TamW20

My husband's L1a was verbally approved last Friday at the US embassy, London and we were told that we'd be contacted in a few days about a reciprocity fee which needed paying.
An email today requested that the fee be paid by international money order or bankers draft in US dollars. The post office don't do these nor HSBC. We don't bank with anyone else.
Any ideas how we can get this? We've hit a wall.

postbox134

I paid my L-1B fee in person at the consulate, with a UK debit card charged in USD. I then had to expense it back from my employer. Can your employer help you pay for it?

destone

Either you make an in-person appointment at the Embassy as per postbox134 (email them at petitionslondon at state dot gov), or if you have a friend in the US, they can get a cashier's check issued ("Pay to the Order of" line) to the "U.S. Department of Homeland Security", and FedEx it to you. Then you can send it to the US Embassy in London.

Sell27

My husband had the same issue. We had to pay the fee in person at the embassy with a debit card. If you contact them, they will book an appointment for you to pay it. They gave us an 8am slot. My husband was in and out within 20 mins.

TamW20

That was the last resort. We don't live anywhere near the embassy so it's a bit if a trip when we only just got back.
Glad yours worked out.

TamW20

So just to tie up this thread, we managed to find out that Santander issue International bankers drafts in US dollars but since we don't have an account with them, turns out our neighbour does! The lovely man went into the branch this morning with some instructions from me on what was needed and came home with a lovely bankers draft in USD.
I've just dropped it off with the embassy's designated courier (DX) - 30 mins drive away (sigh) so I think that's now sorted.
That was the most stressful part of the process I think.

Thanks for you advice everyone!

destone

That's good to know, please confirm if it has been accepted.

TamW20

It's on its way to the embassy now so I'm hoping so! I checked that the draft met all of the requirements so I can't see a problem but keep your fingers crossed.
I'll come back and confirm - hopefully tomorrow.

tht

was this the $105 for the L2? Or is the L1 from a 3rd country? I don’t recall this applying for my L1 as a UKC, but that was a long time ago... I seem to remember this is something to do with the fees other countries charge USC and the US then charges back the same when citizens of those countries apply to the US. Did they already have you leave passports with the embassy for visa to be stuck in?

TamW20

£105 for the L2.
Yep, the officer kept our passports and i797b and said everything would be processed in a few days. NIE granted too.

petitefrancaise

This has been around for at least 7.5 years.... we went to the Paris embassy for the L1 /L2 visa interviews ( since we were living in France at the time) and the officer joked about us having to pay it because we were Brits. Obviously they don't have too many of those in the Paris embassy.

TamW20

Happy to report back that the Santander International bankers draft which my lovely neighbour ordered from the branch was accepted by the US embassy today and our passports and document will be with us on Monday!
So if anyone needs to pay the embassy via a bankers draft in US dollars - find a friend or family member who has a Santander account and they can do it for you. This saved us loads of time as the next embassy appointment was 24th March....

destone

Wonderful news, thank you for sharing!