DS-156: issuing country issues.

I've just been filling out the DS-156 online and everything appeared to have gone smoothly until I realised that for some bizarre reason, everytime I have selected "Great Britian and Northern Ireland" from from the drop down menu (in sections 1, 11 & 15 I believe), it has not appeared on the final form. ???

I would just hand write it on but it specifically mentions that doing so can delay the processing time. : So I'd rather not.

Has anyone else had a similar experience, or is it just me being special somewhere along the line. : ;D

Ona x

 

Ona, I did mine online and it has printed Great Britain & Northern Ireland in the sections it was supposed to. I made a bit of a mistake with my US address on mine, do you think I can do it again? I'm scared to do it again in case you're only meant to have one chance at doing it!!!! ???

Still no chance with an earlier visa appointment! Have called twice now, and the earliest they can give me in London is 16th June! So just going to stick with my 21st June appointment. Fed up paying for expensive phone calls to Glasgow!!!!

Laura.

 

Hmmm.... well i'm mega confused then. :-\ It's just not showing up on the finished form or indeed, in the printed version. :-\ I went back and checked and it was def. selected in the form before it was submitted! :-\

I was gonna try again too but like you Laura, I'm wary of re-submitting the form. :-\ Anyone know if it's okay to do it more than once? :-\

That sux you can't get an earlier appointment. Did you ask if there is any possibility of cancellations coming up? I guess that would involve calling the mystical distant land of Charing Cross again though. :

Ona x

 

On the page it doesn't say that you aren't able to fill it out multiple times. If you've made an error they wouldn't punish you for that. As long as the form that you bring to them is OK.

I think the barcode is associated with the information in their computer. If you redo the form you'll get a new barcode and when they scan it, they will see the information associated with that code. People make mistakes all the time. I think some people fill out the form several times. If they would research it, they will only get curious and put you on the "interesting" pile if the information you've filled out on the forms doesn't match.

So I'd say no worries. The computer made an error and you are not going to change any information to make you look strange in their eyes. And you can explain them that as well. Besides, you are in their system anyway! They know who you are from previous visits.

I wouldn't worry about it to much. How else are you going to submit that form? I believe writing it manually is not the wisest thing to do, but you gotta do something. So the best option is filling out the form again.

Hope this helpes!

 

Indeed PlanetD, that sounds like the most sensible option.

I think shear panic kicked in when it didn't work correctly; :-[ 'Arrrrrrrrrrg.....it's all got to pot, they're not gonna give me my visa, i'm not gonna get to go, I'll be stuck here in Scotland, the world is gonna end!' ;D

Thankfully, I've chilled a bit and I'm gonna try again tomorrow. 'Tis giving me a wee bit of a headache tonight. Darn pdf files. :

Ona x

 

They are incredibly frustrating. Finding the information is hard enough - really should have kept copies last time. Amazingly I can't remember off hand the dates of every trip I made to the US. Teriffied of making a mistake in case they compare my old and new forms

 

So Ona, are you going to try again with the online thing? ???

I'm seriously worried about previous dates for being in the US! This will be my 4th time working there (not including DCL!) and I've been there so many times on holiday as I used to have an American boyfriend and would go and see him around 4 times a year!!! Well, I never been rejected before so fingers crossed!!!!

Laura.

 

Do you think they'll finally figure out I'm trying to stay??!!! ??? lol!

 

Lol Laura.

Yeah I'm gonna give it a bash tomorrow. Just did the sevis thingy and that was sooo much easier. No pdfs yay! Out of curiosity, did everyone else choose the $30 delivery option? I wasn't sure so thought it better safe than sorry. The printed reciept is fine for the visa interview though right?

Yeah, it's so difficult to recall dates of previous visits to the US. Sheesh, the first time I was there was back in '92. Hello, I was 11! Like I'm gonna remember the exact date. : I've decided just to use months & years, rather than actual dates. There's just no way I could do dates. :-\ Does it specify anywhere that it must be specific dates? Just thinking that on the visa wavier forms it asks the same thing and they hardly look at it. I usually just list months/years on those and all goes well. :-\

Ona x

 

Confused?? ??? What's the SEVIS thing? And what $30 delivery option? Im on a J-1 so maybe this is different for me! I paid my visa ($100) over the phone by credit card when I booked my appointment at the Embassy.

