Question about LA consulate responsiveness

Hi all,

I have a question about the LA consulate's responsiveness. From the posts that I've read many people have been sent email confirmations by the US consulate office, to which they sent their VISA application, that their application was received.

I was wondering if such an email from the consulate (especially the one in LA) is standard. I filled out the application and paid on-line and then I FedEx-ed my documents. The FedEx site for tracking the package told me that someone in the LA office received it and signed for it. That was on Monday. It is now a couple of days since then and I was hoping to receive an email from them that they did indeed receive it.

I certainly would appreciate hearing from anyone with similar experiences from any of the US consulate offices.

If it's of any importance, I applied for a settlement visa as the husband of a British citizen.

tia,
hoping2cross (soon)

Dear hoping2cross,

Don't worry, the LA consulate does NOT give any type of confirmations.  Although the NYC consulate is standard with this, the LA just does not do this.  I too, was worried about this after hearing of friends experiences in NYC.  I got my visa stamped in LA three weeks ago, it took about 8 business days.

It's now been a few weeks since the LA consulate received all of my documents and still no word on my VISA. I thought that it would be a straightforward case but it doesn't seem to be (at least not to me). I've called the 900 number and they said that it was still in the process of being reviewed.

Has anyone in this forum experienced as long a wait as I have (3+ weeks)? I'd be happy to hear any feedback.

thanks.

Why don't you just give the Wilshire office a call and explain your situation...It's free unlike calling the embassy in the UK!

from what i have seen over the last few years i been on this site/forum it depends on who gets your application.
as some have no trouble and get approved faster than others, while many including myself have long delays.
Think its safe to say it all boils down to how many applications they get at the time, if your in the la area you could stop in and see them. if i recall its on the 12th floor? perhaps thats wrong was jan. 2003 when i was there (required to do a interview)
personally i would assume things are ok so far with it,  if they havent got ahold of you yet.
I'm not sure how the new sytem works with contacting them (900#), dont know if you get a embassy employee or some call handler who just answers easy questions (if that).
wish i had the answers for you.
best of luck and hope you get some sort of reply or answers soon.

Why don't you just give the Wilshire office a call and explain your situation...It's free unlike calling the embassy in the UK!

I have tried calling the LA consulate but they don't respond to my calls. There is a 900 number that costs $2.10/minute that I've called. It seems to me that the information they have is limited to any notes that the person who is handling my application has written in my file.

What was disconcerting to me were the posts in this forum about other people's quick responses from their respective consulates. But I think that what's going on is that perhaps in most of those cases the Brit spouse is already living in the UK and therefore there is already an established residency for the ex-pat spouse to go to. In my situation, we're both in the US, have been for the last 1+ years and now we're planning to relocate to the UK. In a sense we, the both of us, are starting over with respect to establishing ourselves in the UK.

Anyway, that's my take on what might be going on. As many people here have said, each application is considered on its own unique merits. We're just antsy because it's now been 3+ weeks since our application was received and our requested date for entry into the UK is just days away.

Thanks again everyone for your thoughtful responses.

-hoping2cross

It's time to relax for a little bit. Received an email today that said the VISA was issued. No more $2.10/min phone calls! 

I still don't know why it took a longer time for it to be issued than what others in this forum have reported. I'll be happy to share that information if it ever becomes available to me.

thanks again.

well- even if you don't know why at least the visa issue is all sorted... good luck with the move!

congrats in getting visa (or seems to be issued), i waited a month or more (cant remember) for mine and i know it was stressfull.
hope all goes well