We got it!!!
We stayed at the Millenium Hotel Mayfair, which is *right there* beside the embassy. It could not have been more convenient, could not have been more comfortable... we felt like we were in an American room! Nice and spacey and cozy and nice. With a great restaurant & bar as well. Honestly, the extra £30 to stay there was SO worth it.
We got in line at the Embassy at 7am (our last name beginning with N) and we were third in line. I walked off to Starbucks to get some coffee and food. When I got back at 7:30 the line was around the corner!!!
Still.... it didn't really matter because at 8am a uniformed guy said "Anyone here filing for permanent residence please stand over here in a new line". They let us in before they let the big line in. We had to show our passports and our appointment sheet.
Went through security and got in the building. We had to take a number from a little computer to the left, pay £10 for the visa delivery service, and then sit down until out number (004) was called. Pay attention to the screen as well as the guy announcing overhead - they don't call numbers in order (since they call people back, miss people, etc) - and it is easy to miss your number being called if you are busy napping or picking your nose.
We got called within 10 minutes to go to a window and show our paperwork. This guy was just there to make sure we had the right documents, he didn't ask us any questions. It went really smoothly, an he said he appreciated that we had our photocopies paperclipped to the originals and had it organized. (One of the guys in front of us brought all of his paperwork in a Marks & Spencer's shopping bag!!!)
After he checked our paperwork he said to have a seat and that we'd be called to window 13 in a bit for our real interview. We sat down after getting some (very disgusting) coffee from the little lady&cart there.
It didn't take long before we were called to window 13. The guy was SUPER friendly and joked around with us. He asked us very simple questions (like where we thought we would live) and avoided big questions - like what David would do for a job! He said a lot of people going through the interview haven't sorted out employment yet, or sold their houses etc... and that it didn't really matter because the I-864 were ok. We have a joint sponsor (my brother) and since that paperwork was cool, we were cool. The interview lasted a few minutes. He said "assuming your medical is ok, welcome to the country!"
So we went directly to the Dr. office from there. It was REALLY easy to figure out what to do. I sat and waited in the room while David went and got poked and jabbed and x-rayed and pawed. BTW - bring your own reading material unless you like Wine Spectator magazine.
They told us to come back at 1:30 for blood results. So we left, grabbed a bite to eat, wandered around aimlessly, and came back at 1:30. The room was full of the same 8 couples we had been with all day. The nurse came in and said "everyone is fine you can go now"!
A bit anti-climactic for my taste, but oh well.
And THAT WAS IT.
Honestly, the hard part is filling out the forms and dotting Is and crossing Ts. The interview was a piece of cake. Of course, we still felt like we were going to throw up due to our nerves, and nothing was going to calm us down about it at the time!!!
We are flying to the US late October for a wedding, and while we're there we'll look for a place since the wedding is right where we'll be moving anyway (Kansas City Missouri area) and are looking to move just after Christmas since we've taken this new job rather than going with his current (soo to be former! whee!) employer.
SMILES all around!!!
