Hey there, pals!
As many past participants would say, obtaining the J-1 visa is arguably the most stressful part of the entire Disney preparations... But, that's why today's advice post is all about the visa process to try and make it as stress-free for those of you who are due to go on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP). This post is a long one, so grab some snacks and a drink and let's take it back to the very first stage of processing the J-1 visa.
*Please note that all of the information I am about to provide is strictly to the J-1 Visa at the London US Embassy and may be different for other exchange visas/embassies or if you are applying from outside of the UK.*
DS-160 Visa Application Form
Once you receive your DS-2019 visa documents from Central Michigan University (CMU) in the post to the address you provided Yummy Jobs with, you can then go ahead and begin to fill out the visa application form, which is ESSENTIAL for when you visit the US Embassy. I am not going to lie, this took quite some time to ensure that I did not make any mistakes with my application...
So, the beginning of the visa application seems daunting... but, Yummy Jobs do send you a step-by-step guide, which provides all of the information you need to fill out the exchange visitor information sections of the application. The other elements include your personal information, which must match your passport and the DS-2019 documents from CMU, current education, previous employment (the two most recent jobs), two references (one academic and employer representative respectively) and a digital US Visa ID photo. The size of the photograph does differ from the passport photos. Make sure the photograph meets the US requirements before purchasing! The application form is not too hard to fill out, as all of the information you need about the program has been provided by Yummy Jobs and CMU.
Arranging the Embassy Appointment
After completing your DS-160 visa application form, you can then go on to book your embassy appointment. This stage is essentially the follow-up from the visa application and the pre-material before you visit the US embassy, either in Belfast or London. In the step-by-step guide by Yummy Jobs, they give you full instructions of how to fill out the form, pay your US embassy fee ($160.00*) and book your embassy appointment. Once the embassy appointment is booked, Yummy Jobs ask you to contact the coordinator with the embassy location and appointment time.
SEVIS Fee Payment
The final step of before attending the US embassy is the SEVIS fee ($220.00*). This payment details your exchange visit from the sponsor - the academic studying with CMU. Again, all the instructions for filling out the form and processing the payment are detailed in the Yummy Jobs visa guide.
Attending the US Embassy
On Monday June 10th 2019, I had my embassy appointment in London. Having heard rumours that embassy appointments were only at 8:00am and 8:30am, I was certainly worried of being sleep deprived! But, I can confirm this wasn't the case and my appointment was at 12:30pm! My mum was an absolute gem and managed to get the day off work, so she could come with me to the embassy, meaning I could dump off any cheat sheets or guides that were not allowed to be taken into the embassy.
My mum and I planned our trip allowing up to 30 minutes of delays throughout the trip, including any traffic that we'd experience actually getting to the train station or any train delays. However, we weren't expecting traffic from the get-go! We were struggling even for car parking space because of all the cricket enthusiasts going to watch South Africa vs. the West Indies in the World Cup. When we were buying our train tickets, we were informed that there was a signalling issue in the London area and that our train would be terminating at Woking. Not ideal, seeming as we had to change onto a train that was going into London to then come back out to Vauxhall. Luckily, we were only a few minutes behind our estimated arrival time if we didn't encounter any delays, which wasn't too bad going.
Having searched around previous participants' experiences at the London US Embassy, it became apparent to me that the embassy had moved locations from just off Oxford Street to Vauxhall. However, the London embassy is super easy to get to and is just a 10 minute walk from Vauxhall national rail, underground and bus station! From the Vauxhall train station, take a left turn through the bus station and then right onto Parry Street. Carry following the road onto Nine Elms Lane, and the US Embassy is on your left.
Once I arrived, I had to join a queue outside the embassy in the pouring rain to hand over my DS-160 confirmation page and my passport. I was definitely surprised at how many young people were at the embassy at the same time as me for similar visas. The 12:30pm group then queued outside the security building, which is separate to the actual embassy building itself. The security guard outside the security building was an absolute legend, as he was fist pumping and high fiving all of us when we were about to go through the embassy security. This definitely relaxed me a lot!! When I walked into the security building, the process was exactly like an airport security, although I did do a taste test of the water that I had brought into the embassy.
Once I had cleared security, I walked up to the reception area of the embassy where the staff asked for my DS-160 confirmation page, DS-2019 (which I had to sign a few things on the bottom of the page - make sure you pack a pen!), SEVIS payment receipt confirmation page and passport. The staff at the reception desk then stuck a sticker that had my full name and also a number (mine was N393). This was the number I needed to look out for as a signal to be called to each window to be interviewed.
I was directed round to the elevators where I had to go to the first floor and then I had to take a seat in the waiting area by the first block of windows. I waited about 10mins before I was called to the first window, and I was so nervous and it was very obvious because my hands were shaking vigorously. Once I was called to my first window, there were a couple of people in front of me, so I had to leave a bit of distance when I had reached the front of the queue for seeing the first officer.
