biggish data

Got my visa!

Hi!

First of all, thanks for everybody’s good wishes in my other thread, it's appreciated. Anyway, here I was, Saturday morning, sitting complaining to my mother that the visa had not yet arrived - 5 minutes after that conversation, it does! What a relief! I had paid extra for the before 8am delivery, which must have included Saturday delivery too, as I wasn't expecting it to arrive today.

Anyway, for those who are interested in the details, it came in a plastic shipping packet, which contained my passport and an explanatory note (both just loose in the packet) mentioning the must marry in 90 days of entry etc. The Mystery Brown Envelope is sealed with tape and has a stamp across the seal, so it'd be obvious if you opened it. It also says on the front in big letters that is should only be opened by the US immigration people.

Now for POE and AOS! :-)

Paul

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-07-29 02:38:00

Interview yesterday!

Hi Everybody! I had my visa interview yesterday – here’s my experience, but please be warned it’s long and rambling!

I stayed at the Gloucester Place hotel – 12 minutes walk from the embassy (I timed it

) Not bad, room could have done with a bit of a Hoover, but it was at the back of the hotel and on the 4th floor, so very quiet. Breakfast was OK, nothing fancy but I wasn’t too hungry before the interview anyway.

I arrived at the embassy at about 10 to 10, with my interview being at half 10. I wandered up to the front of the two queues that had begun to form and as I approached a lady with a clipboard asked if I needed any help. She directed me to the queue on the right hand side, alongside the first set of fencing (actually more like a low crowd control barrier). A sign at the front of the queue says “Visas” but it’s hard to see when the queue is already there.

A 2nd queue which was parallel to the 1st one a few metres away (and in the shade of the sun for those at the front, lucky people!

) seemed to be people who had a 10am appointment. As the queue formed a guy went up the queue asking people to remove metal objects from their pockets before going through security and generally cracking a few jokes!

The 10am queue started to file into the building, first showing their passport and security letter to somebody the waling along to the side out the embassy to go through the security hut – a standard airport style setup. About 10:45, the 10am queue had finished going in and the lady started looking at appointment letters and pulling the 10:30 people into the now recently emptied 2nd queue. 10 minutes later I was on my way in! I showed my passport and appointment letter and went thru security. I had a small overnight bag with me which wasn’t a problem. You then walk around to the next side of the building, inside the fencing, up some steps and into a lobby. The guys there asked people to turn mobile phones off and if they had any other electronic devices.

You then go up some stairs to the left and get a number from the girl giving tickets out - I made sure I got an immigrant visa one after reading about some people getting the wrong one. You then sit down in the large open waiting room, that has screens in the middle (so you can sit in either half of the room) that show how many people are in the queues in total (the queues are split up into immigrant, non immigrant and 2 others I can’t remember), the next 10 people who will be called and who should currently be at each window. Quite often somebody is called to a particular window by an automated voice with the info also displayed on the screens. There are toilets somewhere (didn’t dare use em in case I missed my call

) and sandwich/drinks machine at the back of the room.

The interview windows are to the side of the waiting room, with some more down a short corridor. It was here that I was called after waiting about an hour – window 13! It seemed like less of a waiting time because I was so excited/anxious! A British guy went down a checklist, asking if I had ever changed my name or been adopted, took my birth cert (plus a copy), police cert (plus a copy), my fiancée’s I-134 (plus the supporting evidence) my embassy visa interview fee receipt (red Embassy copy) and had me sign 2 forms (I think they were the DS-156). He then gave me a pink courier form to fill out, gave me my x-ray and said I should wait to be called again. At this point, my 13 compartment “executive file” (£4.99 from Tesco!

) came in handy as I had everything at my fingertips.

I went back and waited some more. It seemed some people were being called for the second part of the process by the consular officer calling their ticket number of name out thru the PA, and others were being called by the automated system – so watch out for that. I was called to window 16, where the guy talked to a colleague for a few minutes before acknowledging me and apologising for the wait. He wasn’t very friendly or chatty, just very business like – he wasn’t unfriendly and didn’t make me unconformable, however.

