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Visa Troubles
Jun. 14th, 2006 02:07 pmAfter sending off a folderful of proof and information to the US Customs and Immigration Service in February, I thought that my application for a fiance visa was pretty much safe. It went through the National Visa Centre within about two days, but now that the process has moved to Britain, things have got much slower. It now looks like I'm going to have to delay travelling to the US, or abandon the current plan, go there without a visa, get married and come back again to organize one.
The problem began when I phoned the US Embassy here and they hadn't even heard of me. Apparently the applications take 10 to 15 days to reach Britain from the time they're sent, having been presumably strapped to the back of an elderly tortoise and pushed in the general direction of the UK. Once that's done, the embassy need to request another rainforestful of information, including a police certificate to prove I'm not a dangerous criminal, and a medical certificate to prove that I am indeed human.
Once that's done, they need to lose/burn/sit on the information for another month or so before finally inviting me to an interview. What happens with the visa after that is unclear, but I'm prepared to believe it'll be another few weeks before anything happens at all.
If you're applying for a visa at any point in the future, just be sure to do it about a year in advance, because the generous-seeming 120-day period estimated on the USCIS site is nowhere near enough time for them to get it sorted.
P.S. Aaaargh! Thank you.
The problem began when I phoned the US Embassy here and they hadn't even heard of me. Apparently the applications take 10 to 15 days to reach Britain from the time they're sent, having been presumably strapped to the back of an elderly tortoise and pushed in the general direction of the UK. Once that's done, the embassy need to request another rainforestful of information, including a police certificate to prove I'm not a dangerous criminal, and a medical certificate to prove that I am indeed human.
Once that's done, they need to lose/burn/sit on the information for another month or so before finally inviting me to an interview. What happens with the visa after that is unclear, but I'm prepared to believe it'll be another few weeks before anything happens at all.
If you're applying for a visa at any point in the future, just be sure to do it about a year in advance, because the generous-seeming 120-day period estimated on the USCIS site is nowhere near enough time for them to get it sorted.
P.S. Aaaargh! Thank you.
