It's official. Obama has approved me ! My visa has arrived and I'm off in T-30 days.
But first, let's back track over two months ago when the process of getting my visa began, because whilst it might not be the most exciting story, it is long, expensive and necessary.
In order to even apply for a US visa you need a DS-2019. No, not a robot, but what is more fondly known as a college acceptance letter. A letter which took two months to be signed, stamped and express shipped from Pennsylvania. When this letter finally arrived I filled in a visa application online, paid two fees - an application and exchange visitor fee ( $400 in total) and booked an appointment for an interview in Auckland. Yes, in Auckland. Because even though the US embassy is located in Wellington, visa's are only issued from the US consulate in Auckland.
So at 8.00am one rainy Auckland morning I found myself alone on Customs Quay, passport clutched in one hand, iPhone in the other, desperately searching online for the US Consulate. Not going to lie, I'm pretty naive and base most of my expectations off what I've seen in films. Like for instance in Mission Impossible III where the US embassy is an imposing building, surrounded by flags and security with guard dogs and machine guns at the ready. Almost inpenetrable, even for Tom Cruise. The consulate in Auckland ? Not quite so much. In fact the consulate is located in an office building - no sign of a sniper, camera's or even an American flag. I wouldn't have believed it, if google maps wasn't telling me so.
Thanks to my wee problem finding the consulate I was late, and punished for doing so, spending the next forty-five minutes in a line to be x-rayed before even being admitted to consulate ( entering the consulate is legally like entering the US). I queued again, twice to have my finger prints recorded and finally for my interview. Two simple questions later and my visa was approved !
The thing about entering US territory though is that security is tight. I wasn't even allowed to bring my iPhone into the consulate. Imagine! But, don't worry I did it for you. I ran out of imagination pretty quickly, passing the time in the queue reading an article about a civil servant and dinghy-fever ( conclusion: not good) and eaves dropping conversations ...
Like the grumbling when American citizens got to skip the line ahead of us. The middle eastern family being grilled about the relatives they were trying to visit in Washington DC. And my personal favourite - a frenchman and his Chinese wife. The husband of which claimed his wife spoke no english, her understanding so poor he even had to direct her hand over the fingerprint scanner.
This concludes my adventures at American consulates, more queuing than patriotism, more cushy-civil-servant magazines than machine guns, but now I'm (almost) set to go !
But first, let's back track over two months ago when the process of getting my visa began, because whilst it might not be the most exciting story, it is long, expensive and necessary.
In order to even apply for a US visa you need a DS-2019. No, not a robot, but what is more fondly known as a college acceptance letter. A letter which took two months to be signed, stamped and express shipped from Pennsylvania. When this letter finally arrived I filled in a visa application online, paid two fees - an application and exchange visitor fee ( $400 in total) and booked an appointment for an interview in Auckland. Yes, in Auckland. Because even though the US embassy is located in Wellington, visa's are only issued from the US consulate in Auckland.
So at 8.00am one rainy Auckland morning I found myself alone on Customs Quay, passport clutched in one hand, iPhone in the other, desperately searching online for the US Consulate. Not going to lie, I'm pretty naive and base most of my expectations off what I've seen in films. Like for instance in Mission Impossible III where the US embassy is an imposing building, surrounded by flags and security with guard dogs and machine guns at the ready. Almost inpenetrable, even for Tom Cruise. The consulate in Auckland ? Not quite so much. In fact the consulate is located in an office building - no sign of a sniper, camera's or even an American flag. I wouldn't have believed it, if google maps wasn't telling me so.
Thanks to my wee problem finding the consulate I was late, and punished for doing so, spending the next forty-five minutes in a line to be x-rayed before even being admitted to consulate ( entering the consulate is legally like entering the US). I queued again, twice to have my finger prints recorded and finally for my interview. Two simple questions later and my visa was approved !
The thing about entering US territory though is that security is tight. I wasn't even allowed to bring my iPhone into the consulate. Imagine! But, don't worry I did it for you. I ran out of imagination pretty quickly, passing the time in the queue reading an article about a civil servant and dinghy-fever ( conclusion: not good) and eaves dropping conversations ...
Like the grumbling when American citizens got to skip the line ahead of us. The middle eastern family being grilled about the relatives they were trying to visit in Washington DC. And my personal favourite - a frenchman and his Chinese wife. The husband of which claimed his wife spoke no english, her understanding so poor he even had to direct her hand over the fingerprint scanner.
This concludes my adventures at American consulates, more queuing than patriotism, more cushy-civil-servant magazines than machine guns, but now I'm (almost) set to go !
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