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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on February 19, 2009: |
mixmessiah
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
If you can find your way to grosvenor square, its not hard to spot the american embassy - its the big ugly squat concrete building that broods over the end of the square.
I was nervous as hell when I turned up, however it really is nothing to worry about!
Don't bring anything electronic, and take as little metal stuff as possible. I just had my watch, belt, keys and some coins, and was given a clear plastic bag to put them in when I went through the security check. The guy in front of me told me he had had a pocket knife with him, so had had to take it to the pharmacy up the road, where you can leave stuff like that. Presumably they'll take any other weaponry, sharp pointy things, or WMD's you might happen to have on your person...
It took half and hour of queueing to get to the security check, which consisted of an airport style scanner for my stuff, and one of those metal detector arch thingies for me. Of course I had to take my belt off for the arch thingy, so I then had to walk round to the entrance, whilst holding my trousers up with one hand!
Once I was in the building, they give me a ticket (which was a 5000 series number, seeing as it was for a K1 visa). And then I waited. And waited. Eventually (about 1 1/2 hours later) they called my number, and I went up to a window (just like in the post office), and handed over my documents. That took about 3 minutes, then I was given a courier form, and told to go and sit down, fill in the form, and wait for my number to be called again.
So I waited some more. And some more. Then I got myself a tea. Then I waited some more. And then they called my number again! This time it was the interview proper, which was conducted by a friendly american woman, who asked me some questions, such as:
*when did you meet?
*how did you keep the relationship going?
*what does your fiancee do for a living?
*where does she work?
*have you set a date for the wedding yet?
She then told me I had to marry within 90 of entering the states (yes, I knew that already!), and that I had to take my x-ray in my checked luggage, and the visa documents, that would be sent to me, in my hand luggage. She said that my paperwork was all ok, but that they had one final check to do before they could issue the visa.
So then I went off to the courier desk, and arranged the courier. And left!
2 days later the courier turned up at work with my visa 
Overall it was ok. The security was ridiculously over the top, but I s'pose thats to be expected. The whole thing took about 4 hours, which consisted almost entirely of waiting for my number to be called. The interview itself was a piece of piss, and they didn't ask to see any of my supporting evidence at all. Though I'm glad I took it anyway. It would have been better if they were a bit more organised, i.e. I'm sure they could have done the two separate interviews in one, which would have halved the time I spent waiting.
Oh, and my one piece of advice is, bring a book!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3968