Visa Appointment

In my opinion, this was the most daunting part of this whole ICP experience. The interviews are nerve wracking, but they aren't the difference between whether or not you're allowed into a country! Even though I've been to the states a few times, i was really nervous when i went to get my visa!

There are two embassies in the UK that you can choose from to go to, either London or Belfast. As I'm from Edinburgh, this is really annoying. I would say that Belfast is probably the cheaper and quickest option travel-wise, but i chose to go to London because i know my way around better, so if i would've had to go by myself i wouldve been alright.
I booked my appointment for Wednesday the 3rd of April, and all J1 visas (the type you need for a 'cultural exchange') get an appointment at 11.30 in the morning. Yummy jobs sent all the necessary paperwork, and all you need to do is pay the booking fee, the sevis fee, and fill in an online form.
The online form is the trickiest part. The yummy jobs instructions were quite hard to follow too, so make sure you set yourself up a nice cup of tea and a biscuit or something to stop you smashing your computer while filling it out.

Me and my mum travelled down to London on the Caledonian Sleeper on the Tuesday night (which i would highly recommend!) and arrived on Wednesday morning stupidly early, but we found a Pret to have some breakfast. We killed time with some shopping and wandering around until it was a more reasonable time.
I met Rosie, who i had met at my second interview, so we could go to the embassy together. And it was good because i didn't have a clue where i was going!
We also went to Goulds pharmacy to leave our phones etc en route. I have to say, i was very sceptical about the whole 'leaving your phone in a random pharmacy' thing because i didn't really trust how reliable it would be, but it is very professional and trustworthy, i would really recommend it because it meant my mum could go and do her own thing, but still know i could get it touch with her once everything was finished.
We then went and joined the massive queue to get into the embassy. If you are going to do this in March/April time WEAR WARM CLOTHES. When we got asked for certain bits of paper, my hands were so cold i could barely move them! It was also nice to have some company in the queue.
Once we were in it was pretty straightforward, you get given a number, which you get to know very well the amount of times you check it, then you just wait to get called to a window. I thought this would be it, so i was very impressed when my number was called after only being there for about an hour or so, but it turns out this is just where they collect the paperwork…
I was lucky and got a lovely american man who was very chatty and happy, and he took my forms and my passport then gave me a form to fill in which was for my passport being couriered back to me.
Then you sit back down, and realise why some numbers are called in order, and some randomly.
There was a little group of us all going to Disney, so it was nice to have people to chat to, i didn't even need my book! We were told that it could take from 2 to 5 hours until we were called for our interview, but i was really lucky and my number was called in what felt like another hour or 2, i was the first out of the Disney crew! I went up to a different window, got asked what my plans were after Disney, what university i went to and what i studied, then he told me my visa was accepted and my passport would be sent back to me, easy as that!

I was probably in the embassy for a total of about 2 or 3 hours.

So for all you current/future applicants, my visa advice would be,

• Dont stress. Its not as bad as you expect it to be.
• Meet someone before if you can. The Disney guys are all friendly (we are employed by the 'happiest place on earth') and it helps put you at ease, and keep you occupied during the sitting about.
• Double and triple check your paperwork. And take an extra, different set of passport photos.
• Put your electrical stuff in the pharmacy. Its only £3 and saves SO much hassle.
• Eat before you go. I was so hungry…