Right. I had my interview today so here's my li'l story....
First of all it started DISASTROUSLY. We hit traffic, we got stuck behind trucks, we hit every red light... and then... Jamie dropped me off at the wrong bloody address! He dropped me off (with about 1 minute to spare) where we thought it was (no thanks to bloody mapquest) and I went inside and NOPE - wrong place. So I ran back out to the parking lot, frantically trying to catch him, and he wasn't there. So I called the JobCentre and they wouldn't answer the phone. So I started to panic. And cry. NOT a good start. So finally I got through to the JobCentre and they said not to worry - just to get there as soon as I could. So I started calling Jamie again. Well guess why he wasn't answering? Cause he'd bloody well been pulled over!!! AND he was carrying a license with the wrong address, and his tax disc was expired. He talked himself out of a ticket though. Whew. Anyhoo, he finally picked up and had to drive back to get me (he was 10 minutes out of town already!)
So I finally walked in nearly an hour late. But amazingly they were SO nice about it. They said it was a hard building to find and it wasn't a very busy day, and so it was fine!!
Anyway, the interview took no time at all. They'd said to be prepared for it to take an hour and a half, but I think mine was probably less than a half hour! They copied: my passport, the letter from my employer, the letter from my uni saying I'd been accepted on my course, our original lease and the letter saying that it had been extended, my national health card, my student ID, my California drivers license, my birth certificate, and the card stating that we'd given notice to be married (since I'm right on the border of having a student visa and applying for a FLR (M) I brought both stuff from my university as well as proof that we are getting married.) Like vnicepeeps, she didn't care about my entries into the UK since none of them had been over 30 days previous to the most recent one. She took down the addresses of my bank and my doctor and said they would call 1. the home office 2. my doctor 3. my bank and 4. my university to confirm my identity.... Oh, and they need to know EVERY place you've lived at in the UK and the dates - so even though we've lived at the same address for a year, I still had to state where I had lived for the couple weeks between my arrival here and moving into our house.
I think that's about it. And then I signed each copy, verified that she'd given me back all of my originals, and sent me on my way.
All in all it was extremely painless, very quick, and the lady who interviewed me was VERY nice and answered all of my questions very thoroughly. And like everyone else here, I have this forum to thank for the smooth process - the lady told me the same thing that they told vnicepeeps - that I was very, very well prepared and that made things much, much simpler....
The only advice I could possibly have is to take everything you can possibly think of that might help to prove who you are, why you're here, that you're settled here, and that you're legal to stay here. What I took and didn't need: Jamie's passport and NIN (though I think the only reason I didn't need that is because we're not married yet), my social security number (didn't even ask for that), my student loan information (though that was on the list of things they want from students), and a bunch of stuff proving that we're getting married (she said she only needed the card that said we'd given notice.)
They said I could conceivably have my card in 2 weeks and that they would call if there was any trouble....