When I entered the window, I instantly opened up a conversation to try and make myself less nervous by asking the officer how he was and if he was having a good day. You know, the polite, general conversations you'd have with another person. I handed over the documents that I had in my hand that I had shown the embassy staff at reception. After this, the officer saw on my record on their system that I didn't have a previous work/study visa and I was asked to clarify this, as well as answering whether I had been to the USA before, in which I responded that I had. These were the only questions I got at this interview and my fingerprints were taken. Once the officer had finished checking my documents, he put these inside a clear plastic wallet just to save the fiddly work of getting our documents out again for the second window. The officer instructed me to sit at the other end of the room in an additional seating and to wait for my number to be called again for my interview.
This wait lasted FOREVER, although my mum and I timed it as around 50mins to 1 hour. My number was finally called, and I ended up walking back to a window where I started off in the first place! Just like the previous window, I opened the conversation exactly the same and started chatting about the weather, because it was pouring down with rain on the day of my appointment. While I was chatting to the officer at the second window, I handed over the plastic wallet with all of my documents in. The officer then asked me why did I want to visit the US, I responded that I was going to be in the US for academic purposes with practical training and gave a couple examples of the academic assignments that I had/will complete. My second question was what I planned on doing after I had finished the program. I'm not going to lie, the officer did give a cheeky smile when I mentioned that I wanted to travel to see the Fourth of July (American Independence Day) celebrations! And, the obvious answer for this question was coming back to my home university to finish off my undergraduate degree in tourism, which the officer also found interesting and complimented me on my career choice! The officer then took my fingerprints, in which the machine did have some difficulties taking my fingerprints. However, the officer told me not to worry as he was happy with everything else!
Once that was complete, I found straight away that my visa had approved and the officer then took away all of my documents, apart from my DS-160 confirmation page, and informed me of when I was likely to receive my visa, passport and documents at home. In fact, I got them back within the same week as my embassy appointment!
And that was it! I met my mum in a local café to break the news that everything was very successful. We had lunch and went off to Oxford Street to buy my sister a present from the Disney store, as we had been annoying her at the dinner table with the constant Disney chat! It was still absolutely pouring it down with rain outside and my mum and I were soaked to the skin by the time we got on our train back home!
What Should I Do if My Visa is Delayed or Refused?
Now, let's flip on to the more negative side... what do you do if you have been refused a visa or there are delays with processing your application? I've listed below my best advice to you to de-stress and help you work around this difficult scenario that no-one wants to find themselves in.
My first piece of advice is DON'T PANIC!! - there were a lot of delays and refusals of visas amongst my arrival group, and Yummy jobs and CMU have dealt with a number of cases prior to yours, so you are in safe hands.
Ask the officer at your second window why - once you do find out that your visa has been delayed or refused, ask the officer why this is. You have every right to know why you got this outcome. By asking, you may actually reduce your stress levels by knowing the reason of your outcome rather than guessing and working yourself up about it. Also, if you know the reason why, this may help you with what to do next.
Contact Yummy Jobs - Yummy Jobs should have emailed you prior to your embassy appointment telling you to email the coordinator of your outcome. My advice would be to email first, just in case someone else is on the phone line in a similar situation to you. Once you've informed Yummy Jobs, they will be able to work behind the scenes to support your exchange visit to the US and that you will be returning home once you have completed your program.
Have patience and be optimistic - after you've contacted Yummy Jobs, there's nothing more that you, as an individual, can do. My final piece of advice is have patience and remain optimistic. Any visa delays can last anyway from 5 working days to 60 working days after your appointment. However, some of my arrival group have been asked to send their passport's back to the embassy and had their visas stamped inside their passport when it returned! So, it is possible to not change your flight and still receive your visa with delays.
As I've previously mentioned, quite a few things have changed about the embassy process since other UK Disney bloggers have published their posts, so I do hope this post gives all you future DAEP participants an insight into the process of obtaining your visa. If you're not a future DAEP participant but read the entire post, I really hoped you enjoyed reading my story of getting my J-1 visa for the United States of America.
This is my last post of 2020, so I just want to say thank you so much to every single one of you who have read my posts this year! I know 2020 has been far from normal, especially where my Disney Academic Exchange Program update series was unexpectedly cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Regardless of what life has thrown at us this year, I hope you have enjoyed the content, particularly my posts relating to my life after completing the Disney Academic Exchange Program!
That just leaves me to say, have a happy merry holly jolly holiday season and an even better 2021!
Have a magical festive season!
-Hannah
DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the DAEP 2019-2020 program and in no way reflects everyone's! Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments which may not be reflected in my posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can or cover topics in blogposts :)
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