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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on June 3, 2010: |
Leenie
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
I stayed in Lincoln House, which is about a half mile from the American embassy in London. It's a three star hotel with various room options and is pretty good on the cheap. The web address for it can be found here: http://www.lincoln-house-hotel.co.uk/ Because it's located so near the embassy, you can get to where you need to be fairly quickly, and you'll also be able to leave your electronics at Gould's Pharmacy or with the people at the hotel (or in your room if you like).
Because my interview was rescheduled to an earlier date (originally it was on June 8th, but we had to readjust it to June 1st) I was nervous there would be a problem getting into the embassy. When you start to queue, there are two people who will check if you have an interview. They know if you are coming, and will write on your sheet to tell the rest of the people that it's been rescheduled.
Next, you'll head through security, which is a lot like airport security. Make sure you have no electronics on you, and I'm sure you will be fine. Then you will head into the embassy and see a woman at the desk who will give you a number. None-immigrants will have one beginning with N; for immigrants, it will begin with I. Mine was like I9XX, and you will be able to figure out about when your interview will be from that.
Inside, there is lots of chairs looking at about 8 screens. The setup is a lot like waiting for your number to be called in a post office. Inside, there is a drinks stand where you can get lots of drinks including Mug Rootbeer. I was immensely surprised by this, so I bought a can for about 80p.
Now for the tale of my personal experience dealing with my visa. The process itself is very simple, but three problems happened to me. When your number is called and you get to the desk, you will be asked to furnish the various documents you had to accumulate. For me and my K-1 visa application, they took my birth certificate copy, police certificate copy, passport photos (you can get these from the pharmacy nearby), I-134 affadavit of support, my fiancée's tax return, and the money.
The money was the first of my problems, my card wouldn't work on the machine for whatever reason (it wasn't chip and pin). I had to leave the embassy mid interview to acquire the money. The person serving me behind the window said he would wait for me to return. This presented itself another problem because I had to muscle my way back into the embassy. I didn't have to queue to get in this time though, so I was back in after about 5-10 minutes of running around. I just waited for the person serving me to finish what he was doing.
After part 1 is completed, you sit back down and wait patiently for your number to be called again, while you are doing this you will need to fill out a form for the courier. The embassy is nice enough to provide pens by the courier desk if you don't have one. After you are called up again, you move on to part 2. Here, they will take your finger prints and have you sign the DS-156K form you sent off. There are two things to sign here. Firstly, the person you are marrying is the top thing marked, and your signature is the bottom part. Now for the second problem I had. I will admit now that the glass they use is not just bullet proof, but soundproof. I couldn't tell what was being said, and I just signed both the lines with my name. He corrected my mistake and just used white out on the sheet.
After you sign the sheet, he will say for you to hold up your right hand and swear that the documents you are submitting are all truthful. (American fiancée edit - they asked my fiancé how we met, and he told them we met online at a forum to chat about videogames, and then they asked how long we've been together as a couple. Again, he answered. Finally, they asked where he intended to live in the USA, and he told them at my parents' house in the Chicago suburbs. Apparently this bit is so easy that my fiancé left it out, and I had to edit it in for the benefit of VJ :P Also, I assume this is the point where my fiancé was actually hold he is approved). Then you leave your passport behind and he tells you to go to the courier desk. You can't go home until you pay for the shipping of your passport. I took my passport with me, and was told to take it back to the guy at the desk (again, that glass is really really thick... I didn't know what I was meant to do).Then you will have to pay for the shipping of your passport. You must use a credit or debit card for this, since cash isn't accepted. They will allow for pretty much the normal things. My card was thankfully working for this (chip and pin), so I had no real problems paying for the shipping. They have a variety of options, but it will take 2-5 days to get your stuff delivered. Then you can leave the embassy and go home! Overall, the whole process, complete with mess ups, only took about two hours. A lot of it is waiting, but the two hours really fly by.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6159