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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on December 1, 2009: |
sharo
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
I got to Gould's Pharmacy a couple of minutes before 8am and checked in my phone and had 2 passport pics done which was cheaper than I was expecting. Then walked to the Embassy as I wasn't sure how far away I was. Literally 5 mins or less. It was freezing outside and pouring with rain. I briefly considered leaving and coming back a little later as I was so early. Then decided to join the queue and see what they said because the weather was so bad and I really just wanted to get inside to defrost.
They didn't say anything and it did take 30mins to get thru the line and security. I got my ticket at 0835 and when and sat in the waiting room. I was expecting 1. to be waiting for a while before my number got called and 2. to be called to one of the windows 1-11. So I was a little taken aback when my number was called in 15mins and to one of the windows in the back section.
I'm not exactly sure at what point during this first part I was asked to go pay and then go back to the window but here's what happened at the first window. He asked for my interview letter and passport, did my fingerprints, asked for 2 photos, asked when I had my medical and if I'd had to get further info. I told yes I'd had to have an ECG but had called Knightsbridge doctors Friday and they told me they had mailed my stuff to the Embassy. He went away checked and my stuff had got there that morning He handed me my x-ray and told me to carry it in my suitcase when I travelled. He then asked for my birth cert, marriage cert, police cert, I-864 and joint sponsors I-864. He pretty much handed me back my joint sponsors tax papers for 2007/2006 without even looking at them. He also gave me back my FIL's original birth cert as I had copied it. He then handed me the pink courier form and told me to go back to the waiting room and fill that out while I waited to be called again.
That might sound like a lot but only took a few minutes. I was back in the waiting room by 0915. My number was called again at 1010 so off I went to window 15.
Again I'm not sure what order these questions were asked in but they were all very straight forward questions which didn't really take any thinking about. She asked how long we'd been married, why I abandoned my LPR status after having lived in the US before, when did hubby come to the UK, were the children with him today, what we both did for work, where we would be living, when we planned on moving, why my FIL had so many dependents on his I-864.
On the domicile front she asked where my hubby was living now. Was his job continuing in the US, had we been looking for work over there. Gave her 2 emails showing him searching for jobs. She asked if we had any moving quotes which I said I did but she didn't even have me pass them to her thru the window. I told her that we still owned a property over there and gave her some papers showing proof of that along with the tenancy agreement as we currently rent the property. I think the owning of the house weighed heavily in our favour as she didn't ask for anything else after that really. There were a couple more questions but they were had the lease agreement been terminated. I told her no the man renting the house wants to buy it but doesn't have the funding to do so right now and we didn't plan on moving back into the house in any case as it only has 2 bedrooms and was too small for us as we have a boy and a girl.
I had a domicile statement that I never showed her from DH along with copy of his driving license and didn't have anything showing that we planned on living my my in-laws but that didn't seem to worry her any.
So all in all she told me my visa was approved and reminded me not to open the envelope that comes with my passport.
I paid the cuourier and was out of the building before 1030 going for my phone and looking for some breakfast!
I think that is everything. Now just have to wait for the courier oh yeah and get ready to move as we're planning on leaving in Jan
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5329