London Beginnings

US Embassy in London

The trip began a couple of weeks ago in London (yes, I should have written this up nearer the time, but I've been lazy and distracted). At Grosvenor Square is the embassy of the United States of America. As the photo suggests, it's an ugly building. Reminds me of a chemistry building with gold coloured trim to make it look important.

For anyone wanting to apply for a visa, here's my experience of going through the process. Get the DS160 form done early. That way you know you've got all the information you need together and you won't be held up by someone being away from their emails for a day or two which could make all the difference. Make sure you have the DS160 confirmation, appointment confirmation and fees confirmation. Make sure you haven't got ANY electronic items including car keys. There is a chemist round the corner with storage - I think they make a fortune from people trying to get into the embassy. The first interview was to take fingerprints and doesn't take too long to get that done. After that, it's a bit of a wait. They like to get everyone done by about 3pm, but if you've been in there since 9:30 it's quite a long time. Some people were getting called up individually and got processed quicker. This is because they're applying for specific visas where most of the required information has been provided already and processing is much quicker. The interview itself took about 3 minutes. I was in the embassy for about 4 hours with maybe just over 5 minutes contact time with embassy staff. Given the number of people being processed, that's not too bad at all.