Visa For The USA

Having visited the USA on many occasions over the past 38 years I thought I knew everything I needed to know about visa requirements when entering the US. It turns out I was wrong.

As I am from the UK I knew that the USA and the UK have a reciprocal visa waiver program. Put simply this means that each country relaxes its normal visa requirements for visitors from the other country – as a UK citizen visiting the USA, I don’t need a visa and vice-versa.

WRONG! I found out today that this is time limited. The waiver program only applies in certain conditions and one of the exceptions is you need a visa if your visit is for more than 90 days. My planned tour is more than 90 days, so I need a visa. No problem, as it will not take very long, but one of the requirements is that all applicants need to have an interview with a consular official following the completion of a comprehensive application form. There are very strict rules to follow when applying for a US visa.

You can find out about the visa requirements by looking at the U.S. Department Of State website

The website stresses the importance of applying in plenty of time before your visit, so I will get onto this very soon.