[pct-l] 6 month visa from UK

[Philippe Gouvet]

Le 5 août 2011 à 19:35, TANYA SAVAGE a écrit :

> Hi,
> Anyone here been through the process of applying for a 6 month US visa from the 
> UK, for a thru hike? Looking on the internet, seems like Visa Pro will charge 
> 295 dollars plus a variable filing fee. That plus the cost of a return train 
> ticket from the north of England to London, for two of us, equals "ouch lots of 
> money".  Any useful tips on a cheaper way of doing it?
> Tanya and the Mud Miner

For what it's worth, the experience I have is the process in France, but I suspect it will be somewhat the same in the UK, or anywhere else. I am right in the middle of the process of applying for a visa for next year's thru-hike. 
The first steps are to be gone through on the U.S. Embassy's website. You have to follow their instructions carefully, and even have to download a photo (quite tricky to respect the requirements!). Then you have to wire (or whatever) a visa fee. And the cherry on the pie is, you're right, to pay the Embassy a visit, after getting an appointment on their website. The aim is to talk the immigration officer into granting you the visa, by convincing him that you have the money to pay for your hike, that you will not stay in the U. S. afterwards, but have strong reasons to get back home ( a job, owning a home, etc.).

We'll meet on the trail then! 

Philippe, PCT 2012