Consulate Review: London, United Kingdom
Review Topic: K3 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
November 16, 2006 |
| Embassy Review : |
What a strange experience. It went really well though.
My appointment was for 10am at Grosvenor Square, I had travelled down the previous day so had a trial run to see where everything was. There was a huge fence running all the way around the embassy and guards at the gate and policemen in their bulletproof gear with massive guns, then some officially looking "Men in Black" types with their walkie talkies, it was very intimidating.
So the next morning I was told not to be there more than 30 minutes in advance, and presuming everyone else was told the same, I though I would take my chances with getting there 35 minutes in advance. I followed the signs for Visas, and then saw it, 2 huge queues already built up. So I went to the lady with the bright yellow jacket on and asked her which one I should join. She asked what visa I was coming for and I told her K3. She looked at me very confused and asked to see my letter. She then looked even more confused and asked me what "type" of visa I had applied for. I told her I was married to a USC and we had filed for a spousal visa I-130 immigrant visa, and then the K3 visa I-129f non-immigrant visa. I told her that I was here today for an interview for my non-immigrant visa. So she put me in the queue on the right, the longest one!
I stood there wondering how long it would take me to get to the front of the queue, they didn't really seem to be letting anyone in, just one maybe two people every 10 minutes or so. Then the jacket woman started moving people at the front of my queue to the BACK of the "immigrant visa" queue. So I thought YAY i'm moving forwards, and she got to me and said to stay in the "non-immigrant" line yay. The immigrant line didn't move at all, and after an hour my line started moving quickly, I thought yes, I'm nearly inside where I can get a drink and sit down. So I was about 5 people away from the front, and jacket woman started moving everyone at the front of my line to the back of the immigrant line, but I thought I was ok as I had been told to stay in this line twice now.......then she moved me!!!!! I was not happy, it had taken me over an hour to get to the front, now I was even further back than when I first started at 9:25am, in a line that hadn't moved for over an hour!
Well nearly two hours had passed and my feet were killing me but my new line started moving slowly. I finally got called forward and they sent me down to another queue to get through the security cabin. I was there for about 10 minutes, had to throw away my bottle of water, take my belt off and empty my pockets and put my bag through the x-ray. I then walked through a metal detector type thing like you get at the airport, and that was it.
I arrived at the reception and a big burley guy asked for my letter, and told me to switch off my mobile phone, then told me to go up the stairs and turn left. At the top I showed my letter to another woman who was handing out tickets. She asked what visa I was here for and I said K3, and again she looked confused!! I explained it all over again, and said I was here for my non-immigrant visa interview, but she gave me an immigrant ticket and told me to come back if she had given me the wrong one! So I sat down and waited for my number to be called…….number 12 to desk 14 after about 6 minutes of waiting!
I go up to the window and a very softly spoken cockney man asked me some questions on my paperwork, asked for my passport, photos, and all my supporting documents plus copies. I had my finger prints taken on both hands, and he asked me to sign my two DS-156 forms that I had sent back as part of the packet 3. I then had to go back and wait for my number to be called again for my actual visa interview, in the meantime I was to fill in a pink form for the SMS courier people. I sat down expecting to be waiting another hour or so, and literally within 2 minutes……..number 12 to desk 15.
This is where I meet this really slim, cheery looking man, and he says “Hello ma’am, how are you today?”, oooo he’s American, I suddenly start panicking cos THIS IS MY INTERVIEW! But he was really nice, and only asked me a few simple questions, like how did you meet? where did you get married? where are you going to live in the States? have you ever travelled on a passport under a different name? have you ever lived anywhere other than the UK? He took my right hand finger prints again, then he gave me back all my supporting documents but kept hold of my passport. “Right ma’am, everything seems to be in order, you may hand your pink form into the courier desk by where you came in. Have a nice day”. And that was it! Just over 2 hours standing outside and 20 minutes inside.
I then queue up to pay my courier fee of £13.50, but they only deliver between 8am and 6pm weekdays. They will only deliver to you in person as you have to show them ID and sign for it, plus they can’t tell you which day it will be delivered on, and this was no good to me anyway as I work until 7pm. So £33.50 it was to get delivered before 8am, sometime early next week. They also have other options with extra fees too.
So the whole thing took 2 hours 55 minutes, and all in all was very easy once you get past the queues outside. 
(updated on November 30, 2009)
(updated on December 9, 2009) |
| Rating : |
Good |
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ver 5.0