Any traveller from Australia to the US receives a 90 day entry visa on arrival, and to extend this visa you must leave the continent. We decided to apply for a longer stay visitor visa so that we could complete the walk without having to exit the continent and return.
The process is quite complicated - fill out a 20 page application on line, insert photo into online application, pay an application fee of $152 per person to the local post office and receive a receipt, book your appointment online for a face to face interview at the embassy. The choice was Sydney or Melbourne - we chose Melbourne so we could visit Mum and Dad at the same time and have a 'family gathering' - our last until our return.
The interview process took an hour and a half - think sheepyards and cattle dip. It was very streamlined - the body search, the luggage stored, the escort to the 6th floor, the checking of our passport, and then released into the holding pen with a number. Numbers were being called over the microphone and up on the electronic screen - a little like waiting in the delicatessen for your number to be called.
We got called up twice - the first time to collect our paperwork and make sure that everything was in order, and to take our fingerprints - I guessed that was why we had to have a face to face interview - fingerprints are a bit hard to verify when sent through the post. The second call was the actual interview - it lasted about 4 minutes. Do you own your own house? What do you do to earn a living? You are walking the Appalachian Trail? I can give you a 6 month visa, but no more for a B1B2 visitor visa.
So we have a problem - how do we squash a 7 month walk into a 6 month time frame? Just walk faster??? We are considering our options.
As I write this the postman has arrived in the driveway with our passports stamped with our visas. Our journey moves closer to kick off.
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