Applying for a US visa

You may already know that it's not easy to get a visa to America. I confirm that it's really true. First of all, if you want a US visa you have to check to make sure what type of visa you want. this depends on what purpose(s) you want to come to America. [I'm writing this when I'm in the States so I've got mine already and what I'm going to write now is my fact and opinion. You may believe or not I won't bother] When you know already then apply for that type. you may check from websites about this information.



For me, I applied for a J1 visa because I'm supposed to be a visiting scholar going to observe classes in University of Northern Colorado. So what I had to do is applying to the university. Then they would send an invitation letter with some certain numbers. I needed these numbers to fill out my visa application form. It can be found  at  http://travel.state.gov/visa/forms/forms_1342.html. Applicant have to fill in every blank and go on to the next page. If any blank is not filled out or has any error, it will always come back to that point and you can never get to the next page. Also it is programed to log out automatically every  15 or 20 minutes, so the applicant has to keep logging in again and again. the good thing for this electronic form is that it will be there for you to finish in 30 days. If you get bored or don't have enough information in hand to fill in, you can stop and come back later. Just make sure you remember the confirmation number and the right answer to your question. And believe me, try to make the answer short, or else you may get upset that you have to give a long answer again and again before you finish this application. If you are a well-prepared person, you may want to have everything ready before you fill in. That's a good idea. Prepare your credit card too because you may have to pay for your sevis number. You should also take a photo and get an electronic file available to download to the form. Again, the photo has to be exactly what they required. Check this out for the photo   http://travel.state.gov/visa/visaphotoreq/visaphotoreq_5334.html. When you come to the last page and finish everything, submit it and print out what it shows you. That's it for the application. But it's not finished yet.

You have to go to the post office to buy a pin or you can buy online and use your credit card to pay, then you begin to reserve your interview appointment which is hard to get a free day especially when you want to fly in the near future. It's better to plan ahead as long as you can so that you don't have to be frustrated trying to get one appointment and cancel it for the earlier date. It's not fun to keep watching the screen as often as you can hoping to see some free time that fits you.

Well, if you mange to get you appointment already, then go to the post office to pay certain amount of money depending on what type of visa you're applying. I was supposed to pay $140 but the post office asked me to pay 4340 baht. Then go to the US Embassy  30 minutes before your appointment to get in line in front of the gate and enter. Make sure you have all important documents with you especially your passport and the reciept from the post office. Then do what they tell you and answer your questions directly and politely. That's all I can remember. So if you are on process of US visa application, just be patient, do every step carefully and mindfully. If it's your wish to come to America, I wish you can make it finally. Good luck!