I applied for a fiancee visa for Jee Yeun in January.  In June I was told more information was required, which I dutifully and promptly submitted.  In August I got the good news that the United States Customs and Immigration Service had approved the application and the package had been transmitted to the State Department’s National Visa Center.  Hooray!

On August 21 the State Department advised that my visa package was being transferred to the embassy in Seoul.  The letter further advised:

“Your fiance will soon receive a packet with instructions from the consular section on how to apply for the K1 visa and what documents will be required.” 

So here it is mid-October and said packet has not arrived.  Today we journeyed out to the embassy complex to find out why.  Arrived at ten minutes after eleven only to be told that the immigration office is closed for lunch until one o’clock.  Must be one helleva lunch those folks eat.

We cooled our heels at the local Burger King (I had the Whopper set) and then reappeared at immigration at the appointed hour.  Well, the first window that opened said they couldn’t help me and sent me to another window.  Unoccupied and unattended as it were.  I rang the buzzer and a young woman appeared.  I presented her with the letters from USCIS and State and she advised that I had to schedule an appointment online in accordance with the instructions in the packet I was sent.

I took a deep breath and then another and said “the reason we are here is that we never received said packet in the mail”.  And she said, “oh no, we don’t mail them, we send them via email.”  Ok, well I never got them in my email either.  To which she replied “maybe it went to your spam box’.  Maybe so, but what do I do now that I’m standing here in front of you?  She had to check and disappeared for awhile.  When she returned she had a copy of the transmittal letter (which had today’s date on it) and asked me to confirm the email address was correct.  It was.  So, she said she’d send it again and told me to be sure and check my spam box.  Okay, will do.

Got back home and sure enough the packet had come by email right after I left the embassy.   Nothing in the old spam box though.

So, the long awaited packet with instructions requires certain actions (like a physical examination) and submission of documents (almost all of which I submitted in the original visa application).  But alrighty, we’ll get it all done (again).

Unless I get killed jaywalking.