Chris_UK2WI

So, It is finally my turn to write up my interview experience instead of just reading everybody else's...

I got to London the night before the interview and even had a trial run at finding the embassy and Gould's pharmacy just so I wasn't panicking in the morning (yeah, right!)

I stayed at Gloucester Place Hotel - it was reasonably priced and I got a nice spacious and, above all, clean room to rest my head. The bed was comfortable and the place was only ten minutes walk from the embassy in a nice area... I would recommend it...

My interview was set for 9 (not 8 like I originally wrote) but I still set off at 7am as I had been awake and pacing the room since the early hours... I went to Gould's and had a set of US passport photos taken and whilst I was waiting for them to print out I dropped off my electronic items.

I had a mobile phone with me and my mp3 player and it cost £3 to store them... I also had some nail clippers and asked if I would need to drop these off but the pharmacist said they would be fine. So the first bit was done without much hassle.

I walked to the embassy and joined a queue of about 30 people at 7:30. It moved along pretty swiftly and the attendants advised people to have their appointment letters and passports at the ready... Then a policeman with a machine gun walked the length of the line eyeing us all up which was a little unnerving!

The next step was the big glass security hut outside the building... this houses the metal detector and the x-ray machine that your bag goes through. Just before entering I was given a clear plastic bag to put my key, wallet and a metal pencil sharpener in (I was drawing on the train down).
I put the nail clippers in too but they were yanked off me and I had to throw them in the bin in case I used them as a tiny knife (Damn you pharmacy man! I knew it!)

The guy in the security hut I found to be unnecessarily aggressive and seemed to make everyone even more nervous but I guess he was just doing his job...

Next it was a case of following the signs around the outside of the building and into the main part of the embassy. Simple enough.

Inside is the famous waiting room with all the tv screens... and it definitely does look like a cross between a doctors waiting room and Argos... I now had a number, I853, stuck to my appointment letter but it was too much of a nervous blur for me to remember where I got it from... so I sat down to wait and the numbers were called out on a loud tannoy and popped up on the bank of television screens in front of you.

The N numbers started at N100, for the holiday visas, and were very frequent...
N100, N101, N102, N103... then suddenly I851 and I852 were called out immediately after one another and my heart started beating fast... there were only two other I numbers before me in the room and I had expected, from reading on here, a long wait between each, but alas, after those two I had about 15 minutes of N numbers before I853 was called...

I was a window 16, which is round the corner from the main row of 12 windows that run next to the seating area. Once there a polite lady checked through all my documents and punched holes in various things and scanned my fingerprints...
I was very nervous beforehand so a lot of the details of what was actually said during this part have disappeared in a blur I'm afraid, but she was basically just checking I had all the right stuff with me.

She then sent me to a window to my left to pay... I used my visa card but noted that they don't accept maestro, switch or solo cards so if that is what you have you would either have to pay using sterling or dollars.

After I had handed my receipt back in at window 16 I was given a courier form to fill my address out on and asked to take a seat back in the main waiting area until my number was called again.

Ah yeah, I was also given my x-rays back in a MASSIVE brown envelope and told to pack them in my luggage when I leave for Wisconsin...

I had another wait of about twenty minutes this time, and then I was called back to window 16. This time there was an American guy there and he took my thumb print.
He looked through my forms again and started making some little notes on a piece of paper next to him.

In terms of an interview he only asked:

When we met;
How long we have been engaged for;
If we have travelled to see each other;
If our families have met...

That was it... after all that worrying!

He then made some small talk about how cold the winters are in Wi and told me that I have my visa! Woooooop! Woooooop!

Now the bit at the window is presumably the bit that people would want to know the most about but as I say, I was so nervous that I kind of blanked out for all the form checking and stuff... although I can say that he didnt look at any of my call records, photos, cards, other evidence, most of the tax returns and payslips... pretty much just the standard forms.

All that was left then was another 10 minute queue to pay for the courier service to get my passport back and that was it, I was done! I wasn't wearing a watch inside but I know that I got there at 7:30 and I was out by 9:45 so the whole thing didn't take that long at all!

So so so pleased that I can now fully concentrate on the move and book plane tickets etc!

Also, on a side note...

When I was queueing up for the courier charge, who walked in to apply for a visa? None other than Mr Ross Kemp aka Grant Mitchell himself! Ha! I had had a pretty surreal morning already so to see one of the Mitchell brothers just put the cherry on top! Needless to say I didn't approach him

Anyway, as vague as parts of this have been, hopefully it might be of some little use to someone else who is going for the K1 interview in future!

