Visa Application

This one was not HALF as bad as people make out, although I think it was so straightforward because I was a student going on an official exchange programme...

Basically UCSD sent me out whats called a DS 2019 form. Once I received that I was able to apply for my visa. To apply for an interview, you have to ring this switchboard in like siberia or something!!! you can opt to ring them at €2.40 per min or you can choose to pay a flat rate of €16 euro which i did. When you ring you hear a recording for a while before you are put through to someone so I think I went for the right option!
Then all I needed was my passport number, name address etc and they gave me an appointment for 31st of July... my 21st birthday!!!!! which was about three weeks after the call.

I then had to go online and pay the SEVIS fee, which was very straightforward. I then had to fill in two more forms, DS 156 and DS 158 (i think) which did take quite a while. The tricky thing with these is that you have to fill them out online, submit the info online, and THEN print them out with a receipt barcode on them which they will be able to scan in the embassy and all your imputed info will be able to come up straight away on their screens. An unfortunate nun had filled these forms out by hand and was sent off to redo them, I ran into her in spar in Ballsbridge while I had an hour to kill (luckily) before my interview and helped her fill them out.

After that it was just a case of bringing all the relevent forms in a plastic folder to the embassy. I had
-DS 2019
-DS 158
-DS 156
-Passport
-Stamped Addressed envelope for €5.25
-Financial resources form
-Letter from UCD to say I would be returning for final year
-Passport photo sized to the specific requirements

(all this info is on the embassy website)

I had to give in my phone and a stapler that i had that they put in a box and gave me a tag for. They brought me into the embassy where i went up to a counter, gave in all my documents, and sat down waiting for my name to be called.
When i was (eventually) called, an hour later, they only asked me a few questions. What I was studying, what year I was in, Had I ever been to US before and that was all!

And I got my passport with visa and my DS 2019 form back in the post a few days later!
Happy days!

:D