USA VISA applications - the mistakes we made and how to avoid them

UK citizens are part of the USA visa waiver program, which means that if you plan on staying in the USA for less than 90 days, you must apply for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) on Homeland Security website (link here)

We plan on taking this trip at a pace that allows us to see the sites, we don't want to just cycle the length of the USA with our heads down not seeing anything, that's not our style, and so 90 days isn't quite long enough for our trip.

This means we each needed to apply for a visa, a B2 visa to be precise.

The process can seem confusing, but is really quite straightforward and hopefully this guide will help you to understand the various steps if an extended trip to the USA is something you're thinking about.

1. You'll need a photograph that meets the USA visa standards (detailed in this link) , these are different from the UK Passport Office so be careful with this. We went to a local independent camera store to have our head shots taken and they gave us both digital and hardcopy photos that met the requirements. You need to upload your photos when you're completing the online application form so we suggest that you do this first.
   

2. Each person travelling will need to complete an online form - called the DS-160, this is done on the Department of State website (link here) This form contains questions about who you are, where you live, what you do for work, your travel itinerary, your flight numbers (if you have already booked flights) how are you funding the trip etc. Do not underestimate how long this form will take to complete, and don't rush through it - give yourself at least an hour, per person. At the end of completing a DS-160, print out the confirmation page and keep it safe, you'll need it when you go for your interview.
   

3. Your next step in applying for your Visa is to make an appointment for your application interview at The American Embassy in your home country. For us it was London and so this is the website we used - (link here) You must pay for the application, before booking your date for the interview. Be warned, we had no idea that the wait time for an interview would be so long, so get organised well ahead of time. Our initial wait time was 6 months!
   

4. Use the Visa Appointment website to pay your application fee (link to the costs) - they refer to that as the MRV fee (Machine Readable Visa). Now you can book an appointment on the website for a face-to-face interview where your application will be reviewed and approved or denied.
   

5. Attend your appointment, taking everything with you, passports, photos, printed confirmation pages, appointment confirmation page, evidence of funds, flight tickets, hotel bookings, anything that you might need to prove to the immigration official that your trip is indeed genuine! There are also items that cannot be taken into the Embassy, so be sure to check that out on the website.
   

6. If your application is approved at the interview stage, don't expect to be walking away with your Visa and passport in your hand. "Visa processing takes approximately 21 working days from the date on which the application is received by the Embassy" Your visa appears in your Passport once approved and you can choose to have this returned by courier or from a collection point.
   

Ok, so that's the process, what mistakes did we make?

• The website where you complete your DS-160 is best accessed using the Chrome web browser, using Safari on my Mac did not go well.
  

• We didn't realise we would need to upload digital photos as part of the process, so when we hit that hurdle we had to dash to the local camera shop. Fortunately the website allows you to save your DS-160 part way through, and return to it later to complete it. Be sure to make a note of your application number, just in case you do have to pause mid application. We didn't and lost an hours work!
  

• We didn't know that you can look up wait times for interviews on the website, so when we got to the point of booking our appointment and saw that the next one was on the 16th August, only two weeks before our departure date, we thought our whole plan had been torpedoed! Had we known how long the wait was, we would have started the visa application process a few months earlier than we did. You live and learn! The Department of State have a guide (here) that shows you how long the wait times are in your country.
  

How did we get an earlier appointment for our visa interview?

Initially, we booked our appointment for 16th August (the first available date) and tried not to panic but panic we did. Our flights to the USA were a real bargain but also non refundable or changeable A couple of days later, David logged back in to the appointment booking service and saw that a couple of appointment slots had opened up in mid-July, these were probably cancellations that are released back onto the system. So we hurriedly booked one, and now have plenty of time for our passports to be sent back (assuming our visas are approved!).

We aren't sure where our heads were at over this whole really crucial part of the travel plan and for some inexplicable reason, we were totally unbothered and laid back about just how complicated and lengthy this whole process can be. We hope that this guide will help some of you through your own visa application process and that you benefit from some of our mistakes.