lost mail rant

[Gryfon]

Its been 10 months since myself (Scottish) and my Fiance (California, USA) started this process and it has been excruciating to say the least!

The US embassys method of treating future citizens is pretty abysmal

It takes 6 months for my Fiances local embassy to process paperwork, another month for an Embassy to send me any type of letter...which is just a list of forms and how to make a medical appointment.

I sent back my completed forms next day(Royal mail recorded delivery) and had my medical exam before Christmas. Then today this 6 day old letter gets delivered!



I was fuming! I have the receipt showing the embassys address and date of posting. Their arrogant & lazy method of not acknowledging applications, no phone number and nobody who can answer any type of questions shows how efficiently they deal with things.

my advice for you all...

Send anything related to your Visa application with a method that involves online tracking and high value compensation regardless of initial postage cost. I thought "recorded/signed for" delivery was good enough and lost 3 months of my life waiting to hear about an application that was maybe never recieved.

[Gryfon]

Update.

I checked online to see if the application i posted yesterday was recieved today,it was. I then decided to see if the reference code of my "lost" application would still work, it did and showed it was recieved and the same guy signed for both!

The incompetent idiots at the American Embassy lost my application after recieving it!

Try entering the codes on the Royal mail website and heres what you'll see.

[izzy339]

Hi
I wish I could add something to make you feel better but sadly I can't and admit that if i were in your shoes I would be ready to grab someone by the short and curlies right now.
I'm also Scottish, my fiance filed in May 2009, it was Nov before they approved it stateside, then 19th of Dec before London got in touch with me, so apart from your mail going astray the time taken seems about right, what got to me is that despite turning my paperwork around in 24hrs and mailing it to the Embassy in London it still took just over three months for them to call me for an interview.
I sent my documents back by "special delivery" which is the new name for registered mail a wee bit more expensive than recorded delivery, this is so much better treated than recorded items in my opinion as they are just thrown in with regular mail (I used to work for the PO when I was in the army), the special delivery is treated seperately even to the point of being in a seperate bag inside the normal sack, and signed for each step of the way, recorded is only signed for on delivery.
I'm guessing you've spoken to the Embassy since you tracked your item and found it was received? what was their response?
I received my passport with my visa in yesterday by courier as expected............I really hope something gets sorted for you soon, this whole process is stressful enough, I have my fingers x'd for you.

Izzy