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| London, United Kingdom |  Review on November 15, 2010: |
Debbie&Dave
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
Approved Today!
Well today was the big day,the one we've been looking forward to for months and months.
I woke up bright and early, 04.00am,and caught the 05.08 train to London,I then made my way to Bond St tube station and walked up Oxford St til I came upon North Audley St, I found the street real easy,proceeded to walk up there and found Gould's pharmacy, just a little further up the street and there was the American Embassy!
I now knew where everything was,but the time was only 07.15 and my appt was 09.00. I walked back and found a Starbucks, where I sat slowly drinking my Latte, I also used this time to check my documents were all in order, then put my appt letter,MRV paper and passport to hand.
It was now about 08.00 so I walked up to Gould's and handed in my phone and bag, I also had 4 more visa photos taken. I then walked up to the Embassy to join a queue of about 40 people, as we progressed along I was asked if I had any electrical items on me? It was at this point i realised I had my car keys on me... Duh!..so I took a quick trip back to Gould's, handed the keys in and rejoined the queue. We gradually made our way to the Visa entrance after being security checked.
Once inside the building I was given an appt number by the receptionist,she also told me where to sit and what window i'd be called to. To my surprise when I walked into the room there must have been about 150 people all waiting for Visa's of different kinds. As I looked around I noticed that nearly everyone else's paperwork was only about a quarter of the thickness of mine, oh well.
From where I was sitting I could slightly overhear the guy who was being interviewed at the window I was going to, and it seemed he was having trouble about not knowing some address, which only added to my anxiety.
Soon enough my number was called and I made my way to the window, after a brief Good morning, the lady asked for my appt letter and passport, she then wanted the affidavit of support, she went through the folder adding things to my now growing case file. After this she wanted my birth certificate and divorce papers. She asked if i'd ever been denied entry to the U.S. She then scanned my fingerprints and asked for my police check certificate, then she asked me if i'd ever lived in another country?
I was then handed a pink courier delivery paper and she told me to take a seat again and wait for my number to be called, at this point I didn't really know what was going on. I guess I was at that first window for about 20 minutes. On the whole I found the interview very straight forward with no tricky questions.
About ten minutes later I was called to another window, where I had to sign a form and write Debbie's full name in block capitals.I was then asked to swear that all the information I had surrendered was the truth. The young American lady then told me that I was approved and to go and sort things out for the courier delivery.
I couldn't help it, a big smile just ran across my face! All the worrying/ compiling, was now over with, and I couldn't wait to get back to Gould's and get my phone to break Debbie the news.
Overall I think I was in the Embassy for about 1.5 hours, and the whole process was so much easier and less stressful than I had imagined it would be.
Fantastic day, now I can be with the woman I love.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #6878