Navigating the US Tourist Visa Process, San Francisco

My first impression of the people of USA was on the United Airline flight direct to San Francisco and it was a very good one. I was travelling solo and the air stewards took very good care of me. Once, I was rubbing my hands together desperately with what little hand lotion I had left because my skin do get so dry in the air. The air steward noticed and gave me a toiletry pack normally reserved for first class that contained hand lotion and lip balm. They also gave me little Tim Tam treats to make my journey better. A little kindness and friendliness can really make someone's day! I still feel grateful to this day. 

(Lombard St, left. The steepest street in San Francisco)

Travelling solo for the first time in many years was daunting but exciting. It would not have happened if my US tourist visa had arrived on time. So although my first impression of the people of USA was a very positive one, it is 180 degrees different to my impression of the USA bureaucratic process.

I found the tourist visa application process clunky, inefficient and slow. The process took 3.5 months! Surely no other country has such a long wait time. To apply for a visa, one had to go to the ceac.state.gov (consular electronic application centre) and fill an online application form called DS-160. It was long and tedious, asking for information that is usually not required by other countries, like parents' name; employment and travel history; and social media identifiers. Initially, the system kept crashing so I lost all the information I had entered. The online application took about 60-90 minutes. Another quirk of the process was that a photo is needed for the application, and it is in a different size (square, instead of rectangle). The embassy is also very strict in checking the age of the photo - it cannot be taken more than 6 months ago. 

After completing the online application, the next step is to login to another website to schedule an interview date at the nearest consulate. This is where the longest time in the process took. The next available time slot was 3 months away! Every tourist must be interviewed except in limited circumstances like anyone over 80 or group travel (e.g. parents travelling with kids on a school trip). 

(Chinatown, left. Did you know that the fortune cookie originated from San Francisco?)

To expedite the process, I also paid for the visa ($260) on another website before the interview. I found that I had to search for these websites myself, there was no link to these pages. 

The check in to the US consulate in Melbourne (553 St Kilda Road) was like going through the airport. Bags in lockers, no laptop, print out the DS-160 form and bring your passport and a photo which gets submitted to the staff during the interview process. The interview itself took less than a minute after which I was told my visa is  approved. It took another 2 weeks for an email confirming visa had been printed and to collect passport. Finally, the last step in the long process was collecting my passport at VFS Global (332 St Kilda Road) which is why I missed my flight and 1 week of my holiday and had to fly direct to San Francisco to catch up with Gaz for the subsequent leg of our holiday.

(Golden Gate Bridge, above. The view is always foggy and windry except in rare occasions. I love California's sunny and warm weather!)