goteamrosie

ell I just got back from my interview and I figured any soon-to-be-interviewed people might like to know how it goes, so this is for you!

My appointment was at 9.00am

The Embassy is easy to find since the que was half way down the street and a bunch of heavily armed police were standing around.

I arrived with my bagel at 8.45, got in line and started munching. There are signs to tell you what you must have ready. I was tired and hungover and still managed to follow the instructions.
You show your invitation and your passport to an Embassy person, who will then put you in the line with the apropriate time on it. She will also give you two plastic bags - one to put electricals in, and one to put large items like wrist-watches and belts. I suggest you just leave all thatstuff if you can. I had nothing from either of these catagories and so just flashed my docs and got put in the nine-line.

I waited for an hour. During this hour I calmed down alot.

So I get up to the secondsecurity guy. He is shown the same docs and sends me to another branch of secirity (with a lovely short line) who do the whole airport thing. Scanning your belongings and having you walk through things that beep when they detect suspicious things. Despite having far too many piercings I did not beep.

Then you enter the embassy. There is a short walk to the front entrance, where you get to look at all the poor fools lined up where you were two hours ago. Allow yourself to smirk.

You collect a number from a guy at the front desk and he tells you to sit and wait with everyone else. You will notice whilst waiting that almost everyone is here for NI visas. I only waited around twenty minutes as only two Immigrant Visa people went before me. In this time at least thirty Non-Immigrant people were called up.

So I get called up to one of those super secret booths round the corner. The woman was lovely. She had me sign some stuff, sent me off to pay. I returned, gave her my receipt. She took my docs and was very patient - she also returned my x-ray to me and took my fingerprints.

She sent me away to wait for my name to be called again. During this time I filled out the courierservice form. The lady gave this to me before ... I forgot to mention that. I waited maybe ten minutes and was called to a differant round-the-corner booth where i swore that all the info in the docs was true to the best of my knowing. A nice man asked me to print my fiance's name and sign the same sheet of paper. Then he double checked my finger prints and asked a few question
(So how did you and John meet?
Have you visited him in the States?
How did he propose to you?
Why America rather then England?)
and that was that.

I was told that the process takes around five working days, and that provided my prints didn't show me as being a criminal I was filed, approved and ready to go.

I thanked him lots and then went to pay the £14 to the courier lady (who was also very nice indeed!) and was told delivery is between two to five working days. Fairenough, I didn't understand (and I still don't understand) when I should be expecting my Visa to arrive but I was too happy to care.

At this point I realised I hadmissplaced my x-ray, but luckily I found it very quickly. No-one wants an x-ray of my lady bumps, it would seem.

Then I went to explore London (again). I got a new bag, new shoes, ate too much, you know.

8.45 until 11.45 in total.

A perfectly pleasent experiance. Good luck and don't worry!! My fiance and I are way too happy.

mojofilter

Congratulations ... I had my interview on the 10th March and I'm now sat in Cincinnati eating my tea ..

I hope the rest of your journey goes as smoothly as mine did ..

Paul

goteamrosie

Ooh lucky you! How long till you got the Visa through the post? Ooh I want to book a ticket NOW!!

mojofilter

The Visa will be printed in your passport when it's returned to you ... Mine took 48 hours to get back to me

Ow and they'll send you a text message the day before it's going to be delivered ..... They're nice like that ;-)

Noorah101

Congratulations!

Folinskyinla

Congratulations -- correct me if I'm wrong -- was that "nice man" the only actual "American" person you spoke to? That was the actual consular officer. Most embassies employer "FSN" local people as staff. In my experience, the only times there were American non-consular staff was when they would hire Americans overseas as dependents of US Gov't employees.

meauxna

Congratulations, goteamrosie!!!
Now get on over here, girl!

I met a nice American family in Greece; she was the NIV CO and her husband was a janitor. Or maintenance engineer.. whatever they title the position. They had had postings all over the world together like that but were starting to think about coming back to San Diego since their teenaged daughters were getting antsy.

goteamrosie

Haha 48 hours that's amazing ... I have a blooming weekend in the way (I don't think they deliver on weekends)

They can't send me a text because I didn't know my mobile phone number! I am foolish!

I am hopeful that it might *might* be here on monday since my interview was so early Thurs.

Thanks for the congrats and again thanks for all the help I would have been rather clueless without y'all (that's American talk ... yeah!)

ian-mstm

Well... only down in my neck o'the woods! In Appalachia, we use "y'all" both for singular and plural situations. We usually use the double contraction "whonchal" as a question... such as, "whonchal go fishing today? It's right purty out!"

Ian

Targaff

Congratulations!

Just got the I-171 in for our DCF app today, and I'll be posting our IV Part II when the time comes. Hope it goes as smoothly as yours.

goteamrosie

This is a stupid question - but what do I have to do to get a USA bank account? Do I have to have had an AOS?

Knight

No, all you should need is an SSN, and you can get this with your K1 before you file AoS. At least all I was asked for was a form of ID (my passport) and my SSN.

goteamrosie

wow do I get an SSN as soon as I'm through the POE??

Oh we sound all expert

lofty79

No, you apply for it at the local SSA office. It's best to wait a week or two after you have arrived before applying to hopefully save any confusion/delays with processing.

All you need to apply for it is your passport, visa and I-94 (white card stapled in your passport at POE).

Oh, and congratulations by the way Another sucessful 2008 BE K-1er

Noorah101

Try Wells Fargo, my alien fiance opened a checking account there even without a SSN. If your fiance has an existing account somewhere, might try his bank also, since he's an existing customer they might open an account for his fiancee/wife w/o the SSN.

As suggested, you'll want to wait a week to 10 days before trying to apply for your SSN, it takes that long for your info to get in the SS database so they can check your status in the USA. If you are already married by the time you apply for the SSN, try not to mention you have gotten married, it confuses them at SS, because your visa is a fiance one, and they might try to argue that you are no longer a fiance, but a wife now. Just keep that info to yourself.

Rene