fashionista

We had our L1a/L2 visas granted this morning at the US embassy in London! I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone here who takes the time to answer questions and post their experiences. I learnt so much from reading through all the threads and feel like I couldn’t have been better prepared.

So in the spirit of sharing, our experience went something like this:

Paperwork was filed by the lawyers on 7th February. We had expedited processing and the petition was approved on 11th Feb.
Called the embassy that night and got a 9.30am appointment slot for 25th Feb. We could have had an earlier one, but wanted to make sure that there was time for all the paperwork to be mailed from the US to London. The lawyers had emailed us the receipt number which we needed to make the appointment.

Filled out our DS-160s online and uploaded our photos. For anyone about to do this – do pay attention when people tell you to save the DS-160 regularly (every time you press continue – press save first) I have never known a system to time out so frequently!

We arrived at Grosvenor square at around 8am and dropped off our keys, phones, headphones, etc at Gould’s pharmacy (37 North Audley Street). They charged us £3.00 to store the lot and helpfully had a list of all the items not allowed in the embassy.

Then we went to Maze Grill (also on Grosvenor square) and have a v. nice breakfast, until we were officially allowed to join the queue at 9am. I would definitely recommend this if you’re planning to get there ahead of schedule – breakfast is awesome and you can see the queue for the embassy out the window!

Got in the queue at 9.00. Had to take off belts and watches and put them into plastic bags for the x-ray scanner. Also had to have passports, appointment confirmation letters, DS-160 confirmation pages and MRV receipts ready as these were checked twice during the outdoor queuing section. I must at this point confess that I did have a secret, slightly smug smile every time someone got kicked out of the queue for having their phone with them.

Got into the building at around 9.20 we were given a number, waited around 10 minutes before being called to the 1st window. Handed over all our docs (mentioned above), passports and the I-797. Had our finger prints taken.
Sent back to the waiting area for about 20 minutes, then called to an interview window.

We had our fingerprints taken again, then the lady asked my husband: what kind of job do you do, how long have you worked for the company, how many people work for the company in the US, how many people will you manage, why are they transferring you now? Didn’t ask me a thing!

Then told me to go to the cashier window and pay $105 reciprocity fee and return with the receipt. I handed the receipt over and then she said that the visas were approved and good luck!

Finally, we joined the queue to tell the courier company where to send our passports back to – cost about £27 for two passports to be returned – apparently we should expect them in about 3 working days! We left the embassy by 10.15am. Now if only my EAD can come through so quickly…………

samuel5028

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Flabound oneday

congrats

taffie77

Yay, glad it went well for you. We went through the same thing last January, and moved over here in April. Our experience was pretty similar to yours (except we went to Trucvert for breakfast, and another Gordon Ramsay place for lunch ). Oh, and they forget to get us to pay for my L2 visa, so we got a phone call the next day

Kats.

Thanks for sharing (and congratulations!), it's really useful. My husband and I hope to be going through the same process soon!

IanH88

thanks for the info, my petition is being submitted on Monday, so hopefully I'll be going through the same process soon as well!

philbrown901

We had pretty much the same experience today but missed out the trip to Ramsey's Maze and settled for a pasty at Marylebone instead.

At the second interview I was asked a couple of questions (job and did I intend to apply for EAD on arrival) but my wife got most of the questions as the main applicant.

samuel5028

What kind of questions was asked in interview?Can you share ?

philbrown901

I was asked what age group I teach, what subject I teach and if I intended to apply or an EAD on arrival.

She asked us how long we had been married.

My wife was asked about her current and new role within her company, a little about the company itself, her previous roles held and the age of our toddler.

taffie77

My husband (as the L1a applicant) was basically asked what his company does, what his job title is, and not a lot else. I wasn't asked anything.