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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on April 17, 2010: |
Hokie97
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
We traveled to London on Thursday night (April 15) for our interview on Friday morning. I had everything timed just right on Thursday, as the kids went to school as usual, but we had to get baths and dinner taken care of before we got our taxi at 6:30 to the station. We arrived in London just after 9pm. It was a five minute walk to the hotel (Kings Cross Travelodge). We checked in and got ready for bed right away. We had to be up at 6 the next morning, so we wanted to get a good night's sleep. The hotel was nothing special (you have to use your key card to get to the elevator, to make the elevator work, to get to the hall your room is on... and they don't work great sometimes we had to put the card in 5+ times to get the door unlocked) but it is relatively cheap and it was clean, if sparse.
Friday morning we were up and on our way at 7:20. We had to take two trains and walk aways to get to the Embassy, and were there for 8:20. It took about 20 minutes to get through the two check points and through security to get into the Embassy. We got our number I910 and found a seat. It was just before 9am. The room is very large, with high ceilings and one entire wall is windows facing out over Grosvenor Square. But with the sun streaming in it was very unpleasant and hot. There were 11 windows (like bank teller windows) in our room and 13 more around the corner. Numbers were being called constantly, but they were N numbers (non-immigrant) and we were I (immigrant). When we first got seated they called I901. It was two hours before they got to us. We went to the window and handed over their passports and US photos we'd had taken. Then we sat down. 20 minutes or so later he called us back and sent me to pay for the visas. While I was gone, he fingerprinted Nid and Briony, but Cale didn't have to have his done because of his age. Then he asked for the documents, one at a time and very organized. The gentleman was very nice and easy to understand, which was amazing because he was speaking through glass and the numbers were being announced through a speaker right over our heads. He gave us Nid's x-ray and their medical reports in an envelope and we sat back down. It was about 11am then.
We were keeping an eye on the I numbers that were getting called up again. At about 11:40 we were called back to a window in the other room for our interview. This guy was American and was still shuffling through papers, so apologized a few times for making us wait. He had all of our original documents ready for me to take back. He fingerprinted Nid and Briony to confirm their identity and then made them hold up their right hands and swear that the information on the forms and anything they told him today was the truth. That done, he asked Nid where we were moving to. He told us he was from North Carolina. He asked how long I had been in England, and I told him about 14 months. He explained about domicile, and how I did not have to be living in the US to take my family there, but I had to prove that I still had ties there. I was so anxious for him to stop talking because I had an entire folder full of documents proving my US domicile. When he was done explaining why I needed to show him I had domicile, I said I have a lease and slid a letter that I had prepared under the glass. He looked at it and said, it says here you have a voter registration card? I said yes, do you need the copy or the original? He said the copy was fine, so I slid it along with our emailed lease under the glass. He looked at them, slid them back and said great. I had nearly 20 things proving my domicile and intention to move back, but that was all he wanted. He said everything is done here, you'll need to pay the courier on your way out, and you'll receive your passports and visas within a week. Then he finished with "Welcome to Virginia. Welcome to the US.")
I paid at the courier desk, and we were leaving the Embassy right at noon. It was all very surreal. Even though I'd read dozens of reviews on the immigration forums that I frequent, I still was surprised by the process. The waiting was killer (and the chairs were horrid, uncomfortable contraptions) but when it was over, it was hard to believe it was over. I've been so focused on this moment since October/November, and now it's done. The work isn't over of course. I still have to manage the move and the shipping company and weeding through our belongings, but the question of can we is gone. We can. We will. Very shortly.
Everyone we talked to was very nice, from the people checking our documents in the que to the document guy and interviewer. We really couldn't have had a better day (unless we'd had less of a wait time, but we didn't get there as early as I had planned, and we were prepared with snacks and books).
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5931