You queue at reception and show them your letter - they scan the barcode, print off some stickers and stick them to your letter.
You will have a number on the stickers.
Non-immigrants will have N100, N102 etc
Immigrants (on my day at least) have I851, I852 etc.
You go and sit in the seats and stare at the screens. There is a shop and some toilets. There also seemed to be free internet facilities but there was a queue and I didn't want to get distracted. There is also a photo-booth near to the cashier.
I may have put window 11 in the wrong place.
You sit until you are called. They start calling at eight. At first the calls are in order but, as soon as people start getting called back a second time, it appears to degenerate into chaos.
The non-immigrants vastly outnumber the immigrants which mean that the (first and second) calls for immigrants are easier to follow.
On my day the non-immigrants were called first, there only seemed to be a handful of immigrants. The ratio of 7:1 held out for the first hour but then the number of non-immigrants seemed to swell.
I was called to window 14, given my x-ray from the medical, asked a few simple questions (non-interview mainly) and gave my fingerprints. The guy checked my documents were all there (thanks NVC), said the fee was already paid and had some fresh photos from me.
I sat back down.
An eternity later I was called to window 16 where a friendly American gentleman checked my fingerprints (to see if it was really me) and asked me to raise my right hand and swear an oath to tell the truth.
He then asked:
"How many times have you been to Vegas?"
"What's the longest time you've stayed in the US?"
"When did you get married?"
and
"How did you meet?"
He then asked:
"If I was going to approve your visa, when would you be travelling?"
Then he told me to go to the courier and arrange delivery of my visa. I stood there dumbfounded. I was sure I'd misunderstood.
I asked him if that was all . . . he answered "Yes, your visa is approved!"
Yay!!!
You will have a number on the stickers.
Non-immigrants will have N100, N102 etc
Immigrants (on my day at least) have I851, I852 etc.
You go and sit in the seats and stare at the screens. There is a shop and some toilets. There also seemed to be free internet facilities but there was a queue and I didn't want to get distracted. There is also a photo-booth near to the cashier.
I may have put window 11 in the wrong place.
You sit until you are called. They start calling at eight. At first the calls are in order but, as soon as people start getting called back a second time, it appears to degenerate into chaos.
The non-immigrants vastly outnumber the immigrants which mean that the (first and second) calls for immigrants are easier to follow.
On my day the non-immigrants were called first, there only seemed to be a handful of immigrants. The ratio of 7:1 held out for the first hour but then the number of non-immigrants seemed to swell.
I was called to window 14, given my x-ray from the medical, asked a few simple questions (non-interview mainly) and gave my fingerprints. The guy checked my documents were all there (thanks NVC), said the fee was already paid and had some fresh photos from me.
I sat back down.
An eternity later I was called to window 16 where a friendly American gentleman checked my fingerprints (to see if it was really me) and asked me to raise my right hand and swear an oath to tell the truth.
He then asked:
"How many times have you been to Vegas?"
"What's the longest time you've stayed in the US?"
"When did you get married?"
and
"How did you meet?"
He then asked:
"If I was going to approve your visa, when would you be travelling?"
Then he told me to go to the courier and arrange delivery of my visa. I stood there dumbfounded. I was sure I'd misunderstood.
I asked him if that was all . . . he answered "Yes, your visa is approved!"
Yay!!!
