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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on September 23, 2024: |
J&M123
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
Checked into the travelodge vauxhall the day before and I checked out the place at night to see the best possible route. It's a 10ish minute walk and I recommend doing this and finding the best possible routes as google maps can take longer.
I had my appointment at 10.30 am and I left the travelodge at 9.30 am. Good thing is that you can store your bag there.
I did not want to take a chance and packed for taking the bag inside security. But it was not needed.
I reached at approximately 9.45 am and I saw a huge crowd of people waiting outside the embassy. It's important that you join a smaller queue which is for check in services. Here they check you ds260 and "check you in". When i reached the front of this smaller queue it was already 10 am. (You can enter the security only half and hour before your appoitment time)
The guy then told me to join the big queue, to which I was surprised and asked him if I really needed to as I had an immigrant visa (after all the reviews people who went said) . He then proceeded to correct himself. I then "squeezed through" and went to the front of the line. I can imagine the other applicants were all judging me, but I had the right of way. You have to do this! You will miss you appointment otherwise. The guard asked me to open any app on my phone, and then let me in.
I then proceeded to security which is standard airport style. I was then asked to take a sip of my water. Things generally not allowed are perfumes and laptops. Shoes can stay on.
Then pushed through a door with a bit of effort to a courtyard after which there was a queue (about 20) for the next part inside the building. There was two queues, one for citizens and other for non immigrant application. I went in the longer queue initially but then decided to switch to the citizen one, again worried I might miss my appointment. They then placed a sticker on my ds 260 and I proceeded to the lift, first floor. Exiting the lift I could see there were lots of people queuing up at either both sides of the floor. Right is for fingerprints and left is for the non immigrants visa interview. All this is irrelevant, I took a left and at the end of the room took another left where you will be led to a much smaller and less crowded place with 6 counters. The day I was in there were only 2 counters open. One for collecting documents and one for the interview.
After about 20 minutes, at 10.45 ish I was called to the first desk where they collected my documents and passport. Birth certificate, police certificate, old passport with my b1/b2 visa in it, marriage certificate. He then gave me a paper on domestic violence and immigrants. I then proceeded to wait for an hour.
This part was boring and I was just walking to the toilet and just seeing what happens in the non immigrant sections. I knew I had time to kill cause of the people who were before me (7ish)
And then my turn came and I was asked to lift up my right hand and pledge everything I was saying is true. She was a very nice and kind lady and she asked me
1. How did i meet my wife
2. Who proposed to whom
3. Who visits each other the most
4. Was this the first marriage for the both of us
That's it. 5 mins and the Interview is done. It feels quite strange I waited 1.5 years for this 5 mins.
It is a huge relief!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #33394