Ok.
Getting a US visa is like nothing I have ever done before. It was such a grand adventure!
Let me walk you through the process...
Well at first I didn't think I needed a visa, I thought the visa waiver would be all I needed since I am not actually going to spend more than 90 days in America... but apparently Canada counts even though it doesn't.
So I filled in the online application, which included questions like "Are you coming to the United States to engage in prostitution?" and "Have you ever been directly involved in the coercive transplantation of human organs or bodily tissue?" um....
I then had to pay $14 to get a PIN to book an appointment and then go to the postoffice to pay $140 and purchase a Platinum Express Registered Post - 500g envelope (these cost almost $14...yep for an envelope). Oh in the process I found my receipt for the last time I bought a US Visa (1997) it cost $26 in those days. haha
Fast forward 2 weeks till my 'appointment'. It was in Sydney and I had to arrive at 9o'clock (I think I was actually there at 8:45) for my 9.30 appointment. So I go up to the 10th floor, and there I need to go through a metal detector, have my handbag scanned and then confiscated (ok, well minded). After a short discussion with a guy in an important looking suit I had to wait in a special row of chairs with 2 others before they called us over to the lifts, which the security woman sent us up to the 68th or something like that floor.
Once our ears had popped and we had arrived at the 68th-ish floor we had to pass our passports through a little slot beneath a glass window to another security person. From here on, everyone we spoke to was on the other side of a protective glass window and spoke through a microphone. This guy buzzed us through a super heavy door one at a time.
On the other side of the door, we had to take a number and then line up for the pre-interview security stuff. This included getting my fingerprints scanned electronically. (sooo cool!)
So by now at least 20 minutes have passed. I was then sent to a waiting room. There were two waiting rooms, one for US Citizens and one for the rest of us. I sat with the 'everyone else' I think they were up to number 317 when I first sat down and I was 332. The waiting room was suuuuuuper quiet. The clock was stuck at 7:45. My mobile phone was downstairs, I had nothing but my wallet and a million documents that I needed to bring to prove my story about why I wanted to go to America. What is a girl to do?
Fortunately (slash REAAAALLLY unfortunately) the 'interviews' are conducted at a window (with the glass and microphone set up) at the end of the super quiet waiting room. So... we in the waiting room got to hear all the sordid details of each person who wanted passage into the US of A. Boy there were some interesting ones. To try and distract myself from eavesdropping I read some trashy magazines and played a game of 'guess the American' in my head... (the rules are really easy - as someone walks in the heavy door you guess if they are American or not & then depending on which waiting room they go to, you either win or lose). I was getting pretty good at it :-)
Anyway finally 7:45 came (the clock was stopped remember), my guess is it was almost 11, and I got called up. They verified my identity by scanning my middle left finger (they chose a different finger for each person, so you can't cheat..). I had all my paperwork ready, but instead he just asked me 4 questions:
- Are you really going on a 13 month holiday and how can I get one of those? (Um no, I'm going to be living in Canada and just want to be able to access America for 13 months)
- What are you doing in Canada and where will you live? (Nannying, Vancouver)
- Have you ever been arrested or had any trouble with the police? (No)
- Have you got your Canadian visa yet? (No) Have you applied for it? (Yes)
Ok your visa has been approved for 5 years, just go and pay $25 over at window 8.
It was seriously over within 3 minutes. Other peoples' dragged on for 20 minutes and were quite complicated, but my interview was so easy! phew!
I was then escorted back down to level 10 to collect my things.
Thank you America for letting me visit your country! I love that I can now pop in as often as I want for the next 5 years! This is not super handy from Australia (you know with the whole 17 hour flight thing), but I think it will be living in Canada :) .
The end.
PS to get a Canadian Visa: fill in online form, send it in with some photos and a police report, done.
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