"Hello, is this the creepy residence?"
Friday 20 May 2011
Sunday 8 May 2011
Let's all go security crazy!
My Australian visa, New Zealand visa, Hong Kong, Vietnam etc etc have been so easy to sort out.
American visa? Hell no.
First of all it seems as if I'm not going to be placed on any camps through Americamp, which is really disappointing. Every time I spoke to them, they were helpful, but the thing was that I hardly ever spoke to them. On the couple of occasions I called my rep was too busy to talk to me, and I don't think I've ever had a reply to an email from them. Shame because I really, really wanted to work on camp this summer. Mostly because of the awesome opportunity to teach rock climbing all summer, but I also really could've done with the $1500 at the end of it, plus free food and accommodation.
So, plan B.
Change flight dates. Only in America for three months now, not four. Added two weeks onto both New Zealand and Australia. So the plan is, make my way from New York to Houma over three weeks, maybe four. Stay at Gwen's for a while and then have three or four weeks to make my way to LA.
The American visa website is the most confusing thing.
They don't have a general enquiry email address, pretty sure every other consular service does. To get information you have to call an operator assisted line. I can deal with that, that's fine, until they charge you £1.29 per minute for the privilege! What, a, joke. So after rushing through my call with the operator my beliefs/fears were confirmed. So it's about to get a little confusing.
As a British citizen I can travel in America for up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Programme. However, if I wanted to be there for over 90 days, I need to apply for a tourist visa, costing £85 plus an interview at the US Embassy in London. So I thought the right way to go would be the VWP. But then I read a little more and found out that on the VWP you can't change your status to a working visa. You can only change your non-immigrant status from a tourist visa. Without finding a job in America, I won't be able to afford to finish my whole trip, so I need to work. You might think, why am I not just applying for a working visa straight out? That's because you can't get a working visa unless you're sponsored by a company who will vouch for you and confirm they will be hiring you. I tried applying for jobs from this side of the pond, but no can do.
So after the loooooong process of deciding what visa to get, the form itself.
Question like;
"Are you, or have you ever been, involved in a terrorist cell?"
"Have you ever been involved in espionage?" As if you'd tick yes to those!
Or, the most hilarious, "Are you coming to the United States of America to practice prostitution, soliciting or any other kind of sexual service in exchange for money?"
You also have to upload a photo to the visa application. No problem you may think.
Particular measurements you would think would never be so hard to get.
Try again tomorrow.
American visa? Hell no.
First of all it seems as if I'm not going to be placed on any camps through Americamp, which is really disappointing. Every time I spoke to them, they were helpful, but the thing was that I hardly ever spoke to them. On the couple of occasions I called my rep was too busy to talk to me, and I don't think I've ever had a reply to an email from them. Shame because I really, really wanted to work on camp this summer. Mostly because of the awesome opportunity to teach rock climbing all summer, but I also really could've done with the $1500 at the end of it, plus free food and accommodation.
So, plan B.
Change flight dates. Only in America for three months now, not four. Added two weeks onto both New Zealand and Australia. So the plan is, make my way from New York to Houma over three weeks, maybe four. Stay at Gwen's for a while and then have three or four weeks to make my way to LA.
The American visa website is the most confusing thing.
They don't have a general enquiry email address, pretty sure every other consular service does. To get information you have to call an operator assisted line. I can deal with that, that's fine, until they charge you £1.29 per minute for the privilege! What, a, joke. So after rushing through my call with the operator my beliefs/fears were confirmed. So it's about to get a little confusing.
As a British citizen I can travel in America for up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Programme. However, if I wanted to be there for over 90 days, I need to apply for a tourist visa, costing £85 plus an interview at the US Embassy in London. So I thought the right way to go would be the VWP. But then I read a little more and found out that on the VWP you can't change your status to a working visa. You can only change your non-immigrant status from a tourist visa. Without finding a job in America, I won't be able to afford to finish my whole trip, so I need to work. You might think, why am I not just applying for a working visa straight out? That's because you can't get a working visa unless you're sponsored by a company who will vouch for you and confirm they will be hiring you. I tried applying for jobs from this side of the pond, but no can do.
So after the loooooong process of deciding what visa to get, the form itself.
Question like;
"Are you, or have you ever been, involved in a terrorist cell?"
"Have you ever been involved in espionage?" As if you'd tick yes to those!
Or, the most hilarious, "Are you coming to the United States of America to practice prostitution, soliciting or any other kind of sexual service in exchange for money?"
You also have to upload a photo to the visa application. No problem you may think.
Particular measurements you would think would never be so hard to get.
Try again tomorrow.
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