I am sooooo happy!!! 
I have been given a date for my visa interview!!! I am to attend the Embassy on April 29th.
Wooohooooo!!!
I have been waiting for this for 2 months and I am just so happy and releived that we finally have a date
[sub]For those who don’t know, Brynda and I are going to be married. I live in the UK, she lives in the US. We started the whole process in November. I want to move over and we intend to marry in July. See my sig[/sub]
Man I’m so happy
Can you tell 
Rick
Yes, sweetheart, I think they can tell.
Honestly, this process has been so emotionally wearing. To be in love and not be able to be together until the bureaucrats say so is just maddening.
But now…we are soooooooooo happy!!!
You’re taking a date to an interview?
Man you must have a set of gold-plated…
Oh, sorry. I should read more carefully. :o
Warmest congrats to you and Brynda!
Remember, the wheels of government grind slowly, but exceedingly stupid.
My wife and I had to go through the same thing (she’s from the UK, I’m from the US). Congrats!
But, be forewarned, the process is far from over! It’s been nearly 5 years since we suffered through INS incompetence, but if you have any questions - feel free to ask!
RickQ, you must be the only man on earth looking forward to a trip to Bureaucrat Hell ™. (Though, knowing the reward you’re going to get when it’s done, I don’t blame you one bit!)
I’m glad for both of you, at least as far as immigration issues are concerned, that you’re not trying to settle in the UK. My ex-wife was from the UK and we settled there, and the visa situation was a nightmare. Even though we were married for two years, I was still three years away from obtaining a permanent leave of absence (not even citizenship). Brynda will remember how I had to leave the country when my wife and I separated, despite the fact that we were still married and I had a full-time job (and was a full-time student to boot!)
But enough of that. Congrats to both of you
So, have you had your shots yet ? 
As for bureaucrat hell, I have a feeling that the consulates are actually the competent people on the front lines that make the entire process creak forward. Every time I’ve spoken to a consulate, I’ve gotten straight answers and a professional attitude. Not so with the INS, sad to say.
Congratulations to you both!
Congrats, Rick and Spiny!
Rick, don’t tell them you’re actually a KGB spy. Not even for fun. Nuh-uh. Bad idea.
Coldfire, äóðàê Âåñü íàø áåðåæíî ïîñòèãàòü ïëàí âîëÿ áûòü ñíèìàòü êðûøêó… àõ , ãîâîðèòü Ðóññêèé ñíîâà.*
[sub]*Apologies to those who can speak Russian if this is incorrect, I hd to rely on a translation website.
It shoud say “Fool! All our carefully conceived plans will be uncovered…ah, speaking Russian again”[/sub]
Rick
Crap and double crap.
I clicked on submit instead of preview. Argh!!! That was supposed to be in cyrillic but I guess that does not work here. Oh well.
Rick
:wally
Yup, the huge first-class letter containing my passport (with the visa carefully glued in at page 27 or so) and a Mystery Sealed Envelope, not to be tampered with or I’ll be plunged summarily into a piranha tank, arrived today. Woohoo!
The interview itself was a complete travesty. After fiddling with the paperwork - mostly making sure it was all there - they asked me one (1) interview question (I counted twice to be sure). This hugely important question was: “How did you meet your fiancee ?” After telling about Amsterdam, message boards, scheming tatertots and canal rides, the next word out of their mouths were: “Your papers will be with you at the end of the week.”
Now, I could get all snippy about travelling Hamburg-Frankfurt to answer one (1) question, but I guess I won’t. After all, things have been moving pretty quickly by INS time (i.e., glacial, not geological, scale of movement) and I got the desired outcome.
Best luck to you, Rick! Just be sure to have all the papers, copies of all the papers and a good book to read while the bureaucratic machinery is grinding.
Oh, and I abstained from addressing them as Tovaritsj. 
:eek:
You had to travel to Frankfurt for that? They don’t do this sort of thing at the US consulate (of which I’m sure Hamburg has one, right?)?
Anyways, all’s well if the end’s well. Congrats! You are now Half An American.
Nope, immigrant visas are only issued from the Frankfurt general consulate - we started forwarding the papers to the Hamburg consulate but managed to stop ourselves. My current hypothesis is that the budget can only cover one waiting room THAT dreary per nation.
Nononono! - America just got a little more Danish.
Not to mention the fact that your move will mean an increase of the average IQ in both Europe and the US.