The Interview (part two)

You queue at reception and show them your letter - they scan the barcode, print off some stickers and stick them to your letter.

You will have a number on the stickers.
Non-immigrants will have N100, N102 etc
Immigrants (on my day at least) have I851, I852 etc.

You go and sit in the seats and stare at the screens. There is a shop and some toilets. There also seemed to be free internet facilities but there was a queue and I didn't want to get distracted. There is also a photo-booth near to the cashier.

I may have put window 11 in the wrong place.

You sit until you are called. They start calling at eight. At first the calls are in order but, as soon as people start getting called back a second time, it appears to degenerate into chaos.

The non-immigrants vastly outnumber the immigrants which mean that the (first and second) calls for immigrants are easier to follow.

On my day the non-immigrants were called first, there only seemed to be a handful of immigrants. The ratio of 7:1 held out for the first hour but then the number of non-immigrants seemed to swell.

I was called to window 14, given my x-ray from the medical, asked a few simple questions (non-interview mainly) and gave my fingerprints. The guy checked my documents were all there (thanks NVC), said the fee was already paid and had some fresh photos from me.

I sat back down.

An eternity later I was called to window 16 where a friendly American gentleman checked my fingerprints (to see if it was really me) and asked me to raise my right hand and swear an oath to tell the truth.

He then asked:

"How many times have you been to Vegas?"
"What's the longest time you've stayed in the US?"
"When did you get married?"
and
"How did you meet?"

He then asked:
"If I was going to approve your visa, when would you be travelling?"

Then he told me to go to the courier and arrange delivery of my visa. I stood there dumbfounded. I was sure I'd misunderstood.

I asked him if that was all . . . he answered "Yes, your visa is approved!"

Yay!!!

The Interview (part one)

I was at Goulds chemists at 7.30 when it opened.

I stored two mobile phones there for the massive sum of £3.

I walked towards the Embassy, crossed the zebra crossing and joined the smallish queue ahead of me.

You're called forwards and asked for your interview letter.

They ask if you have any electronics on you or metal. Those with electronics are sent up to the chemists while you are given a clear plastic bag for your metal (keys, change, belt).

You then join another queue where you will get called forwards to show your passport.

You then join another queue where you will get called forwards to go through a metal detector and put your bag and papers through an x-ray machine.

You then walk around to the North of the Embassy which is where the visa entrance is.

You queue at reception and show them your letter...

Preparation

Okay - http://www.metcheck.com tells me that it shouldn't be raining while I'm standing outside the embassy.

http://www.tubeplanner.com/ is a simple way to show me the best way around the Tube through I also check http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/default.html to check for delays (and there are a few today).

I'm also putting together a checklist of things to take:

• Passport
• Interview letter
• Money
• Passport-sized Photos (I'm taking three)
  

I'll also have the following:

• More relationship evidence
• Birth & Police back-up certificates (& 2 copies)
• My mobile phone in a bag, ready for the pharmacy drop-off
• Train tickets
• Hotel reservation
• Tube route (see above)
• Door key (I must remember to leave my car keys at home as they are banned from the Embassy)
• 2 cards (1 credit, 1 debit)

And while we're at it - deodorant, battery shaver, toothbrush, toothpaste - all to be thrown away at the hotel so I haven't got any baggage. I'm wearing an old shirt now and underwear/socks I won't miss. I'm taking a (plastic) bag with underwear/socks and a nice shirt to wear on the day.

The Interview Letter - in detail (part two)

The rest of page two tells you that your case has now moved beyond the NVC and, if you have any questions, you should now only communicate with the US embassy. You are given the address of the embassy and are told what details (Case number, Principal Applicant, Category & "Foreign State of Chargeability*") to include when communicating.

The third and final page is entitled "Notice to Visa Applicants".

There's a subheading "Visa Interview Requirements" that I will copy (almost) verbatim.

VLAD THE IMPALA must bring the following to the visa interview:

• Any original documents that were requested by the NVC but were not submitted to the NVC
• The medical examination results if not submitted to the Embassy/Consulate by the physician
• The correct size and number of photographs
• Valid passport for all traveling applicants

Point three is beautifully vague.

Finally there is a very scary looking table of "documents requested" that (in my case) names seventeen documents needed for the interview. Each document has a code letter by it. As most of my original documents were sent to the NVC (or the USCIS) this is a little intimidating.

