administrator

Having benefitted greatly from this Board, I thought to share my London CP experience.


* Received success notification from KCC in August - AFXXX01XX.

* Completed and returned forms; elected for CP in London. Alternative was CP in home country (Ghana); but had planned to be in the UK (private visit on visitors visa) between October and December anyway. I had previously lived in the UK (work permit) and therefore qualified to use the US Embassy in London on the basis of "prior residence in the UK".

* Received 2nd package in September with interview scheduled for mid-October.

* Had a change in family between receiving the 2nd package and interview date; sent several notes to the London embassy notifying them of the change but no response; finally copies KCC in one of the mails; response came from KCC that all further matters are to be handled by the embassy; no response from the embassy till interview date.

* On interview date, arrived early at the embassy; long queue but brisk process once they opened at 8am.

* Interview went pretty well - officer checked all documents - ofcourse after payment of the various fees; asked for affidavit of support - which was not listed as a requirement in the 2nd package; fortunately we had a letter (adapted from one posted on this Board recently) of support plus supporting documents (bank statements, tax statements, etc) from the sponsor. The officer was not too keen on the plenty details - just wanted something simple - so we handed in just the letter; which he looked at and took a copy. Also had copies of the email(s) I had sent on changes in the family.

* Asked when is our planned date for departure to the US. A bit confused, confessed we haven't permitted ourselves to think that far - one step at a time strategy. He needed a date so we picked xmas.

* We did the fingerprinting; some more chit-chat; oath taking and "Good luck in the United States" said the officer. "Do you have any questions?" What more could I have asked?

* We got back our passports; visas couldn't be issued immediately as we haven't done the medical exams; the 2nd package had suggested the medicals could be done same morning of the interview - turned out not to be the case.

* The embassy uses exclusively, Nuffield Hospital with facilities in London, Edinburgh and I believe, Manchester. We got their contact details; called and booked for an appointment -earliest slot in London was 4th week of November; a slot was available following week in Edinburgh and also Manchester; opted for Edinburgh.

* Caught a flight to Edinburgh for the medicals - nothing too complex; I had no record of vaccination so they insisted on giving me two different vaccine shots at about GBP40 a pop.

* Received xrays from the hospital about a week later (medical results are sent directly to the embassy); called up the courier company to pick up passports; courier company returned passports 3 working days later.

* Now scanning the net for cheap tickets to the US for xmas.

* By God the story can now, in retrospect, be told to sound all so smooth - but, as you can imagine, there were challenging moments and much spend - getting all required documents together; travelling, etc.

* Key point is - be prepared; research things for yourself, know what you want and pray. But then, it's not over till it's over. Next step it seems would be POE - if not Detroit, the LA.
We'd see; and perhaps, the story continues.