Ja5on

i was 182! And it was the same guy that approved ours, i think me and my fiancee wer the first ones at window to pay our visa fee because we had to wait for the woman to turn up.....was it you that the lady at the window was interviewing when my fiancee had to go collect all our paperwork because we had left it while we paid our fee and the lady started sorting another guy out......we must have missed ross kemp by minutes! We didn't have a watch but when we got to a cafe round the corner they told us it was 9.45.

Chris_UK2WI

Ah yeah, that was me! You were with the girl with brown hair and I think a spotty dress?! I was looking out wondering who you might be as I knew you would be in a couple, didn't realise I was stood right next to you!

SultanOfSwing

Congratulations! Glad to hear that it all went well for you. It's amazing how much about that day that I have forgotten about 4.5 years on! I do remember my appointment was at 11, but I arrived at 9 and they let me in early. I had walked up from Picadilly to the embassy on a really nice day in August.

Not too bad once you're all done with it and a nice day in London afterwards. I made the mistake of forgetting to bring my drivers licence and so had to cut my trip short to head back to Luton airport to beg Easy Jet to let me on with no passport, which they did thankfully.

Anyway, now you're in the exciting phase of booking tickets and all that. Where in Wisconsin are you bound for? I live in NE Illinois, pretty close to the border, and we have family and friends in various towns in WI. Nice part of the country, what I've seen of it but the guy in the embassy was right about the winters!

All the best for your move and future life here in the US. I've gone through the K1, AOS and all that and have now just applied for citizenship, just about 4.5 years after first entering on my K1. If you're close to the state line I'd be happy to meet up for a pint and offer any advice I can.

Bloody hell - small world, eh!! Congrats to you too ja5on!

Ja5on

she was looking around for you, the first guy we stood behind she said, "looked northern" and wanted to ask if it was you.....the whole thing was really easy. We went shopping after then got dinner, now we're waiting for our flight what date you thinking of heading out? I'm hoping april 13th.

Mestiza

Wow Ross Kemp! We're not the only ones that need to get visa's abroad.
Security must think we will end up attacking people with nail clippers out of nervousness or incase of a visa denial!

Congratulations on your visa, it sounds like your interview was such a breeze.

NAR14

Nice write up, thanks for that. Glad it all went well, sounds like it was a breeze. I've got mine in four weeks, so I hope it goes in a similar fashion!

If anyone reading this has their interview on the 4th May, perhaps I'll see you there.

Just Jenney

Congrats on your K1 approval. But the fun's not over yet!

Mark got his K1 visa 7 years ago last Wednesday... I can't believe it's been that long. He had some time to kill between his medical exam and his visa interview, so he walked around Oxford Street for a while and had a celebrity sighting of his own: Noel Gallagher!

~ Jenney

aklor

Congratulations!

I have a question. How long did it take after you sent off the application forms (DS-230, DS156, DS157...etc..) until you were given your interview appointment? It's been a month since I sent mine off, so just wondering how long I might be waiting!!

meauxna

Congratulations, Chris!
Wow, so many approvals this week.. a bumper crop!

Ja5on

i got my appointment letter about 4 weeks after i sent the stuff off and the interview date was 3weeks from the date of the letter, i think i got it so fast because i wrote on the covering letter that i want to leave on april 12th and the wedding is already planned and paid for ect..

Chris_UK2WI

Hi,

We had problems when I sent my application in... They told me it would be six to eight weeks before I received my interview letter, and then probably another four weeks until the actual interview...

The embassy managed to lose my details and after waiting for what seemed like forever we had to chase it up... they originally said (after I had to send copies AGAIN) that it would be another six to eight weeks for my interview date.

We wrote back saying that this would affect my travel date and they finally came through with my date...

So hopefully yours should be a bit smoother than that

md95065

Congratulations on getting through the interview!

I have to admit that I had to Google(tm) "Ross Kemp" to find out who the heck he was - I must have been away for too long ...

(also, just in case you ever find yourself in San Francisco, please note that "the Mitchell brothers" means something quite different over here ...)

Chris_UK2WI

hehe I just had a look at it... sounds much more entertaining than the English version!

Chris_UK2WI

Woop Woop... Just got home from work to find the package is here! My passport with the K1 sticker inside it! Yay!