On Oct 18, 2010, I parked at the Botanic Garden and walked to the Embassy. I was told there would be no parking space on location. As I had made an appointment for 8.30am for my VISA application, I was taking a nice morning walk towards the Embassy. To my amazement, appointed time is irrelevant. I was politely and firmly told to join the sitting queue behind 3 rows of people.
Of the 10 documents needed, the most intriguing was the updated bank book or last 3 months' bank statement. So if you can't show that you are sufficiently "loaded", they could turn you down. The application fees of USD150 must be paid in Cashier's Order.
The waiting time for an Embassy is within tolerable range but the waiting conditions that we, the applicants, were subject to were very far from ideal for a first world's embassy. Imagine sitting for more than an hour with fans and then standing in the morning sun for more than 30 mins. I was lucky to have some newspapers to cover my head.
I overheard the conversation between a few SQ trainees getting their VISAs for their maiden flight.
One SQ girl asking another who have just come out, "How come you took so long?"
The other SQ girl replied, "We were putting on our make up in the ladies.."
Ha.. these girls have been well instructed before their arrival today. As your make up would have melted under 30 degrees morning sun, it would be wise to manage the make up part after submission.
Before entering the fortress, we have to empty our pockets at the security. No mobile phone and no thumbdrive attached to the car keys allowed.
Once in the fortress, things moved pretty fast. The interview process was a breeze. I was expecting a tough session. The session ended with a serious note, "Mr Wong, we hereby approve and grant you a visa to enter the United States of America." Something as formal as that.
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Dear good people at the embassy,
Please treat us as customers and not as suspects. I was applying for a VISA to visit and definitely spend some money in your country. The money, although may not be a lot, would still be useful to the economy.
I generally enjoyed my visit to US recently and was glad the situation at the airports were much better than expected.
Till next time, best wishes to USA.
