Hi, Could anyone tell me how long recent UK participants have had to wait after booking an interview with the US Embassy and how long it was before their passports were returned? Thanks!
hi,i booked my visa interview a few weeks ago - when you phone up to book it they ask you when you want to go,i couldnt get time of for it so i dont have mine untill the 20th March,i could have had it a week after i phoned up tho but you do get a choice! From what i hear you get your passport back with your visa stamp in it a few days after your interview,i would say a week as the very most! I will let you know how long it takes for mine to come back after my interview on the 20th!!
Kerry, were you told by yummy when to phone up? What with them doing the petitioning for the visa and that has to go through first etc?
i wondered the same thing too, i want to get it booked soon so i can make a weekend in london out of it, want to get a hotel and flights booked soon. i emailed michele at yummy, she said you get the forms 4-6 weeks before you leave so ive still got a while! sounds like the wait isnt too long for an appointment tho.
you will recieve a thing in the post from yummy,mine came in totaly randomly, no warning or anything! theres a step by step guide in it telling you all you need to do to get your visa! and theres your I-797B notice of action form in it aswell,your offical offer letter from Disney (you have to take that with you to the embassy) after you get that in the post you just follow the instructions - fill out the online forms and print them of and then phone up and book your app!!
hey dudes just thought id give you the heads up on how i got in getting my visa in Belfast!!! It all went very well! I flew from Glasgow etc,my visa app was at 11am so i booked a taxi to come to the airport for me at 9:45..... the taxi didnt show up!!!!! By 10am i was getting stressed so i just jumped into a taxi that was dropping other people of (In Belfast Int Airport theres no actual taxi rank - theres a que for taxis and you have to give your name to this wee man with a clip board - the que was MILES long,so i didnt wait in that i just hopped in one at the main door - your not meant to do it but thankfully the driver was dead nice!!! Anyway,it was about a half an hour journey to the embassy which isnt in town at all - in fact its kinda in the middle of no where! Its just of a row of houses,you wouldnt even know it was there at all!!! Its up behind the Ulster Bank building,and its TINY! its honest to god tiny,it was full when i arrived so i was stood there like a gimp with all my stuff in my hands! Anyway,i handed my paperwork to the lady in the window and she tells you to take a seat (aye,if you can find a free one like!) so i sat down and waited for an hour and then my name was called out (theres a wee interview booth at the side of the room) so i went in,and the lady there asked me a few questions (what job would i be doing in disney,what would i do when i come home,have i ever been arrested etc and then she scans your finger prints!) and that was it! then she said "everythings fine,we are going to grant you your visa and you will recieve it in the post within 2 days" i was in and out of that room in under 5minutes! all in all the whole thing took 1hour 15mins! thats all!!!! very fast indeed! If you go over to Belfast you need to take with you a pre-paid special delivery envelope (when you go to London you dont need to do this because they have a courier service that delivers them back to you,in London you have to take £13.50 to pay for that!) so aye,make sure you get an envelope before you go - take your passport to the post office with you so that they can weigh it there and then and you can buy the stamps to put on the envelope (mine cost £4.10) so all in all i would recomend going to Belfast just because its so fast! and everyone there was really nice aswell (at the security point they scan your bag and stuff just like in an airport - and my bag was making it bleep - i had my ipod in there but i thought id taken it out!! but they were dead cool about it!) Hopefully my passport will arrive home tomorrow with my visa in it!! yay!!!!! ;D
Aww Kerry I was thinking about you being over here! Hahaha I love how you said "its not even in town!" but to us it is!
hehe,my taxi driver didnt know where he was going at all - he had to put the poscode into the GPRS thing and follow the direction so i think i came in another way rather than driving through town!!!! everyone was so nice though - on the way back to the airport my taxi driver was telling me all about the cranes that made the Titanic! his son wants to work in america - so i gave him the contact details for yummy jobs! haha,spreading the disney love!!!! ;D
Kerry youve had ya first 'disney' adventure! glad ya visa sorted me and beth had ours approved and they are arriving tomorrow! Think we are officially going! Just have to get into country now through customs!
The one in london is shocking..you have to wait for about 5 or 6 hours!! But you can pretty much have the appointment whenever you like..
my passport arrived back today with my visa in it!!!! haha - my visa photo is SOOOOO bad!!!!! I look like im half asleep in it!!!! ah well,it will give immigration a good laugh!!! ;D
kerry, did you have your phone with you? wondering if they're going to be strict about that or if i should leave mine at home!
well,i didnt take my phone or my ipod (well,i didnt think i had my ipod anyway...!!) i got an email in the night before to tell me not to take anything so i didnt. when you arrive and you go through the security they scan your bag and you walk through a airport-style metal detector thingy,and of course my bag set the stupid thing of! so they had to empty my bag and i kept saying that i didnt have anything (coz i didnt think i had!) but then he pulled my ipod out! WOOOPS! but it wasnt a big deal - they keep it there and you just collect it on your way out. I dont think they would care if you had your phone really,just be prepared to leave it with them. I didnt take mine and i didnt feel like i needed to have it with me so its up to you i guess!
Thanks for that Kerry. What happens if I have no plans or idea what I want to do when I return to the UK? Would I be refused a visa?
waffle. say you're going out to have the experience and then plan to use that finding a job here or something. heck, my plans are to hopefully go back to america but I'm not telling them that!
yeah you just say anything - i actually want to go into the police force after disney (or in the next 2/3 years anyway) but i just made stuff up - said id use my experience at disney to find a job in the UK etc - its no big deal!!!
