Thursday, March 18, 2010

Visa continued...

Ok, so Monday night = biggest freak out of my life!! I decided it might be a good idea to double check that my appointment was at 8:30 like I remember it being... so I went on to the embassy site and clicked into the change or cancel your appointment thing. It asked for 3 things to be entered, 1. Last name. I have one of those. 2. Given name. I also have one of those. 3. Confirmation code. Apparently I DON'T have one of these. I attempted my DS-156, but to no avail. So of course I went into a HUGE panic!! Frantically checked through all of my emails (although obviously I would have made a seperate folder especially for a confirmation email from the embassy!), all of my paperwork, and racked my brains for any idea of this stupid code!!! nothing : | This could NOT be happening to me, I could NOT go to Auckland for an unbooked Visa interview, and I could not afford to go to Auckland AGAIN. So I went to see if it would let me enter the "schedule an appointment" bit (assuming that someone with a booked appointment would be declined from here...) and it let me in. More panic! I am an idiot!!! So then after 5 minutes of freaking out and debating what to do, I decided to just book a new interview (there was still 3 slots left, including 8:45, which would be perfect). So I went to do that, and then it said "Sorry, you have already booked an interview at 8:30am on the 17th of March". So all of that freaking out for nothing!!
In this is a lesson for the rest of you... You don't necessarily get a confirmation email from them, so write down your confirmation code when you book your interview, and make sure that you remember booking it as well! lol
The interview and stuff itself is really easy :) If your appointment is at 8:30 then don't bother turning up until 8:20ish. The elevator doesn't open till 8 anyway, and when you get to the embassy itself the guy will just tell you to come back at 8:30am when they let the non-immigrant people through. I got up there at 8:05, was sent away by the guy, and then arrived back at 8:24am and was second in line :) You can leave all of your stuff at the door, cellphone included. I wish I'd known that before hand! The interview part isn't even an interview, pretty much just "What are you doing in America?" and "Have you been there before?". Actually just those two questions! Most of the time is just spent waiting. I was back at the hostel (2 minute walk), had got my bag out of the storage cupboard thing (3 minute mission to get the door unlocked!), and had my cellphone on (1 minute) by 9:03am. I assume that if your appointment is later in the day then it might take a little bit longer than that, but still really quick! Just make sure you have all your stuff sorted, and the right courier bag! A prepaid one, not the grey one that has to be paid for when its getting sent! The poor lady behind me had the grey one and she had to go and get a new one and then re-queue :(
I think that's all I've got to say! Hope all is well with everyone :) xo

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Visa

Yay! Visa interview in the morning :) I hope I pass!! I had the biggest Visa related scare last night, which I will shed some more light on when I have a bit more time :)