We're back from NYC, with my FLR in hand!
Thanks to all of you who posted information about your experiences. All very helpful and I'm happy now to provide my story to the "database".
In way of context, my husband and I applied for a Spouse Visa. He's a Brit, I'm American. We got married a month ago here in the US. I had spent a good amount of time in the UK over the past year, but never overstayed. Neither of us have been married before and neither has kids. We're both in our 30s.
Please note that I realize that each case is different, and that what we experienced might be different from other folks' experiences. Also, little things like the day of week and time of month might affect Consular acitivities. With that caveat in mind, here's what happened to us:
We showed up at the NYC Consulate at 8am on Thursday (the last day for the old forms...). We lined up in the lobby behind about 6 others. At 8:15, we were let up into the consulate after passing through security. The security guards told us the Consulate would not open until 9:00am.
At 8:30, one visa application window was opened and everyone lined up (strangely, we all fell into place as we had been downstairs but that seemed to be purely by chance). My husband and I had completed a Spouse visa application online. The "Fastrack" window was not yet open, so I lined up in front of that window, and he lined up with the other folks. Figured that might expedite things a tad. At 8:40 they opened a second window and also started alternating fastrack applicants and "regular" applicants. That seemed fair enough. At 8:50, the fastrack window opened. I ended up getting to the window a half a second before my husband, so the fastrack really didn't seem to save us time.
Once at the window (at about 9:00), we handed in the signed printout of our application, our passports and my passport photos. I had my super fat folder of evidence in hand but decided to wait for the guy to ask us for stuff rather than giving him everything. He had a check list of things he asked for. This included:
1. Marriage certificate.
2. My husband's letter from his employer stating salary etc.
3. Proof of accomodation (my husband's mortgage paper).
4. Bank statements (mine and my husband's).
We had made copies of everything, which he seemed to appreciate and everything we gave him was met with approval (e.g., "very good", "excellent"). The only thing he asked us was whether either of us had been married before. The answer was no. Anyhow, 5 minutes after approaching the counter we were done. He told us to come back an hour (!!!) later for my visa.
We came back at 10:20 and my visa was ready. All in all, everyone at the Consulate was very pleasant. In fact, the guy who gave me my passport with the visa was quite jovial!
As others have commented in the past, we too brought WAY too much paperwork (photo album, letter from my husband's sister, emails, phone records, trip records, birthday cards etc.), but then again, I'd rather have more then I need than not enough.
So was the Fastrack application worth it? Given the fact that we showed up early, AND they opened 2 regular windows early AND they didn't open the Fastrack window until 8:50, we really didn't save that much time. Clearly, I have no way of knowing if they ALWAYS open windows early AND which ones they open early.
HOWEVER when we picked our visa up, the regular line for visas had at least 20 people and the fastrack only about 5 long. So if you wandered in to the consulate once all the windows were open, you would get through the fastrack line quicker. Probably...
I did like having a nice typed up form, and I can only imagine it made it easier for the guy to quickly go through our information. Made me feel more organized too, but that's a personal thing. The only valid reason I can see for NOT going the fastrack route is if you don't want to pay the visa fee upfront.
Hope this information is helpful.
Best of luck to everyone with their applications.
Ginger
(Key words: Spouse Visa, NYC British Consulate, Fastrack, New York)
