Using a lifeline

Today was the fourth straight day of working on my 135-page visa application. The UK website made it clear that attending the biometric screening is critically important. One makes an appointment on the UK visa application website; prints out the biometric appointment confirmation, which includes a barcode; attends said appointment; and gets one's confirmation letter signed, dated and stamped by U.S. Immigration, which does the fingerprinting.

I arrived at 30th Street station an hour early, very nervous about being on time for my 2 p.m. appointment. The UK website and the confirmation letter listed the address as 30 N. 31st Street, one block from 30th Street Station.

Except it wasn't. There's a 31st Street South but no 31st Street North. There's an office building, bank branch, plaza, and railyard. But no 31st Street. I walk around the block then go into the office building, where the security guard says a lot of people come in looking for that address but he has no idea where it is.

I have 45 minutes left. If I miss this appointment, I have to start the visa process over and schedule another, which could take a week to get. Panicked, I call Aelish, who I know is cool under pressure and a calming presence. I'm in tears as I ask her to look up USCIS Immigration Service Center. She said its at 30 N. 41st Street. I start running up Market.

Which isn't a great part of the city in which to be in a dress running with a folder containing: my passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, account statements for five bank and savings accounts, and application papers with every private detail of my life. I'm not usually a person who lives in fear of being mugged, but if I were parted from that folder, I'd look for the nearest high rise building.

I made it with 10 minutes to spare. My fingerprints were done on a computer. I was fascinated to see how they looked like relief maps with hundreds of parallel lines indicating slope.

Then I took the train back to Radnor and went to Staples, where I spent over an hour making two copies of the full application. Including my signed, stamped, dated, biometric screening form.
5/29