Applying for US Visa in Italy

I knooow.. I should start writing my paper, but I can’t stop being excited about my upcoming trip >.<

Call me… Fnu! 😀 My name is Paramita, Fnu Paramita…

Getting the tourist visa was quite easy actually:

1. Fill the online application form for non-immigrant visa (DS-160) in here. There is a warning in that site **Please be patient as you use this form. Download times may vary depending on your internet connection speed.** But for me, the patience was mostly needed to fill those pages of questions, and the last page is totally nonsense.
2. Schedule an appointment for interview. Since I apply from Italy, here is the website for that. No complicated things there, just fill the form, including the details of the application number of DS-160.
3. Make the payment, in the same website.
4. Go for interview. I did it in the Consulate General of U.S. in Milan. We cannot enter the building with our bags, so I put it in a cafe nearby, which has this side business of renting bag lockers because of that ^^;
5. Pick up the passport stamped with the visa. Well, there is also an option to send the passport back with extra fee, and I regret that I didn’t take that option…

In my case, I finished the interview around 1 in the afternoon, and while I was on my way back to Trento, around 5 in the afternoon, I received an email saying that the visa is ready to be picked up -.-. I should have just waited there and got it right away.

I chose the option to pick up the visa personally, so I had to go to the courier service because my passport was transported there, they use DHL. What I didn’t know is that the DHL office in Milan is… not in Milan.

My first attempt to go there, I went directly to Via Cuneo in Milan (city), and was standing there, confused, because I was in front of an apartment building, without any sign of DHL. Then a lady there said that it’s in Via Cuneo in… Segrate, around 9 km away from Milan. And to access that place I had to go through some hardships, including walking for hours since the public transportation is not so dependable. Anyway… I got the visa!

And 10 days from today, pasta-cat will go visit burger-bear, that is currently doing internship, in New York! ^^