Showing posts with label Vlad's visa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vlad's visa. Show all posts

Saturday, 11 July 2009

The Package...

...is a dark blue plastic bag, about A3 size, with one of the stickers from my interview letter stuck in the top right-hand corner. Below it, an address sticker (including my contact phone number).

Okay, I'm opening it...

Contents:
  • Passport (a cursory glance shows the big "Welcome" sticker (from the set stuck to my interview letter) on the front of it)
  • "Important Information" Letter (it's the same one that I received from the first (British) guy at the Embassy)
  • Large Envelope (With a sheet of paper stapled to the back of it)
Okay, now we look a little closer.

The passport has something that looks a lot like this in it:
Okay, mine has a few differences, especially the fact that I'm a man (with a beard) but this is a (sufficiently blurry) example from the interwebs to be a decent illustration.

It's a (very impressive and official-looking) sticker a few pages in and it's, technically, only half of my visa.

The other half is the large envelope.
On the front it has the following:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

To be opened only by the United States Immigration or Public Health Service Officer.

This is your Visa. It must be surrendered to the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Entry into the United States.

Do not pack it - it must be hand carried.

On the back of the envelope is an "Immigrant Data Summary (this is not a visa)" sheet with lots of lovely biographical data about me on it. There is even a picture of me as well as room for a barcode and an admission stamp.

The "Important Information" Letter has details about not opening the envelope, the Green Card, conditional statuses (as I have a CR-1 visa), paying taxes (eek!) and the SSN.

Visa Las Vegas!

At 8.35am BST on 11th July 2009, I received a phone call.

From the couriers.

This was unexpected to say the least.

"Would you mind having your package early?"

"er . . . when?" I replied is a slight state of confusion.

"Ten minutes?"

So I now have a package from the Embassy . . .

Note - Shortly after this the status on the courier tracking site changed to:

Our records indicate the item has been delivered. If not received please call 0870 389 1000

11/07/2009