Before the trip, I had to get these things done:
- DS-160: https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/
- Pay online fee: http://usvisa-info.com/en-MX/selfservice/new_account
- Make appointment online: http://usvisa-info.com/en-MX/selfservice/new_account or call at 703-439-2310
A little note on appointment, there are two appointments that has to be made. The first is for fingerprinting (ASC) and the other one is the actual consulate interview appointment. The first appointment is really short (less than 10 minutes) but unfortunately I couldn't schedule them both on the same day. So what I ended up doing was, I called the number above and asked for the latest appointment on Monday (4PM). And I scheduled the consulate the day after (10AM).
I asked for the latest appointment because I'll be driving from LA, and this way I was able to work half-day before driving down. Besides, I wanted to minimize my time in Tijuana, so there was no point in staying there for too long.
I set the consulate appointment to be at 10AM because I don't want to wake up too early, and it doesn't seem to affect the processing time anyways (please correct me if wrong).
Monday August 20, 2012
We crossed the border at 3PM. If you are driving, like myself, please provide yourself ample time to navigate the city, it does get confusing. I would suggest that you study the direction ahead of time, download some GPS and only do it if you are confident you won't get lost.
The other alternative is to park by the border, behind Jack in the box. But remember that you will have to pay overnight fees for at least 2 nights. And then walk over the border, and grab a taxi to ASC.
Other alternative is getting to the border by train, and cross over the border because the train stop is right in front of the border.
One more alternative if you are set on driving, and this is what I did, is to park at your hotel (assuming that its fairly close to the ASC center, I personally stayed in Marriott), and then ask the hotel to get you a cab. Typically hotels have their own designated cabs, the cabs have the hotel name printed on it.
Make sure that you don't bring anything electronic. Because there is no place to leave your electronics.
The center closes at 5PM, try to get there on time. I was about 10minutes late, but thankfully they still let us process our applications.
There they will ask for your DS-160 confirmation, payment confirmation and passport. There is no need for two passport photos, don't waste money getting them :)
You will get a sticker placed on your confirmation page.
If you are using a taxi, just ask them to wait, it shouldn't take more than 10minutes. Our taxi driver seems to know this because he offered to wait.
Afterwards the taxi dropped us off back to our hotel, and after freshening up we drove around to find restaurants to eat. There seems to be quite a few restaurant nearby ( less than 1mi) from our hotel Marriott. I don't think there's anything immediate that you can walk to, but definitely if you are driving. Otherwise they also have quite a reasonable selection of food/drinks at the hotel.
The taxi ride costs $10 RT from the hotel, from Marriott it was only about 5 minutes drive.
Tuesday August 21, 2012
We left our hotel around 9.15AM, and then took the taxi to the consulate. This is a new consulate place, and further out, maybe about 20minutes drive from the city. It's a big building by itself with no other buildings nearby.
No taxi stand, so before hopping off we made sure that we were in the right place. We just asked a nearby officer to double check, because there are two different addresses on our appointment confirmation. After verifying, we hopped off and then showing our ASC sticker we proceeded to a short line by the locket. There, they'll scan your passport, and you will be given a number. It was X-Ray afterwards just to make sure there's no electronics were with us.
From here we were told to go to a large waiting area. And in this room there are many interview lockets. It's a nice waiting area with A/C, there is water cooler and bathroom. You will go to three different lockets. I'll break it down here:
- The first is I-797 verification, after waiting for 10-15 minutes, your number will appear on the big screen along with the window to go to. Don't rush into the window, they normally display the next number while still servicing current customer. Here all they ask is your passport and I-797. They will be reviewing your DS-160. Afterwards you'll be asked to proceed to fingerprinting window.
- You'll be ask to do a quick finger print, to verify your identity.
- Finally the third window will be the actual interview. We had to wait another 20-25minutes before our number is called (still in the same large waiting area, but towards the left).
The interview itself was fairly quick, less than 5 minutes: I was asked where I graduated, where I work, where does my supervisor work, what I do, how many H1b I've had, renewal/new H1b. My friend was asked if she's doing a green card process, since its her 8th year extension. And was asked for I-140, which she didn't have, the immigration officer said it's okay, he can look it up on the system.
Afterwards the officer took out that little white slip while saying "your visa has been approved, pick up tomorrow here at 2PM" *stamped*
So we left, hailed a cab, fortunately there was one as we were leaving. Again there's no taxi stand, but i noticed that they constantly come and loop around the block a lot of times, since they're not allowed to park . He asked for $15, and that's about how much we payed to come there from Marriott. So R/T is $30. Remember to ask how much it costs before getting into the cab.
Wednesday August 22, 2012
Just chilled at the hotel, drove around a bit, try out some delicious tacos. They have excellent service at the restaurants. A lot of people speak English, but since this is Mexico of course a lot more speaks Spanish.But I was able to buy food from street vendors (delicious $1 tacos mmmmm) though they only speak little English.
We were told that by 1PM there's a lot of people queuing for passport pickup, so we left a bit early to line up. Instead of taking taxi, we decided to drive since it's on the way out towards the border anyways.
By the time we got there, after stopping for lunch, there wasn't a long line. No car is allowed to park near the entrance, but you could park a little bit further down or just ask your buddy to drop you off, and then vice versa.
Some proof of identification or your visa slip will be asked before you pick up your passport.
Don't forget to double check the information on your newly stamped visa. And congratulations!
Make sure you know your directions, and head on towards the border. There might be a long line to get across, so prepare accordingly. Lastly, don't forget to take care of I-94, they require exact change ($6 if I'm not mistaken).
All the best! Please post your experience to help others in the same boat.
By the time we got there, after stopping for lunch, there wasn't a long line. No car is allowed to park near the entrance, but you could park a little bit further down or just ask your buddy to drop you off, and then vice versa.
Some proof of identification or your visa slip will be asked before you pick up your passport.
Don't forget to double check the information on your newly stamped visa. And congratulations!
Make sure you know your directions, and head on towards the border. There might be a long line to get across, so prepare accordingly. Lastly, don't forget to take care of I-94, they require exact change ($6 if I'm not mistaken).
All the best! Please post your experience to help others in the same boat.
