Consulate Review: London, United Kingdom
Review Topic: General Review
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
May 11, 2014 |
| Embassy Review : |
I had my K1 interview on Friday 9th May.
I was travelling down from Scotland, so stayed at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington (1 minute away from High Street Kensington Tube Station).
My appointment was for 9:30am, however after reading countless reviews on here, I decided to chance it and go early. Plus I had barely slept the night before so I was up early anyway.
I got to the Embassy (after walking through Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park to get there, trying to count the runners to take my mind off the interview and also dropping my phone off at Goulds) around 7:45, to find there was already a queue of around ~75/100 people.
I took my place at the back of the queue, and it moved relatively quickly. I had my interview letter checked by the first Embassy staff member, and then as I got to the front of the queue, which I think is the desk where they check your forms etc (although I only got to about 10 people away from the front before a lady checked my form again, realised I was 'immigrant' and crossed me off a seperate list) After that I joined the smaller queue to go through security (4 people at a time)
It appears that your interview appointment time does not move you up or down the queue outside. I did hear 1 of the embassy staff outside say to someone 'your time doesn't matter, your not going to miss your appointment, we use that to get you here on the day' which makes sense, and makes it easier for them I can only imagine.
Security was just like any airport security really, and after that I was in. You walk around the corner and up the stairs where you form another queue at reception (much smaller) where your DS-160 is scanned and interview letter checked. You are then given a number (I was I-908) and make your way up to the waiting area. I got inside about 8:25, so had been in the queue roughly 45 minutes.
I was sat in my seat no longer than 5/10 minutes before I was called to Window 1 (please note, they are very prompt about calling your number, I was at the back of the hall so had to walk to the front, and had my number pinged twice before I got there...clearly I wasn't walking fast enough). I had a pleasant woman, who was very polite, but formal, and asked for my documents:
- Affidavit of support with employment letter (I offerred tax returns too, she said 'no I don't need them, save them for your AOS filing)
- Police Certificate (& copy)
- Birth Certificate (& copy)
- Passport
- Proof of payment of visa and courier pick up
- G-325a form (which I gave her without prompting as I had a mistake on my original...she didn't seem bothered really)
She gave me back my chest x-ray CD and asked me when did I plan on travelling, and had I ever been married, in the military etc (to which I answered no). She had a soft voice, and there was a really obnoxious noise coming from the coffee machine/chiller unit during my interview, so I had to really concentrate on what she was saying.
After that I sat back down and waited for my next interview. As I thought it would be a long wait, I had brought a magazine, and my phone with me, however as the numbers get pinged out on the big screen every 5 seconds I had no chance to concentrate, as I didn't want to miss my number.
There was a lot of different numbers getting called: N's (which were by far the most common), E's, L's, I's and V's.
I started to notice some I's getting called to windows 15 and 16 (I could be wrong, but I believe windows 1-12 are where you go to hand your documents, and windows 13-25, situated around the corner, are where the interviews take place) and the engineer in me was trying to determine, based on the information on the big screen, how long they were at the window, but then I gave up as I was driving myself crazy. So instead I went back to reading a card my fiance had sent me, and praying...I prayed a lot actually.
Finally, i-908 was called. This was it. My heart was pounding as I made my way to the window, and I was met by a lovely American lady who was so polite and just gave off the impression that she loves her job. She apologised for yawning at the start (I said 'it's ok, it's early, I'd yawn too if I wasn't nervous', to which she laughed)
She started by scanning my fingerprints again, and putting me under oath. She asked me the following questions:
- Where and when did you and your fiance meet? (We met on Match.com and met physically a few weeks later) She smiled when I said we met online and I said 'you probably hear that a lot don't you' and she just smiled and laughed and said 'yup, when I hear someone tell me they haven't met online I think to myself, ok this is new'. I then talked about how we went on 1 date and then didn't see each other for another 6 months, as I spent some of summer in Chicago (holidays and business meetings, conferences etc.) and went over for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I told her we were engaged at Christmas and asked if she wanted to see a picture (we went with my fiance's sister and brother-in-law who took a picture) and she just smiled and said 'sure' so we had a chat about that.
- She then asked what did my fiance do?
- Had I ever lived anywhere else other than the UK?
- Had I ever been married?
Then she flicked through my application, and looked up and said 'Ok, I am going to approve your application'. At that point, there was a baby starting to cry so I didn't hear her/just wanted to reassure myself so asked her what she said and she just smiled and said I had been approved and would have my passport in 2 weeks.
That was it. I was out of there and on the phone to my fiance in Chicago to give her a great start to her Friday.
I left the embassy around 9:50 (my appointment was scheduled for 9:30) and even managed to catch an earlier train home to Scotland so I could start celebrating with my family.
I apologise if this is a very lengthy review, however I just wanted to let everyone see that it is not a grilling, it is a conversation and that is it. They know you will be nervous but you have nothing to fear. I was panicking because I had an L-1B visa rejection last year and this was never brought up at all. The embassy staff are all polite, friendly, professional people and as long as you have everything organised, there is nothing to worry about.
I cannot wait to get my passport back and get my flight to Chicago booked.
I hope this helps |
| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0