Hi all,
as promised this is my DV “interview” story, first of all Franko apologies for stealing your thread, since this is London embassy and a successful
interview I thought I could add few lines underneath as well. Hopefully someone will find this helpfull.
My interview was scheduled for WED’s morning 8AM sharp, since I wanted to play safe (and not miss the interview time)
and as we had to fly in at the same time (I live too far from London so there was no other viable option for me) we decided to
arrive a day earlier so we would have enough time in the morning in order to reach the embassy without well know
(presumably to all of us) “so much drama” factor - where we are in a rush and everything seems to go wrong.
We had arrived at Stansted on TUE 10AM, we took a car rental from AViS for 2 days there, also I had booked two rooms (family of 5)
in Premier Inn (just beside Stansted airport) well in advance, so hotel was not that expensive comparing to the London city centre.
By travelling from Stansted there was still a risk, of course, to miss 8am time on WED, however we aimed to leave early enough
so we would have an extra time for delays if need be.
On TUE we went to London for a recon. We located nice parking spot at Bell Street in advance and we placed our car there,
it’s not too far - approx. 15 mins by walk from Kensington Park and 25 mins from Embassy, what we confirmed ourselves - by exercising
our planned (for WED morning) route. BTW if you would ever need a car park close to city centre and if that location would suit you I
highly recommend it, its just outside the congestion zone so be careful on how you approach that location. The place is secured with
on site staff 24hrs/day, they even have toilets (which is perfect if you have kids - don’t expect air refreshers there - to say the least
)
rates are OK as well.
http://www.lrparking.com
We had planned remaining part of the day for London field trip, so we did so. By 7PM my children where literally knackered, we packed
ourselves up and we drove back to the hotel. We were - my wife and myself - so tired that we didn’t even have time to think about the interview
(our little monkeys - read children - “discharged” us fully throughout that day) I just managed to skim through the interview “files” one more
time, I don’t think, I even saw 10PM before I fell asleep.
We had to get up at 4AM on THU morning, we had checked out from hotel just before 5, we had a quick breakfast afterwards as well
and we left hotel at 5:20. We drove South via M1 and then WEST via A406 and then again South along A41, we reached car park at 6:45
and Embassy Gates at 7:20 more or less.
At 7:30 embassies staff had showed up and they started to organise (VISA related) queue (there is 2nd one for citizens) by interview times,
we went through security gates towards visa section of the building - right side of it - and we reached waiting hall by 7:50 i think.
In order to cherish the tradition of our well known forum member - we sat in close proximity to the fans of course
, 5 minutes later
my two youngest started the well known “are we there yet” game, this thing actually didn’t stop until we left embassy premises,
even during interview with a consular officer, he could have children himself as he didn’t seem to bothered by this at all
.
At 8:15 we were called in for document inspection, there are two lines of “windows” in visa section - dozen or so in each,
one of them is placed just beside waiting area - where can be noisy at times, and the 2nd one is hidden along the side corridor
where it is a little bit quitter so I was happy that we were called in there (window #16).
So i was asked for original and copies of each type of required documents. For family of 5 it is a lot of paper however I had documents
and copies secured in separate punched pockets so process went smoothly, the guy from the other side was impressed
. Once he asked
for and took first set of documents - birth certificates - he asked me to pay the visa fee - so I did that. I thought its a good sign since I heard that
sometime if they find obvious issues with an application they tend to advice applicant to withdraw documents early so money is not lost.
Next I handed over all remaining documents, also updated forms (I added US address and some details which had changed since last year),
also since I forgot to register for courier services i was given pink form needed to register for such service. At that point I just put my address details on it,
there was a barcode with my interview number on it as well, more on this later.
Next (30 minutes from the beginning of this part of the interview) the guy from the other side of the window said that we are all set for the time being,
I was asked to go back to waiting area and wait for interview with a consular officer.
After 30 minutes or so we were called in again, there was a new guy - consular officer this time round, he asked us (me, my wife and our oldest boy) to
redo some of the finger tips scans, we signed the forms in, and we gave an oath (I’m not sure about the sequence, though).
He asked couple of questions afterwards,
- first about financial support, I brought statements showings my savings and confirmation of equity i have on two flats I own, so he asked about this.
My documented savings were slightly above advised household “Poverty” guideline levels for family of 5 - documented since couple of months ago,
- Then he asked about my higher education history, he was surprised that I have two master degrees, and he literally asked why I didn’t go for just one bachelor
degree and why one would need to do more than one, so I explained the background of this.
- he also asked whether I lived in any other countries beside the ones I already declared for 6 months or longer,
- Then he asked how long we are married, and where do i intend to go / stay and what are my plans for US. I told him that I work for US company (which has
an office in UK and headquarters in Boston and New Hampshire) and that likely I would apply for a job in the company i already work for, I was prepared to
present him further documents on this, he didn’t want to look at it at all.
- Lastly he asked how many times I have been to US and about the last departure details, so I answered that.
Then he handed over all original documents to me, he smiled and said that we are approved. That was it really. I was happy, my children were even
happier, they could finally leave the building (for promised visit in Diana Memorial Playground in the Kensington Park).
Before we did so we were sent to the other side of the building to pay for the courier service on site, so we did that, we left courier request there
and paid 10.5 pound for 5 people.
That second - left side - of the building is reserved for american citizens / residents, it has its own entry and exit, when we were walking out throughout
that second exit, my wife said:
“This nicely sums up our situation, we entered the building as a foreigner petitioners, and we left the building through out citizens doors”.
“Well said” I returned, and we all left.