Laura.

 

Laura, I'm on a J1 too. But it may depend on the type of J1. e.g. I'm technically a student. :-\

The SEVIS fee is $100 and it's not part of the visa itself but it is necesary in order to get one. It's a fee they use to fund the SEVIS system (instated post 9/11) which tracks folks on J, F & M visas.

I also still have to pay the £63 (I guess £63=~$100 :-\) visa application fee. I assumed this was the fee you paid over the phone? ??? I'm not sure though. If you've not been told about the SEVIS fee then I wouldn't worry about it. :-\ The $30 is just the cost for the expedited delivery of thehard copy of reciept of payment or the SEVIS fee.

Soz for the confusion. :-[

Ona x

 

Doesn't everybody on the J1 have to pay the SEVIS fee???

You cannot obtain an J1 if you aren't a student, right ? ? ? ???

Anyway...I still have to do it as well, but I haven't received the DS-2019 form yet. It should say in the Yummy Jobs paperwork I think. I am at school so I cannot look into it right now, but I guess it is mentioned there.

 

I always thought that the J1 was a student visa too but apparently it is technically an exchange visitors' visa. ??? And it has various different categories within it. One of which is for students. Whether all categories must be tracked by SEVIS, I'm really not sure. :-\

Alas, Laura (Dougslar) isn't a student and isn't dealing with Yummy. She's dealing with the participant company, HRC, directly. Hence the confusion. : ;D

Anyone else feel like they are up to their mouse-ears in paperwork. ;D

Ona x

 

I think I may have said this before, but when i got my visa through (which came through pretty quickly so I wasnt without my passport for long!) they managed to spell my middle name wrong! I mean...who puts Chartotte instead of charlotte? You'd think they'd proof read these things at least a hundred times! So, had to send mine back with yet another DS-156! And i'm still waiting for it to be returned, Flying out next sunday (11th) so i'm getting a bit anxious about where it is!

 

The SEVIS fee for ICPs is paid for us by Disney...copy of the SEVIS receipt was sent through with the DS-2019. Interesting that it isn't for the academic program...do CMU sponsor it instead?

 

Indeed they do. We pay the fee up front though and the cost is deducted from our fees. Aaaaaaah fees. :

Ona x

 

Still have to look into that SEVIS thing!! ???

Ona, did you fill in another form online? My worry is that I filled the last one in and printed it so I have a form with barcode on it! Will it be safe to do it again? It's just the part with my US address that's the problem. :-\

Yes, as Ona said I'm on a J-1 visa but I'm not a student. J-1 visas are exchange visas.
All very confusing this visa thing!!! ???

Laura.

 

Tricky business applying for a visa, that is for sure!

How about this document? Maybe it can help you. It is from the US Embassy in The Netherlands:

The J1-checklist

I use it as a reference.

I received my certificate of good conduct today...yipee! One step closer to Disney World!

 

That's actually useful...thanks

 

Laura, I haven't yet but I'm going to tomorrow.

Here's my reasoning why;

Each finished, printed form has a barcode attached. That barcode corresponds to the data which you entered on the form. It will be stored in the system, identified by the barcode. If you fill in another form, you'd get another (different) barcode, again attached to the data you entered this time around. When you present this at the embassy, they are only ever going to be dealing with the new barcode. In effect, the data from the initial barcode will still be stored somewhere but it won't be connected to your visa since you will have used the new one to apply.

If that makes sense. :-\ ;D Lol. I think that was what you were talking about Planet right? To me, it seems the best option. You're data will then be correct and you will not have written on the form.

Any other thoughts. :-\

ETA: just read the info in the paperwork from the embassy and it reads as follows:

That's even better then. No worries in doing it more than once.

Planet, thanks for that. Yummy sent me a similar checklist for London. It's similar, the only dfference being, we pay for the courier service to return our passport, while at the embassy.

Ona x