CAProgrammer

I think Gould's charges per item. It is £3 for a cell phone I believe, not sure about other items...

jaffy23

Woo hoo - got my CR-1 approved today. Thanks for all the help and advice on this site.

We got to Bond St this morning and headed straight for Gould's. Small queue formed and the shop opened a little earlier at 7:20. They have a great system
and seem used to hordes dropping off mobiles, car key transponders and USB sticks! £3 and we were all set for the embassy.

We got there at 7:30 and there was already a line formed in the dark, London drizzle. I was in awe of the eagle looking down at us as we queued. We were soon through an efficient system and my wife showed her US passport and they didnt even look at the email confirmation I had gotten from [email protected]!

Once inside, we were issued with number i-903 and grabbed a (really strong)coffee for £1.50 each. We only waited a short while before being called to window number 1. We were met by a rather abrubpt woman who asked us for each document, and its photocopy in turn. Very transactional, and she seemed sure that we needed an 1040 form for the most recent tax return. I assured her that the IRS transcript was perfectly acceptable and she went to check which set hearts racing for a moment - all okay though. We had two affadavits as my wife hasnt finalised her internal tranfer yet, but she insisted we only needed the one from my wife as she had a letter from her employer confirming that they were investigating opportunities. With this, she sent me off to pay at the cashier whilst she finished up the documents with my wife. I returned to find my wife sat back down, because i'd taken too long to pay!!! The next time window 1 was free, i gave her my receipt and we waited for our number to be called for the second interview.

The guy at the next window (about 20 mins later) was totally different, very nice and welcoming. He asked where we planned to live and what had prompted me to apply for the visa. We went throut the financials for my wifes i-864 and he said he couldn't grant because neither of us yet has a formal job offer. It was at this point that we proffered my Father-in-Law's affadavit. He seemed relieved and said this was great and that it had saved our application!! Big relief and he congratulated us - really nice guy!!

We were out by 9:30 and await my passport and stuff in the next week. So excited for what the future holds!

jaffy23

Hi Kupo - how did your interview go today?

CAProgrammer

Congratulations!

Coopernaut

Hi all,
Well I had my interview today, and I'm ecstatic to say that I was approved!! Here's an account of my experience:

Wife and I arrived at Bond Street Station around 7:40am, and we walked down Oxford Street on the way to The Embassy (Some very dodgy individuals on Oxford Street at that time of morning!!). Arrived at Embassy and checked in with security. Security staff there were very helpful and friendly, even had some friendly banter with one of them over my New York Jets umbrella!
Was given number I-905 at reception, and proceeded to waiting area. Was pretty quiet at first, but quickly filled up with people given "N" appointments (and some "D" and "E", no clue what they are!). Had a nice surprise as the guy who had his medical at the same time as me was there, so we chatted with him before he got called up.
I was called near enough on time at 8:30am to window 1, and we were met by a Chinese lady. Tip: Smile, be polite, and greet all staff there no matter what, it does help! At first I thought she was going to be a little difficult, but she was great. She had a laugh over how nervous I was to the point that my fingers were shaking so much, it took about 5 attempts to do the fingerprints! She took copies of police, marriage, and birth certificates, and the I-864's and tax returns from my wife and mother-in-law (joint sponsor). Even though both of them had provided tax returns for the previous 3 years, they only took the 2010 ones. Said that everything was fine, and gave me the slip to go and pay and to return to the same window afterwards with the receipt. I went by myself, and left my wife to chat to her. Went to pay, the cashier was a very nice American lady, we had a laugh about the "Cashier of the year" award on her wall. Returned to window 1, gave the receipt and was handed the pink courier form and CD. Sat back down and waited. My wife said that this lady "Felt sorry" for how nervous I seemed, but said she sees it every day (Apparently the men are the more nervous ones??
By now The Embassy was heaving, but I was called approx: an hour later to go to window 16. (I think they only had windows 1 and 16 doing the spousal/fiancee visas as they were the only ones being used for those). We were met by a very nice youngish blonde lady. Again my wife and I greeted her cheerfully, and it was reciprocated. Took my finger prints again, and took the oath. All we were asked were:

