What a fisking pain in the rectum.
 

So it turns out, our esteemed delegates at the Cardiff Consulate to the United States wont do US Visa interviews.

That means a 300(ish) mile trip to fricken London for a 3 hour interview ensuring I'm not a terrorist.

Fan-bloody-tastic. :shifty:

You could be better off having a whole day in which to do it.
I had to travel to Dublin for mine, almost two hours each way, and the appointment was for 9am. So I managed to get the morning off of work.
The process ended up taking the whole day, I got back when the office was closing up.

Boss - Where the hell have you been?
Tchock (sotto voce) - Trying to leave here, you jackass.

Yeah, that's what we're doing. If the appointment is early in the morning, then we'll probably end up spending a night in a bed and breakfast or hotel (my dad's driving me down there, see)

Its frustrating because Cardiff is about..30 miles.

Sometimes the Best Things come the Hardest but are well worth it in the end.

Good Luck KP :up:

You'll be fine then. Don't worry about the actual interview, as long as you've got the Ds-156/7/8/whatever sorted out there'll be no hassle. Just a lot of sitting, waiting for your number to be called. Bring a novel :)

Going for a student visa, yes? F-1?

Mhmm. So far, I'm taking:

• I-20 form from the college
• College letter of acceptance
• Statement of funds from the bank
• DS-156
• DS-something for work history
• Passport
• Novel

What kind of things did they ask you?

Ah, the I-20. Keep that one on you, it's like oxygen once you get over there :)

I got asked a few questions about what I was studying and why I was heading to the US, not much else. I'd say the total contact time was just over 5 minutes, add in many hours of waiting about.
The chap questioning me was friendly enough, I was a bit apprehensive. My list of visits to the US was half-remembered and quite long, I was worried that it wouldn't match up with their records, there was no issue.

You'll have to hand your passport over at the end, they'll get it back to you in less than three days with your visa inside. Think mine was on my door the next morning.
Have you paid the SEVIS fee? That was the only part that annoyed me, having to pay to get onto the Homeland Security list, bah.

No, I havent recieved the I-20 from the college yet (I'm not going till August), but I understand you can just pay that at a bank somewhere, cant you?

What was the appointment time like when you booked your interview appointment? Was it like "I can fit you in in two months"?

That's fine, I didn't have my I-20 either, I think it's dependent on the visa.
You can pay the the SEVIS fee online, I think the site is fmjfee.com or somesuch. As far as i remember it has to be paid before the interview.
EDIT - https://www.fmjfee.com/i901fee/
I really drifted into this, didn't apply to the college until late April. I called them up in May, got an interview in early July. Didn't even get accepted by the US college until mid-June :)
you have lots of time.

Which schools fellas?

Gordon College in Barnesville, GA

Boston College