US Training Visas

[My names Turkish]

I was determined not to write a whinging post on this forum again after passing my ATPL exams but! I went about arranging my paper work and my Visa so I could go back to the U.S for the rest of my training. However the Embassy now requires you to book an appointment and the lead time at the moment is an amazing 4 WEEKS! So be warned if you are doing any training on a tight time table i.e during holidays from work make sure you have all your ducks lined up well in advance of when you go.

[AndyDRHuddleston]

Turkish,

Not too sure where you heard that there was a 4 week lead time, but I have just booked my appointment yesterday and I was given 19th May at 0900.

May have just been lucky, but thats what I was given, and thats a lead time of just 2 weeks, I was impressed!

Good luck

ADRH

[My names Turkish]

Ah yes! But you would be on the other side of the lake, the Paddy staffed embassy is different. Starting to wonder if I could make a trip across to London and do it there instead, must call the £2 a minute line tomorrow and find out.........

[Martin1234]

I live 45 minutes from the American Embassy in Copenhagen but had to go 400 miles to Stockholm since I'm a citizen of Sweden.

[Charlie Zulu]

The US Embassy in London has around a two week waiting list (it was when I booked mine six weeks ago). However I expect that closer to June and July this will increase to around four weeks like it was last year.

This could be due to the fact Camp America starts around this sort of time? Although it may not be because of that.

Also if the Irish US Embassy is anything like the London one, you'll have a three to four hour wait for your interview so take a good book!

You'll be told there and then if your visa application has been successful and your passport with the visa enclosed will be sent back within a week or two.

London US Embassy:

Just a quick note to stop anyone else from getting caught out like I did a few weeks ago. When I got to London I sourced a Post Office and obtained a Self Address Special Delivery Envelope (£4.05) for the Embassy to send the Passport back to me.

Well when I got to the Embassy they told me that this is no longer required and everyone HAS to pay £10 for the VDS (Visa Delivery Service) to send the passport back to you. So the Special Delivery Envelope that I had written on was not required anymore.

The paper work that I had from the Embassy still said to bring a Special Delivery Envelope - oh well. It should be changed now.

Lucky I had gone to the bank before the Embassy interview!!! Otherwise I would have been sent to the back of the queue - ouch!

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[AndyDRHuddleston]

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have my interview booked for 0900 on the 19th May, and have since been looking at ways of getting there in time and as cheaply as possible.

For those of you that have been before, how did you do it? What time was your appointment? Did you stay overnight in a hotel and if so, can you recommend anywhere cheap to stay? If you travelled by train/bus to Euston or any other major station, how much was a taxi from the station to the embassy?

This whole Visa lark seems to be escalating in price!!

Cheers

ADRH

[AndyDRHuddleston]

I have also got to provide evidence that I have sufficient funds in order to complete my training whilst in the US. What do they accept as proof, after all, you could show them a statement showing sufficient funds, but that doesn't mean that you would be taking any of it - what's the point?

Secondly, in order to fund my 12 months stay, I am having to sell my house, my car, and resign from my job, so how in the hell does one provide proof of intent to return to the UK with non of these things to come back to? Surely some people are students, live at home and have no car, so how do they do it?

Any ideas?

Cheers

ADRH

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi Andy,

My interviews have all been around the midday mark so I've travelled up on the day.

The three times I've been I've got a train to Paddington. The Apex fare is the cheapest but you need to book it at least a week before you go. Your outbound train times and homeward bound train will need to be booked and if you miss them you'll have to pay for another ticket if I remember correctly (I haven't missed a train though).

When you get to the major train station in London, ie you mentioned Euston, don't get a taxi as that will cost you a small fortune - around ten years ago a taxi from Paddington Train Station to Victoria Train Station cost me £20 so I wouldn't like to think how much Euston to the US Embassy would cost - even then!

Anyway by far the cheapest option is the tube... obtain a 1 day travelcard. If you get one for all zones (all 6 zones) that will cover you all the way to Croydon, Heathrow etc... it cost me £5.20 three weeks ago. The 1 day travelcard is valid on tubes, buses, normal trains etc.

The tube station is, I believe, Bond Street (I'll check now...)... Yes it is Bond Street.

When you get there head to the right exit and that will take you into the shopping centre. Follow the signs to McDonalds and there is an exit to the road to the right of McDonalds upstairs (ground level). Go out of the exit and turn LEFT (edited to say left instead of right - sorry!). Then take the first right. Then take the first left (iirc). Walk along and you'll go pass a nice hotel (Marriot I believe). At the next junction (by the zebra crossing) turn right and walk along that road (there is a park on the left hand side of the road. At the end of the park there is a big building with an American Statue and Flag... that is the US Embassy. You'll have to walk to the other side of the embassy to join the queue (it is sign posted).

You can't miss the embassy... it has lots of railings, a cornered off road, armed police, etc...

Editing my post to add the following!!

I've just seen your latest post...

On the three occassions I\'ve been to the US Embassy (London) I\'ve *NEVER* been asked to show proof of funds or to prove the intent to return to the UK.

But I\'ve taken my Post Office Savings Account booked just in case for the proof of funds.

Also my employer has written a letter saying I\'m expected back in work on a certain date. I don\'t own a house myself but I own a car... um but I have shown that all of my family live in the UK, parents, sister and brother-in-law, grandfather in Cardiff etc.

Your case may be a little different though as you\'re going for a year.

The interview only lasts for about a minute - I\'ve not seen anyone take any longer than two - three minutes whilst I\'ve been there.

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[AndyDRHuddleston]

Charlie Zulu,

We must have been typing at the same time. Any views on my last comment? Also I have just read that the forms all need to be completed by computer and then printed as opposed to hand written? What do you know?

Cheerio

Andy

[0-8]

Hi All,

I was looking around the US Embassy website and I found this:
http://travel.his.com/visa/tempvisitors_wait.php

It tells you the current waiting times for US visas at your embassy. (I didn’t think it was worth starting a separate thread, so I resurrected this one!)

0-8

[Unusual Attitude]

I was just there yesterday actually......

If its not been mentioned before expect a very very long boring wait. My appointment was 11.30 so I got the red-eye down from Aberdeen and got there about 10.30. Had a quick coffee round the corner and joined the queue at 11ish.

Basically had to stand around outside in the rain for an hour before getting into the embassy. Then once in took a ticket and joined the other 500 or so people already waiting to be processed!
After 1 hour outside and 2.5 hours waiting inside I finally got seen for about 2 mins, they basically took all my paperwork and told me to sit down again until I was called (anything from 30mins to 2 hours!)
I was lucky and after 30mins got called for an interview where they basically took my finger prints, asked a couple of lame questions about my current job then said I'd get my visa in the post in about a week.

All that for 3 weeks in the states doing a CPL course, not impressed with the way they treat people at all to be honest but at least I have my Visa sorted now.

Best of luck to anyone else heading there, my advice is take a brolly, a packed lunch and a good book !

Enjoy !

[WaNNabeFlyEr]

ah yes the wonderful american embassy lol wasnt too bad really...got my appointment scheduled in a week and got there around 7..dropped by the nearest starbucks...seems to be one on every street in London...but the Canadian embassy has to be the most efficient one so far..dosent look half as cool as the American embassy but got my Visa in 4 days- stamped in my passport and all and didnt even need a appointment..just thought i would share lol