He handed back my original birth cert and police cert and had me sign another form. He then asked a few questions: what I liked about my fiancée, when we last saw each other, whether we had met each others parents and if I had ever overstayed or been in trouble with US immigration.

Then came the funniest part of the day - he flicked through our file and came across a picture from a Halloween party we went to. This consisted of myself dressed as Hunter S Thompson (of Fear and Loathing fame) grinning manically, complete with shades, Las Vegas visor with bat attached, cigarette holder, fly swat and plastic handgun, Joey alongside me dressed as an airline stewardess – and without breaking into a smile said “Was this Halloween?”

He then flicked through the I-134, pausing for a few seconds at one or two pages and said everything looked perfect, barring “nothing derogatory” coming up on the computer I should have the visa in 7 days. He didn’t actually say “you are approved” or “Welcome to America” or anything, but he seemed satisfied anyway!

I went to the courier desk on the way out and paid for delivery. You can pay 20 quid extra for pre 8am delivery, so I did so. (More info on delivery options here: http://www.securemai...deliveries.asp)

I wasn’t sure about the 7 days/computer thing – when the first guy was doing my checklist I watched him write “OK” on the line that said “FBI/Name check”, so I think the 2nd guy may just have been covering himself for any delay.

Anyway – that’s my story – if anybody is still reading, I hope that was useful and feel free to PM me or post here if you have any specific questions!

Good luck to anybody else with an upcoming interview – the waiting is nerve wracking but it’s only 5% as bad as you think it is! Nothing to worry about at all!

--Paul

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-07-25 14:29:00

DS-156

Hi!

I filled in mine using the website - it produces a PDF file format document (with the barcode) that you can save and print out - much easier than filling in the form by hand.

I even got it wrong a few times and had to print it again, with a different barcode being generated. It didn't seem to cause a problem.

Hope this helps!

Paul

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-08-13 09:40:00

National Visa Center (Dept of State)

POE at Detroit

Hi Everybody!

Well it actually happened - I finally got here at last!

For all those who are interested, POE was extremely easy. I just handed over my passport with the white I-94 form and the MBE. THe CBP officer opened the MBE and stamped the forms in it a few times, asked me a few questions about when I met my fiancee and when we were getting married etc, stamped my passport and attached the bottom part of the white I-94 inside it. That was it! It literally took 2 minutes, and I didn't have to go to secondary.

See you in the AOS forums :-)

Paul C

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-08-20 20:29:00

Tracking Instructions for DHL

Hi,

Has anybody ever successfully tracked a package to London? if so, what reference did you use? I haven't been able to find anything going to London (under all 4 reference types), let alone my own case.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Paul

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-05-23 02:30:00

NOA2 APPROVED!!!

Congrats!

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-19 18:11:00

Ah, I see. Thanks again!

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-20 09:23:00

Thanks, Lorelle..i'm just a bit confused - can you clarify on the 'no gaps in ANY time frame'?...do you mean in her other jobs? Just want to make sure we follow your advice...

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-20 09:02:00

Thanks. She was just worried they'd deny her if they thought she was 26 and not working...but she should have a job REALLY soon but we didn't want to wait one day longer than necessary to start the process.

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-19 21:33:00

No, that helps. Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

Anyone else think differently? All thoughts are appreciated! :dance:

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-19 18:44:00

Hello Everyone, my USC fiancee and I have a quick question about her current work status. She's spent the last six months living with me here in England on a visitor's visa so we could see how we would do living together before we took on the visa process. Everything went great and we know we want to spend the rest of our lives together. She returned to the USA just two weeks ago and we're filling out and filing the VISA papers. The concern is that because she JUST got back to the USA after being gone six months she's not working. She's currently looking for a job but as she's looking for a full-time 'career' position (she's a public relations professional) it could take a month or so. SO, what we're wondering is, how much would it hurt us if under the 'list your jobs for the past 5 years" she didn't have anything from last year on? We'll definitely be able to prove support by the time the interview comes around, but would it hurt us now if the bio form didn't show her having a job at the present time? Should she head to the mall or temp. agency and just get a part-time position while she looks for her full-time 'career' job? Could we be denied do you think? Thanks guys! :help:

pcraddy

Male

United Kingdom

2006-02-19 18:08:00