Visa Experiences

[AuldReekie]

Hi Everybody,

 

A rather speculative question (since I'm only just finishing my applications), but I was wondering how long it takes to get a visa if accepted to a PhD program in February/March/April?

 

I'm looking at going travelling for several months in the US before - hopefully - starting a program, but having got a student visa in the past (study abroad) I know that they need your passport and then post it back to you with the visa.

 

Just interested in hearing your experiences.. I don't want to go planning to go off to the US in June if I need to be in London in July for a Visa!

 

Thanks for any help

[fuzzylogician]

Normally you'll get approved immediately after your interview and at that point the embassy will take your passport away to stamp the visa in it. They should mail it back within a few days or you can pick it up from the embassy. In that case it just depends on when you can get an appointment. You can schedule the appointment as soon as the international students office at your school sends you the necessary documents, which usually doesn't take long once you've been accepted. If you have the documents in April, it should be possible to be done by May--though, again, it depends on the available dates at your nearest embassy so it's hard to know exactly.

 

If you study certain topics, the process might be slowed down by TAL (Technology Alert List), which may take anything from a few weeks to a few months to complete. As far as I know they don't take your passport while they are conducting this investigation, it just slows the process down. However, I've never actually gone through that so I'm not entirely sure.

 

That said, you can only enter the US on a student status 30 days before your program begins, so if you want to travel in the US before that, you will need to enter on a tourist visa and then either leave and re-enter on a student visa, or change your status without leaving (which is sometimes not recommended, but is possible).

[AuldReekie]

 

 

Thanks! That's largely what I imagined/gleaned from the internet. It's good to know I'm not on the wrong tracks! Now back to fretting about whether I'll gain admission! Luckily Political Science is a mile away from being near any sensitive technology 

 

 

I remember my 19 year old self going down to the embassy and being totally terrified.. several hours of waiting and a brief friendly conversation

Edited November 3, 2014 by RLemkin