Visa... GRANTED!
Just back from the US Consulate! The Visa has been granted!! At last!!!! I am so incredibly relieved and happy: I had the biggest, goofiest smile on my face all the way home on the train from the city!
So, what was it like? The process itself was really, really simple - probably taking 15 minutes from beginning to end. It was just the stuffing around with typically secure American security to actually get into the consulate, then a lot of waiting around.
Did I say a lot of waiting around? Sorry, I meant an interminable amount of waiting around. In a waiting room that makes your average RTA/DMV waiting room look like a funfair. Bland, white, dull. Not a clock to be seen anywhere - like it was some kind of timeless purgatory or limbo, or a gateway to another dimension where time runs at the speed of frozen molasses on a really cold day. I arrived at 8:00am, and my processing didn't begin until (I estimate - no clocks, remember!) 11:00am. I was ninth on the list of immigrant visas to be processed! Ninth!
There was a family getting some sort of immigrant visa done ahead of me, and I swear that they hadn't done any of the paperwork required. Every time I looked, they were filling out some new form that should have been completed before their interview. It's fair to say that they were the main reason for things taking so long, as they commanded the attention of the consular officers for over an hour.
The one interesting thing while waiting was listening to people discussing their visas with the consular officers. And before you think that I was eavesdropping on people's private discussions, I should point out that there were microphones installed at each window which basically broadcast these discussions around the entire room. People with minor criminal convictions pleading their case for entry (most of these got their visa). Students from foreign countries trying to enter the US directly from Australia (none of these were issued visas). All sorts of people heading off to the Land of the Free for all sorts of reasons. At certain times, I reckon there were 80-100 people waiting for their interviews. Non-immigrant visas were processed a lot quicker than immigrant visas like mine, just in case you were worried about how long people were waiting!
Finally, it was my turn, and I approached the window. The officer basically took everything off me in one fell swoop, quickly checked my passport and told me to sit down while she went through my application and paperwork. Ten minutes later, she asked me to tick one box I hadn't ticked, returned all my original documents and asked me to wait for another, more senior, official to give final aproval.
A few minutes later, the senior official asked me some very general questions about my relationship with Christine, took my fingerprints on his dinky little finger scanner and approved my application! That easy! The Visa and the magic "Sealed Envelope That I Must Not Open On Pain Of Death" will be processed today and will be in my mailbox on Monday!
To say I'm happy and relieved is an enormous understatement! Now to get the heck out of here ASAP!
Posted in: chaosboy, immigration on April 26, 2007 at at 9:14:00 PM