How long after interview in London for K1 Visa?

[BadDogi]

Hello,

My fiancé had her interview at the Embassy of the United States in London on May 26, 2008 for her K1 Visa, and was told that it takes up to 4 weeks for the actual K1 Visa to be issued. I hear many cases were the Visa is issued at the same time during the interview.. It has been 3 long weeks… Any ideas what is going on?? Here is our timeline:

1. Nov. 27 2007 I-129F Submitted to USINS Laguna Niguel.
2. Mar. 27 2008 I-129F Approved.
3. May 26 2008 Interview at US Embassy in UK London.

Thanks!

[BadDogi]

How long after interview in London for K1 Visa?

Does anyone have any experience with interviewing and timing related to this? Thanks!

[nichole]

London

Most people I know of got the visa delivered by SMS courier in less than a week.
Did they keep the passport and did she pay fees to SMS for the delivery? If so, it should be fast. I would check with SMS to see where it is. She has a receipt from them.

If they didn't keep the passport and didn't tell her to arrange the courier, then there are documents that aren't complete that have to be sent to them like maybe a police certificate or something that was left out. In that case, they tell you to courier your passport back to them with the additional documentation. They don't normally keep the passport unless the visa will be issued in a matter of days.

Those are the two main scenarios at London. I know of nobody who gets the visa the same day. They wait on two things, but tell you that you are tentatively approved, pending those things. 1) getting the medical results sent to embassy. Many have that done weeks before so no wait for that. 2) the results of the fingerprint check. They fingerprint at the interview. When the results come back--hours to a day--they put the visa in the passport and give it to SMS to deliver. SMS sends a text message telling you the date they will deliver. You have to be home to sign for it. Don't know what the procedures are if you aren't home. Maybe that's what happened. I would check with SMS first if everything else seemed to be in order as I described.

Phone number of the Embassy if you need to follow up with them:
Operator Assisted Visa Information Call 09042-450-100 (120p/min)
Monday through Friday, between 8.00 am and 8:00 pm, and Saturday, between 09.00 am and 4.00 pm

I just noticed in your post:
2. Mar. 27 2008 I-129F Approved.
3. May 26 2008 Interview at US Embassy in UK London.
If the I-129F petition approval was May 27, there is no way the interview was the day before. There's a few steps in there and a month or two before an interview.

[BadDogi]

Hello and thank you so much for you input. I-129F was approved on March 27 (not May).They did not ask to keep the passport, nor did they ask her to arrange for the carrier. They did say to wait for their phone call at which point a carrier will be arranged, they also gave her the medical x-rays results and asked her to include them in her luggage upon traveling to the US. Our documents were insanely comprehensive and complete, police checks, medical tests, financial support, all required immigration forms, and every little thing that had asked for, and then some. We had intensive hard copies of evidence of relationship that ironically they chose not to even examine.

There has been no phone calls, emails or text messages. We did call them a couple of times, only to be informed that they are unable to check into it and that we must wait for whatever time the interviewer had indicated it might take, which was 4 weeks. Interview date was May 27.
It is worrisome to us as my fiancé had previously booked a June 19 flight and our wedding is July 5.

Any further information you might have would be greatly appreciated.

[nichole]

London

Sorry about misreading your dates of things. I can't figure out why they didn't give some indication of what else they needed. Did she go up to people at the windows two times. The first window person has your files and asks preliminary things, makes sure you have everything and gives out the x-ray and gets fingerprints. The second window person is the actual "interview". How did you meet your fiance, what does he do for a living, etc.

This the the number for the Department of State. They told me when my fiance's interview is before the interview letter was even mailed out. They are tied into the database. I got a grouchy person one time and a real nice guy the second time. You might ask them if there are any notes in the computer or how you can find out what's the hold up given the plane ticket and the wedding date. (202) 663-1225 press 1, then 0 to talk to a person. Have the case number LND2008xxxxx that you got from the NVC after the I-129f approval. It's also on the letter that comes from the embassy. Send me a Private Message on here if you have other questions.

[BadDogi]

Thanks again for some valuable information; it is great to be able to compare situations. She did indeed go to two different windows, the first window for preliminary items and the second window for the actual interview.

I am also wondering if more processing time is needed due to the fact that her 17 year old one is also on the application and that she also has brothers that live in the UK, her siblings have no intentions of ever moving to the US, but the embassy did have her fill a form asking for all family members names, address and information. Perhaps the brothers’ backgrounds are being checked??
My fiancé is a UK citizen originally from Morocco, the names we are talking about are Middle Eastern names, I hate to think that this might be a factor of some sort.

I will surly call that number you gave me on Monday; I assume it would be the same number regardless of where the I-129F was filed; I filed my application in California, Laguna Niguel Service Center. Thanks again.

[nichole]

London

I have heard of other Embassys putting people in Administrative Processing (or maybe it's Additional Processing )after the interview. Lots of people refer to it as being in AP and have to wait while additional checks are made. I don't read much about the others, but Manila is well known for that. Maybe Morocco too. So that may be the case if you fiance isn't an average Brit. That would explain things. "We need to do additional processing and will contact you," is something I haven't heard reported by anybody interviewing in London but that happens fairly often elsewhere. I've also never heard of brothers, etc names being asked for as additional information. The biographical only has parents, and children and I think ex-spouse if any. So I think that's what's happening here. The US is stricter on some nationalities it seems. I sent you a private message too.

Just found this:
AP is NOT standard procedure. I know of only 2 or 3 case's in London in the last year. Two of those was over in a week or two.

AP happens primarily in cases where the name of the applicant is a very common name, and so has to go through extra check. It is an unfortunate truth that AP most commonly happens to those with Middle Eastern, North African or south Asian heritage. If this is not the case in your fiance's case, then I would be shocked to find that you have to undergo AP.

[BadDogi]

Private Message sent.

[BadDogi]

Please check Private Message I sent! Thanks!

[BadDogi]

7 weeks and counting.