Visa Success

The past couple of days have been a little hectic

as Tom and I prepared for his trip to London to

interview for his B-2 Visa.

We had to gather documents and practice

answering mock interview questions and just

try to get him as ready as possible for this trip.

Early this week Tom started getting pretty discouraged

about the chances of actually getting this visa.

That's thanks to online forums that discuss

the success or failure rate of people going after the B-2.

After reading thread after thread of bad news Tom

started feeling like this wasn't going to work.

But he had already paid the fee and he already had an interview slot.

The more we learned about the B-2 visa

the more nervous we got.

First of all if you fail to have a successful interview

and you are denied the Visa you are basically

banned from using the ESTA for 6 months.

The ESTA is a program that allows

UK citizens up to 3 months of travel time

in the US without having to get a big visa.

So if you're denied the B-2 visa then you're

ESTA is also put on hold for 6 months and you're

basically not allowed to go to the US until that time passes.

Or at least that's what we've heard from other people.

So the pressure was on going into this interview.

It wasn't just not getting the visa it was also

the chance of being separated even longer.

So you can imagine Tom was feeling the pressure

and was starting to freak out a bit.

I tried to reassure him that our case was simple

and that he'd totally get it but he was not so sure.

Some of the questions that you get asked in this interview are

"What will you be doing in the US?"

"How long do you wish to stay?"

"Why can't you do your trip in the 3 month period instead?"

"What are you ties to your home country?"

The ties question was the scariest because that seemed

to be the question that got most people denied.

They were denied because they couldn't prove 

that their ties were strong enough back home

so the Embassy peeps thought they 

might be trying to live long term in the US.

It's especially the case when there is romance involved.

Apparently people like using this visa to get married and

then extend their time in the US to a permanent status.

Oy...

So Tom goes into the embassy and gets in line

after line after line and then he's given a number to wait his turn.

He's called up and grilled about this 6 month trip.

I knew he was worried about it but I knew he would be fine.

He literally had tons of proof on him that he was doing this by the books

and wasn't trying to get long term stay in the US.

If they asked for a document to prove anything about his story

chances are he had it and was ready to whip it out in a moments notice.

He had practiced the questions over and over again and he just

gave the interviewer a sense that we knew what we were doing here

and that we were trying to do it all the right way.

The interviewer believed him and granted him his B-2 Visa!!

He didn't even ask him about his ties.

He just knew from everything Tom told him

that we weren't new to this and that we know

what we're doing {Sort of} and that we're

going to do everything the right way.

And it worked!!!

And noooowwww Tom is going to be coming

to Texas for 6 whole months next year!!

We are so so excited!!

Thanks for the good vibes peeps!!

:) :)