Then you look up the codes. Basically you're looking for codes 'A' (to be acquired), 'I' (is incomplete) 'T' (translation needed) or 'S' (scanned document received), though a 'U' (document unavailable) is pretty scary too. My application had none of these codes - mine was full of F's, O's and Y's ("not required", "original document already submitted" and "document received and accepted").

I also had a document status of 'C' for a document called "Correspondence Instructions" - this was not explained in the notes. I have to assume that, as this was the first document named, that it's self-referential and is talking about the interview letter itself (as that has to be brought to the interview).

And that's about it...


*is that a real word? Really?

The Interview Letter - in detail (part one)

It arrived in a weird, side-opening envelope a few days after Foof received her copy. It came directly from the NVC in New Hampshire and is (according to the text) the last time that the NVC will communicate with me. It's printed on US "Letter" paper and not A4 so it will be a little too wide for those cute plastic covers that you've been storing all your other paperwork in.

Just like Foof's letter it's dated June 9th. It gives a summary of where we are in the process (i.e. just finishing with the NVC), reminds me of my case number and tells me that my petition has been forwarded to the London Embassy.

The second paragraph gives the interview date and time.

There's then a section marked "Important Information" that points you to the www.ImmigrantVisas.state.gov website and tells you to follow all its instructions carefully so that your application isn't "refused at the initial interview". You are instructed to take this letter with you to the interview (or you won't get in, obviously).

The next page lists everyone who should attend the interview (i.e. me).

There is then a list of "reminders", asking you to bring along any documents you've missed, medical results (if they've not already been sent to the embassy), a "number" of passport-sized photographs (5cm x 5cm), Foofer's income tax return (if needed) and the final "reminder" is another "refused at the initial interview" threat if you don't bring all your documents.

Part two will detail the rest of this letter including the list of what you must bring to the interview...

Interview Date Set!!

So Foofer just got a letter from the NVC, dated June 9th, telling us that my interview at the London Embassy is set for July 10th. At first we weren't sure why this was sent to Foof. then we realised - they must really take this "agent" stuff seriously.

WOW.

This is also the last time we deal with the NVC. The letter states that, from now on, we should talk directly to the embassy.

Now, while Foof sends the interview letter to me (so that I can get into the embassy), I have to organise my medical.

It's suddenly all happening!!!
(and I couldn't be happier)

Certifiable

Today I sent off for my Police Certificate (ACRO). I paid £35 (+ £5 for a second copy).

I got one of my friends who is in the police to fill in the part of the form where they confirm my identity - they also signed the back of my passport-sized photo (you really do need a lot of those photographs for this whole process).

This will be used during the NVC process and should also be needed for the interview at the embassy (which is why I've paid for a second copy - just in case).

I've decided to order a second Birth Certificate too (there are many companies that will do this for you online) - just to be on the safe side. You can't have too much supporting documentation.

Averages...

I can't recommend the website visajourney.com enough, we've linked to it a few times before in this blog but I wanted to point out what a great resource it is. There you'll find advice, useful checklists and even shortcuts. One of the things that you get drawn to are the timelines.

• Out of 483 "CR-1"s, the average time to get an interview is 400 days.
• The average number of days to get your NOA1 is 37 days
• The average processing time between the NOA1 and NOA2 is 135 days
• The average time between your NOA2 and your interview is 208 days
  (as of the 23rd of January 2009)
  

Pretty grim reading at first, but I decided to try to look on the sunny side.

These stats are for the last few years, for both the Vermont and California centres and include all attempts at visas - the ones where the forms were botched, the ones where people have "special circumstances", the ones that got lost in the mail etc...

They have a huge amount of data that you can just wander through: I looked at all of the people processed via California who are having CR-1 interviews next month - the numbers vary (with no obvious correlation to country) from a 493 day process (from I-130 to interview) down to a less scary 233 days.

None were from the UK so I checked out my fellow Brits. The most recent wait times were: 363, 157, 281, 388, 252, 193, 201, 425, 489 and 342 days from posting the I-130 to getting an interview. The ones in italics have yet to receive a visa. The average of the other eight is 309 days (which would put my interview twelve days after Bonfire Night). Of course, checking the facts behind the numbers show that one of these applications was lost for four and a half months so, hopefully, my interview will be sooner.

Of course, playing with numbers on this site only gives you a rough idea of what's in store - and we have no real idea what's going to happen in our particular case but looking at these numbers makes me feel like I'm doing something and not just sitting waiting...