Where did we meet ?
Where and when did we marry ?
Why do we want to move to the USA ? - She was very sympathetic to my wife answering about her step father's death, and wanting to be back with her mother as she is an only child. I answered truthfully about how much I love the USA from my previous visits and the type of career I'm aiming to get into over there, and how I have already approached companies. There were no more questions about domicile/employment or anything else.
She just happily said "Your visa has been approved" We were overjoyed, nearly to the point of tears! I just said to the girl "You are officially my second favourite person in the whole world, after my wife!" which she laughed at.
Went and paid the courier (Note that they only take credit or debit cards - no cash). However it was hear that I realised that I had somehow picked up someone else's police and birth certificate. Turned out that the guy I met at the medical was interviewed before me at the same window, and left them there! When I was hastily handing over/picking up forms I must have picked them up too. I went to back to window 16, but there was an interview going on. I just went to the cashier as she was free and explained what had happened. She was very grateful for me doing this and said she would inform this person and send it back to him. So got to do a good deed too!
I was out by around 11am. Happy but exhausted!

Thanks for everyone's help and advice on this forum. Of course I'll be sticking around to give support to the newbies, and to learn more about future stuff....there's still the I-751 to come in 2 years!

mrs javamojo

hello again.

few more questions please...

1. my husband has not filed his 1040 for the last 5 years (since he was in the UK) is it okay just to show the tax returns the he has from the UK (mine included)?

2. aside from the $420 (processing fee) and £210 (medical) any other fees that we need to pay?

thanks so much for the reply. I really appreciate it a lot

jeffreyhy

No.

If your husband had more than the 'floor' amount of income for filing a US tax return he should file some late returns.

Regards, JEff

Noorah101

No. If your USC husband has been earning over the minimum threshhold indicated by IRS (see www.irs.gov for that figure), he needs to file a US tax return for each year he earned over that amount. He most likely won't owe any tax, but is required to file a return, and declare any worldwide income.

Here is a breakdown of the fees when filing directly in London:

$420 I-130
$404 Immigrant Visa fee
£35 ACPO Police certificate
£210 (Knightsbridge Doctors) medical exam
£14.50 (DX Secure) Courier fee

Rene

jaffy23

Congratulations! It's been a very good week for approvals on here - I just checked my tracking number with DX Secure and it's due to arrive today.

Coopernaut

You may have to add more to the medical fee for any vaccinations that you may need. Here's the list:

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/un...%20Centers.pdf

You maybe able to save some ££ by getting any required vaccinations done by your GP.

mrs javamojo

Thanks for that. I told my husband about it and he finally did it yesterday and would be posting it tomorrow. I just hope that we will have enough time to get a reply from the tax office before my interview (I don't know exactly when that will be, hopefully march or april).

mrs javamojo

I'm going to have them done with my GP on the 20th Jan, that's why I can't book the medical a bit earlier that Feb. I have to do the flu jab outside though because the surgery that I'm going doesn't have it anymore

jeffreyhy

You don't necessarily need a "reply from the tax office". You just need a complete copy of the tax returns he submitted - the most recent tax year and, if requested, the 3 most recent tax years.

Regards, JEff

Ryan NI

Thanks for posting that up. So are these all the vacs I will need? I'm sure I've had some of them already done but I guess the best way is to bring this list to my GP, let him check my records and then get him to perform the ones I haven't received, right?

The costs wouldn't be long building up if you were paying for them at your medical!

Roys

Went for medical on monday and i have heard nothing back so i am thinking that the next thing should be the visa appointment, any ideas as to a time for this????

Also any shipper recomendations dont shipping much and most firms i speak to say its to small for them or want to bill me loads more than if i post it lol.