Visiting the US Embassy
Today I went to the US Embassy to apply for my student visa. It has been a lot of paperwork (and money) to get to this point but I am happy to say that I will be getting my visa in a couple of weeks. Here are a few tips for your visit.
- Try and schedule your appointment as early as possible. It will avoid any problems surrounding not getting your passport back in time for a holiday or for your flight out to Texas.
- Don’t bother bringing a big bag. It won’t be allowed in.
- Do bring something to kill time. Although the meetings themselves don’t take so long, there is a lot of waiting in between. You can use your phone as long as its on silent and you don’t use it when you are at the interview windows.
- Talk to other people. There will probably be a few other students with you when you go. Talk to them and find out more about their experiences. It’s a great way to pass time and make new friends.
- Be polite to the interviewers. They can’t do anything about the waits and, from personal experience, they seem to be genuinely interested in finding out why you decided to go to the US (even if it’s their job too).
I had my appointment at 9:30 this morning and was out by 11:00 so it’s not as bad as you think. Just make sure you go prepared with the right documents and you will get through easily. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you take a lot of supporting documents, it just means you are ready if you ever need to show them so try not to leave anything you think might help you at home.
