US VISA APPLICATION PART 1

I was lucky to be accepted in a conference in Ohio, USA.
However, it was only a start of a gruelling task of applying for fundings and the US visa.

1. THE PANIC

My two labmates had bad experiences with the American Institue of Taiwan (American embassy in Taiwan). An Indonesian labmate was denied a visa for the reason that she is not married so she has no strong ties to return to Taiwan. The other one is an Egyptian who had an American visa before that was not used and he had to wait for 4 months before he got a 1-year visa..

With their stories I was already scared and was not that confident to get a US visa. They told me I really have to apply right away since the conference is already in April.

My Filipino friends from another University told me it would be a different case for me because they were able to get their US visa to attend conference but since they were guys I was still a little worried.
They said that it is difficult for an unmarried female to obtain a US visa because they could stay in the US for long..huhuhu..'coz no one to go home to. ( But, I have!)

Well, I had to try so I started my application on February 6, 2009.

2. THE FORM

Good thing you can get the forms and schedule the interview online. I think it also the same in the Philippines now where you apply and get a schedule online. :)

I had to write my specific purpose because my labmate who was denied just wrote "attend conference and sightseeing". (d ata ganun ka convincing..hihihi)

Waaahh, when I checked the web the earliest schedule I could get is on February 23, 2009. (about 6 weeks only til my conference on April 5)
So I waited for that day to come....

3. THE ID

The fun part is the picture2x...I had to choose the best id to put in my application..hehehe.

Yep, I took my own pictures..I was in my bed seating and click2x (for more than 10X before I chose my pic)...hehehe

and my choice is>>>>


4. THE COSTUME

My first idea was to present myself as a PhD student..so someone formal and so "ma'am". but my friend told me, in the US embassy here in Taiwan, what you are wearing doesn't matter as long as it is decent..hmmmnn..so I didn't want to be so formal. hmmmnn..


1st outfit, the same blouse as in my ID (violet color,lucky color this year)
2nd outfit, favorite red blouse and red is still the lucky color for all season.
3rd outfit, the skirt is nice but could be too cold if temp. is below 20
4th outfit, originally my 1st choice but I met Alaine and he insisted that I wear slacks not jeans.
(Adrian also told me thatslacks is better than the skinny jeans)..hays!
.....to part II.