Attending a Non-immigrant Visa Interview

What to expect when you attend the Embassy for a non-immigrant visa interview
Music: Kevin MacLeod

Category:

Education

Tags:

• NIV

[safraznabi]

hello, i'm a british born citizen, and would like to go on a sight seeing holiday to the usa and visit a freind over there, i want to go for a max of 90 days, but will cut it short if i have seen all want to see before the 90 days is up, do i need a visa to do this, i will be staying with a freind.

[USEmbassyLondon]

@safraznabi

You need to apply for the visa waiver programme called ESTA. It costs $14 you can find more information on our website london.usembassy.gov

[aramian21]

What to expect when you attend the Embassy for a non-immigrant visa interview? Unfriendly staff, impolite and uncivilized visa officers who do not distinguish between being rude and strict, and an extremely bureaucratic and inefficient system. A true reflection of the US society I guess?!!

[WatchRyder]

@2008kavo

Living in the UK at time of application. Normally this shouldn't matter.

Yes I had a position lined up.

Good luck, it depends on the staff member's who interview you as well as your own attitude and paperwork I think.

[sam9lives]

@RowdyPumper i agree on everything you said - except for the making excuses part which won't work. And I've already had enough with the US embassy - I'm not gonna go there even for holidays (not unless I'm sponsored for work or sth). I've had it. Only looking at Europe now - in fact I was there twice last year for holidays without any cumbersome visa application, queuing up for interview, driving to the bank to make crazy hefty visa fees pending approval nonsense, printing,filling up docs, etc.

[RowdyPumper]

@Vitilevu23

You think you can sell your citizenship like a liquor license and that your girlfriend is more interested in you than in it? Maybe there would be somebody dumb enough to buy it. Just like people hire those "agents" who hang around embassies and offer to help the visa process for a fee. No guarantee of course, but they go on about alleged past successes [no longer local] and special contacts. In the end, these guys do much less than this mildly informative video and cost way more,

[RowdyPumper]

@sam9lives

I was helping a friend with the process last year and read everything on the Immigration Service and the State Department sites, plus a few forums. When the embassy officer told my friend that he needed a medical exam for a B-2 visa, I gave him an disputing paragraph extracted from the regulations I downloaded, and the employee apologized for the mistake. So yeah, you can help by preparing for the interview or you can make excuses.

[RowdyPumper]

@aramian21

I guess it's lucky then that you found out how awful US society is from your extensive study sample of bureaucrats cheesed off about bad food, bad housing, bad hospitality, and bad weather. I am also only guessing from the usual stereotypes, because I've never been wherever is the paradise that you live. Like I'm only guessing you were turned down after the visa interview and have had no opportunity to update your knowledge of the world first hand.

[adammark1983]

Can a police warning will affect my chance of a B-2 Visa?

[Bhulli1]

It's helpful

[davlor86]

the visa process is always a nightmare, im glad i already renewed my visa for another 10 years.

[samliffe]

The process is easy enough. Remember a passport photo and all relevant documents. Be polite, courteous and well presented. Always smile. I found the staff there to be very friendly, helpful and approachable. Be prepared for a long wait as people are applying for work visa's etc. Remember not to take and AMEX card as they don't accept it for payment. The only "rude" staff members are the actual American ones (or the one I had) but they have long day's working and are tired.

[sam9lives]

@19tazmania exactly. at the interview, my interviewer just quoted me some paragraph he extracted from a very extensive manual (lots of pages) out of somewhere in the US embassy site and rejected me based on those paragraph clauses. seriously, do they expect everyone to read through every page and every line of every document on their website? it's as if they already made up their mind to reject me - only to find a justifiable way to do it (to make themselves look more 'professional')

[sam9lives]

@weirdoinchains not gonna apply ever unless someone sponsors me. anyways, am now in the UK for holidays (which cost me nothing for visa) instead of forking out so much just for a holiday in the US.