home and visa in hand

we got back yesterday from new york and YES VISA in tracey's passport.


here's our experience hopefully this will help others about to go through it.

we arrived saturday night, got to our hotel we stayed at hotel 31, cost 70 dollars a night plus tax. basic one but central location, friendly staff and clean, id recommend this hotel to anyone. Sunday we decided to see the city and relax (as best we could) we had all the paperwork we thought we would need. only thing we had to do was find passport photos. seemed impossible to find on a sunday. had the most amazing time on sunday.  went to bed early to make sure we got up in time. i woke about 4am and went for a walk, came back and woke tracey at 5.30 am, we left hotel about 6am and wandered uptown eventually about 7am found a photo shop on 3rd ave near the consulate and paid 7 dollars for the 2 photos tracey needed.

we had a coffee and a 7.30am went to consulate. there was 3 people in front of us. about 8am a guy came out asking to see passports and prove of travel back in next 5 days the 3 in front got turned away because they wernt flying back in those next 5 days.

now at front, the queue wasnt that long at 8am. we were then called inside and all lined up guy went through what would happen next at about 8.15 we went upstairs.  went to the window and spoke to a guy called solomon. i have got to say he is the nicest guy you could hope to meet. he helped us relax tracey and went through what would happen, even though there was quite a few people behind us, he didnt rush us and spent aslong with us as we needed. we showed him our folder and he said we were well organised and it should be no problem. we went and took a seat at 8.45 we got up and formed the queue. we saw a guy and he went through everything. asked us to pay and come back in an hour.

we paid then hugged and both burst into tears, left and went had a coffee niiether could eat anything at this point returning at 10.30 we were told we needed to wait 20 minutes. but the visa was granted at this point we hugged again and cried some more absolutely thrilled and elated. think the whole consulate and everyone there stopped and looked and several people congrratulated us.

my opinion of the whole process was that it was that the thought of it and the not knowing what was going to happen, our life together depending on the outcome was far more scary and upsetting than the process actually was.

our advise would be be prepared and be honest. here's what they asked for

visa form
tracey put her mom's address down as US Address has she had been living here in uk with me for past 3 years.

divorce certificates

prove of place to stay in uk  
we had tenancy agreement and letter from landlord stating tracey was welcome to live there and would be added to lease once we were married.

prove of employment.

im self employed and run a distributorship for kleeneze and had a letter from the stating how long i'd been with the and telling them that i work on a self employed basis and income varies.

supplied copies of my certificate of income for previous month

bank statements.
solomon had told us they only need last 30 days and arnt interested in any further back than that, we had a years worth, so we took them out of the folder.

prove of intent to marry,

tracey handed over a letter she wrote that morning stating when we intened to marry.

after that he asked is there anything else we wanted to show them we handed over my 3 page letter of support.

that was all they asked for and then we went to pay. It was $494.00, alot maybe but to be honest we didnt mind the cost, it was a small price to pay for our future together.

it didnt matter to them that tracey had been flying in and out of uk every 6 months just to renew her tourist visa. all we were asked was has anyone said anything to you. tracey said no and the guy said good.

we got the visa within 2 hours and were on our way, boy did we have a wonderful time for the rest of our stay leaving wednesday night. now looking forward to getting married very soon then down to croydon and getting Traceys FLR.

good luck to anyone about to go through it. Dont panic, if you are a genuine couple and prepare for it then you should have no problems. one thing to note Tracey heard someone say as from next week you need to make an appointment to go get visa not just turn up.

Congratulations!!!!
And the FLR paperwork is a lot easier if you've already gone through the fiancee visa bit, since you get to skip loads of questions.
I'm glad the whole thing went so well for you both, I know the relief you guys are feeling right now!

CONGRATS!!!!

I nearly burst into tears myself reading that

thanks, yes it was a truly amazing feeling, and i dont think i can fully understand how much better it is for tracey, she's can finally relax knowing our new home is that ours. for past 3 years we get putting off sorting everything, fearing that if we gto turned down we would be seperated. now we can get on with living our lifes as we want to knowing we will always be together .

fantastic

Congrats!!!  It's the best feeling to have that major hurdle be behind you!  All the best for a terrific wedding!

congratulations


(i'll be looking up info on hotel 31 for my upcoming trip to the NYC consulate's...)

best of luck to you both!:)

email us at bernie@eezenet.com  and we can give you exact details of where to find it and tell you anything else you want to know.


when you going

CONGRATS!!!!!

Fabulous story and happy ending!

email us at bernie@eezenet.com  and we can give you exact details of where to find it and tell you anything else you want to know.


when you going

hiya -

thanks for your offer  
did you guys look up other hotels in the area as well? hotel 31 is decent (& cheap which is what we're after, but it doesn't look like it has on site parking, which we will need as we are driving there from pennsylvania..)

we are going to new york on april 26, to the consulates on the 27th and back to pennsylvania on the 28th

Congratulations!  Now if I can only get over my own jitters about going to get our visa in about 6 months or so.  You're absolutely right that the most nervewracking thing is that they can say yes or no to your future of being together right then and there...we're a "genuine" couple so should have no probs...just a tad bit concerned they may think our financial situation is questionable as we both have very few funds at the moment (will be getting letters from his relatives saying they'll help us out if need be).

CONGRATS again and have fun at your wedding!!!!

aslong as you can show you can support then i dont think your funds are really an issue. tracey's convinced the fact we had been together 3 yrs and hhad lived as a couple for that time helped. my bank balance didnt show much in it at the time due to the timing of the statement and that we had payed for the trip and just moved house. they only want to see statements for last 30 days. although we bought a years worth just in case.   good luck and the time planing and going there is far worse than the actual event.

  good luck and the time planing and going there is far worse than the actual event.

i know i was terrified at the thought of going alone (mind you at the time i will be going, i will be approx. 32 weeks pregnant.) so, i'm thrilled that my partner is able to go with me..
(i'm going to start sorting out the forms/documents we will need today or tomorrow..)