WayneA

I thought I would post a brief message to let everyone know how my wife (a UK Citizen) and I (a US Citizen) have progressed through the immigrant visa process so far. I am currently a UK resident, and so I was able to petition directly to the USCIS at the US Embassy, London. I filed a I-130 on behalf of my wife towards the end of July 2005. We received confirmation that the petition was accepted and the application had progressed to the immigration unit of the embassy after around 2 months. We quickly sent off our form to say that we had gathered all of the relavent docs for the interview (even though we hadn't.... but we were confident to get everything prior the schedualling of the interview). Today (7th Nov) we've just received our interview date, which is on the 6th of December. We now have all of our official documents in hand, including the results of the medical.

We have been married and living together for over 2.5 years and are hopeful for a smooth interview and granting of the visa. If all goes well, we will be off to the West Palm Beach area of Florida in January.

Any useful tips for the interview??

Wayne (and Danielle) Amber

cindyabs

Yes, listen VERY carefully to the PA system for your name to be called-it's very low and garbled !!
Our interview, really wasn't one at all. Nice guy around our age we're in our 50s) and easy peasey and quick. From time of standing in line to go in and all the process, it was 1 1/2 hours!

mvjenno

I don't think enough people smile at the interviewers
Our questions: how long we'd been married, why we were moving, where to and when... Very simple and straight forward!

Celsius

Just out of interest, what kind of status do you have in the UK? Limited leave to Remain or the other?

WayneA

I believe the stamp in my passport says 'limited leave' for an initial 2-year period.

I'm still unsure whether or not I should have been allowed to apply directly to the Embassy, as they say you cannot apply to them if you're a 'temporary resident' of the UK (i.e. still a permanent resident of the US). I had spoken with an immigration lawyer in the States who gave me a direct phone number into the USCIS office of the Embassy. After pleeding my case with an officer there, he advised me to apply through the embassy with a cover letter referencing the telephone conversation.

Think I may have got lucky?!