DCF London IR-1 success!

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Sep 22nd 2004, 5:05 pm

mvjenno

~ Mr & Mrs ~

Thread Starter

Joined: Jun 2004

Location: SW Atlanta

Posts: 125

DCF London IR-1 success!

Well, after all the fussing, preparation and researching of this forum, our day trip to London today was a real breeze. We arrived at the Embassy at 8am and fought the urge to join the massive queue marked 'Visas'. An employee of the Embassy did a sweep of the crowd and singled out the immigrant visa applicants, and we were allowed thru the security cabin first and to proceed into the building. The ticket machines for the queuing system inside were not working, so we were instructed to purchase our return envelope while they were being sorted. By the time a bottleneck of 30 people were waiting for tickets, the machines came to life and we finally received our number.

Fifteen minutes later, after studying the "ARGOS" queuing system screens (honest! thought weâ€™d come out with a new toaster!), we were called to the window to hand over our documents, which I had meticulously prepared...and all in the order called for! This took no more than 5 minutes, then we were sent round to the cashier's window to lighten our bank account by $335!

We waited another 25 minutes for our number to be called for the BIG interview. This was soooo straight forward, usual questions: how long we've been married, why we were moving, where to and when, and if my wife (USC) would work in the US. I signed the DS-230 pt 2 and had my fingers scanned, my wife signed the I-864, the interviewer said we were done at the Embassy and shooed us off for my medical at the famous Dr Phelan's. (Just a note on the I-864, the only source of funds we declared was the house equity - valuations from 2 estate agents and our last mortgage statement - no questions were asked about any of this!) We walked out of the Embassy at 9:15.

A 10 minute walk later, we arrived at Dr Phelan's, was handed the much referred to red folder, inserted the requested documents, and waited to be called to the desk to cough up a further Â£125, and sign my name across my photo. I waited in the lower waiting room about 10 minutes before the blood nurse called for me (visited the 'infamous' toilet while waiting - and yes, it's a must see!), waited another 10 minutes before the X-ray and medical - all straightforward. After receiving my rolled up X-ray, I was told to call back to them at 1:15 for the results of my blood test. Everyone was really nice there, and we walked out about 11:25.

We passed the time by having lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (30 min walk) then went back to the surgery at the appointed time to be told that I was clear. YIPPEE!!! Hopefully the passport will arrive tomorrow as promised.

Now all we have to do is secure my job offer in Cincinnati, sell up and GO!

Thanks to everyone on here for posting their stories and experiences. It really helped us get thru this process, which proved to be confusing and complex at times.

Good luck to everyone else going thru this - hope your experience ends up as painless as ours!