by previous posters. There was one long line of maybe 40 people. They were not separating by appointment times. It was first in line, first in the door. A woman was going down the line reminding people no phones, ipods, keys, etc are allowed inside. She was passing out bags for belts and watches to ride through the security machine. Security is a glass enclosure outdoors near the line with airport type screening. She told me I could just put my watch inside my purse for the screening rather than the plastic bag. You can put watches and belts on once it goes through the machine. We also noticed cigarette lighters in bags going through the x-ray, so they are not banned. After security, you’re inside the fence to walk around the corner of the building to the entrance. There was a queue there to get inside. The first area is like the foyer with a receptionist station/counter. Most people had forms in their hands to turn in and some were gathered around her counter hurriedly filling in forms. I guess those must have been other kinds of visas where you don’t send the forms in early. For us, we presented our appointment letter and she generated a double label with our waiting number—5011.
Then we went up some steps into the main visa processing area. It’s a large rectangular room with glass walls all around, tile floor, and hard plastic chairs lined up row after row very close together like a school assembly or public meeting at the town hall. The monitors are across the middle with the rows of chairs on either side facing them. I estimated 125 people were crowded inside in the chairs. It was very crowded, stuffy and noisy. The line for the computers to complete forgotten paperwork was about 10 people long. At the far end of the room is an attended snack area with ice cold drinks and water, American candy bars, Walker’s crisps, Starbuck’s coffee, sandwiches, muffins, etc.
On the monitors you can see how many are in the queues and what number is at what processing window. Eleven processing windows are along the long wall of that main waiting room. A hallway connects to a back room with more windows. The toilets and photo booth are in the hallway. I kept a timeline in my puzzle book while waiting.
08:20 – arrived embassy
08:42 – cleared security
08:48 – sat in waiting area with ticket 5011
10:00 – called to window #1 (paperwork, fingerprints, payment of fees)
10:15 – finished at window #1
10:55 – called to window #16 (more fingerprints, signing form, oath, interview)
11:02 – finished and in line to pay courier
11:05 – leaving the building. Walk around the corner and through security booth to get outside the fence.
My fiancé had a hard time hearing the woman at window #1 so it probably took him twice as long. He turned in his police certificate, birth certificate, and divorce decree (all with copies), and his passport (she put one of his number 5011 stickers on it). She asked for the I-134 so he gave it to her. She looked annoyed and said “What? Don’t you have pay slips or something?” He was waiting to know what else she wanted to see, but because he couldn’t hear her that well, he just gave her the whole folder of financial supporting documents. She sent him to window #12, which is the cashier, where he paid $131 in cash then took the receipt back to window #1. Meanwhile she had made copies of the 2007 tax return and W2s. It was a TurboTax copy and not an IRS transcript. She gave him back the tax return and said you will need this for adjustment of status. Not sure why she made copies because it was just a copy he gave her and nothing special nor notarized. She kept one of the two employment letters.
The young American man who did the interview portion was quite friendly. It’s there you swear the oath and get back your original birth and police certificates and divorce decree. There was the usual mix of questions and it was more of a conversation. How did you meet? What does she do? When did it get romantic between you two? (since we were friends for years) What are your plans for a wedding? Have you had your medical yet? Was everything okay? He said you are provisionally approved, but our computer system is down that does the last security checks, so go pay the courier and your passport will be delivered when that process is completed. The courier computers were down too. He paid £14 and we left the building.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3175