DanielOH

I thought I'd just pass on my DCF CR-1 visa interview experience in case it's useful to anyone else!

I arrived at the US embassy at 8:00AM ready for my 8:30AM appointment. It took maybe 40 minutes of queuing and security. Once inside the embassy I was given my number and told to wait for it to be called. A further 45 minutes later my number pops up on screen and I head to the booth as instructed.

I was first asked to pay the visa fee. I tried to pay with my wife's credit card but was told that card payments must be made with a card in my own name. Luckily I was able to do that and we continued on! I was aked to hand over documents as they were asked for. Both originals and photocopies. The list of paperwork I was asked to hand over:

Passport
Photos
Birth certificate
Marriage certificate
police certificates and related documents
Affidavit of support
Translations of any foreign documents

I was missing a couple of photocopies and they were nice enough to copy the originals for me without charging me.

I was worried at this point as my police certificate has an offence for fare evasion on the train - I was sent a fine after the offence to an adress I no longer lived at. I was also sent a court summons when the fines were not paid also to the same address I no longer lived at. I only discovered that I had this offence and against me a month ago when applying for my police certificate so I made a statutory declaration at my local court stating that I knew nothing of it. This was accepted and all fees were waived. I brought along confirmation from the court that I had done this.

I was also missing tax transcripts for my joint sponsors affidavit of support - I had only a print out of last years e-filed 1040 and a scan of the W-2. I didn't have any other supporting documents to show earnings.

They didn't really look in depth into the paperwork at the first window/interview though and told me to sit back down in the waiting area and wait for my number to be called. This first part took maybe 15 minutes.

I wait another hour and a half and my number pops up again so again I go to the booth as instructed.

I get there and exchange a few pleasantries with the lady about to go through my papers and interview me, still very nervous about the fact I am missing some supporting documents and I have a police certificate with an offence listed.

She asks me how my wife and I met, how long we had been together, and what we were planning to do in the states. I answer all her questions and she moves on to my police certificate. She asked my to describe the offence and what happened. I explain everything and tell her I have included confirmation of my statutory declaration from my local magistrates court. She wasn't sure whether or not this would be an issue for me so she left and checked with others. That was a long 10 minutes!

She returned and said it wasn't an issue and that she was reccommending my visa be approved. I was happy and surprised and asked her to repeat that! She told me that I should have my passport with visa within 10 days.

Hooray! Flying to the states one-way on the 20th August. Super excited!

A couple of interesting points from my experience:

1. Although instructed by the embassy's document checklists, I was not required to hand over any of my wife's information.

2. My wife and I both live in the UK and my wife has never lived in the US. I was not asked about intent to domicile. I brought along paperwork demonstrating we were actively setting up life in the US, but they didn't ask for anything like that so it wasn't given!

So maybe this might prove helpful to someone else going through the same process! I know other folks' advice and experiences on this board helped me!

BunnyGirl

Congrats!

Clrsth

Brilliant news!!! Thanks for sharing. My interview on 11th August so it really helps reading someone else's experience to get a feel of how morning will go.
Best of luck with the move

Clare

DanielOH

Thanks! It really was a lot easier than I thought it would be.They required A LOT less documentation than I was told they would. The worst part of the entire process was the waiting!

Good luck with your interview. Hope it goes well!

ian-mstm

Congratulations.


Several people have said as much over the years... but even so, I advise all people to take such information with them - because you don't want to be the one without the documentation when some newbie officer decides to ask for it.

Ian

DanielOH

Thanks Ian. You have been most helpful to me during this process.

I agree RE the documentation. Even though half of it was not required, I sure felt better for having it with me!