I'm allowed in the United States!!!!! Visa has been APPROVED :D!

My day started at 5.30am, I woke up just a few minutes before my alarm went off - clearly feeling eager to get this Visa sorted!

Now being a girl first thought of the day...what the heck do I wear? Do I dress smart like I would for a job interview? Or should I dress casual but not too casual so it looks like I'm taking this whole Visa thing seriously....girls do you understand what I'm saying here? Knowing what to wear is tough alone but add in the complication of British weather and all hell breaks loose!! This is the Met Office info for the day I travelled:

And to no surprise the weather was chucking it down with rain in the morning, I quite literally legged it from my parked car to the station platform and the below definitely happened as all available shelter was occupied...

Yup. Not happy.

But this was just another reminder that soon I'll be leaving this weather all behind for the Sunshine State of FLORIDA!!! God Bless America! (We'll just ignore the fact about the random thundery downpours that do happen)

This is probably going to be boring information for most reading this, but anyone who gets the 6:54am train from Fleet to London Waterloo is SUPER lucky, my sister had warned me about this prior to my journey, but the train is like no other you have ever been on. I'm talking super plush seats, maximum comfort - perfecto for an early morning commute!

Having arrived at Waterloo, I hopped onto the Jubilee line to Bond Street and got out my phone to read my step by step instructions I had noted in my phone to find the U.S. Embassy. Now this was all going to swimmingly so of course something had to go wrong and one wrong turn later I ended up getting lost and running around like a mad woman scratching my head thinking HELP! As it was only 8am there was barely anybody on the streets to ask for pointers so in a moment of desperation I rather reluctantly switched on my mobile data got up Google Maps and followed the little blue arrow to my destination...oh the shame! Google: 1 Rachael: 0.

Then ta-da, I saw the building which I had seen on various people's blogs/instagrams before and as soon as I saw the American flag and a white tent saying Visa I knew I was in the right place and joined the queue.

The U.S. Embassy

Step By Step guide as to what happened:
1. Join queue for Visa applications
2. Person will check you have the correct documents whilst you are in the queue and remind you that if you have a laptop you are not allowed to take them in with you so you need to drop it off at a local Gold Pharmacy for a small charge to hold it for you. One guy when I went through security obviously chose to ignore this and when his bag went through security all 3 security guards yelled 'LAPTOP' as if it was me yelling 'SPIDER' to my Dad. Just whatever you do, don't take a laptop in with you, you are warned about this though.
3. Person in the white gazebo with US flag on it checks your name and asks what time your interview is scheduled for, then proceeds to tell you to join the back of another long queue for the next step - security.
4. Wait in line until called over by a security guy who checks that your passport matches your face then points you to another queue (although smaller this time - yay!)
5. Get called over by another security guy in groups of four to glass hut *as seen in the photo above* to drop your bags/items into tray (with your phone, keys, belt and any loose coin into see through bag which they provide for you) then walk through an airport security scanner, collect your items and exit glass building following sign saying 'Visas'. 

Simples so far - Phew!

6. Walk up steps into building and head to reception desk who then checks through your paperwork and gives you a sticker with a number on it, then they point you to the big waiting room.
7. Sit in waiting room and wait to see if the big screen at the end flashes up with your number which tells you which window to go to. *Note: everytime a new number appears a bing noise will occur but no announcement will happen, you'll find the bings happen every few seconds and change quickly so you have to have your eyes glued to the screen at all times (although if you do miss it your number & window number will briefly appear on the left hand side of the screen in small print) Think of it as a glorified Argos pick up point if you like.
8. Your number is called, head to instructed window, provide fingerprints using the scanner device they have, confirm what Visa you are applying for and reason why you are applying for that, hand over documents and passport. They take your passport and tell you to sit back down and wait for your interview.
9. Same process as step 7.
10. Go to interview window on the other side, answer around 3 basic questions. The American guy who interviewed me told me I needed to improve my British accent and proceeded to speak Cockney...because you know all British people speak Cockney...haha!
11. All being well you are then told your Visa has been approved and you'll get it sent to you in the post in the next 5 working days.

Just like that. Simples. One Q1 Visa for me and off to work at Walt Disney World I go.

Having arrived there at 8:05 I was out by 9:20am so for anyone reading this about to book their appointment definitely try to get the 8:30 appointment you'll be finished much quicker than the 9am appointments!

I couldn't get over how easy the whole process was, and what a relief it is to have it all behind me now. Can't wait to get it sent back to me in the post now so I can see it for real. Eeek such excitement and it's only 6 weeks to go now :O!

Q1 Visa Application

The evening of the 15th May Disney sent everyone in the July 21st arrival date (the dream team) an email stating:

Congratulations! The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has notified the US Consulate in your country of the approval of the petition that allows you to participate in the Q-1 International Cultural Representative Program at the Walt Disney World® Resort.

However... in this email was a link to the site to begin your Visa application and there was also a link to your I-797 form, BUT due to a technical glitch on the site the link they had sent us to the I-797 form was not working but after a quick email to alert them of this they replied almost instantly and said thank you for the email that they are looking into this and will notify us as soon as it is available.

Then the evening of the 16th the new link arrived. Wahoo! Although I was far too sleepy by this point to start, so I waited until the next morning as I daren't risk answering a question incorrectly due to my tiredness!

So alas, the next morning I began the application which sent you to the DS-160 form to fill out, which by the way is VERY long and requires you to be on the ball, paying close attention to detail. I was grateful I waited as one of the questions asked me to state the last five visits (and state the arrival date and the duration of your stay) I had to the United States. I have only been twice but the first time was when I was 6 so obviously I was clueless what date this would have been, but many thanks to my Dad filming every second of our holidays we were able to track this date down...magic! The form also asks several security questions which checks your intentions of your stay, your criminal background amongst other checks! There is no point in me stating what else the DS-160 form covers as I'd be here all day and I'm sure you aren't all interested to know exactly what was covered.

For the DS-160 form to be complete required a photo to be uploaded but due to the strict rules for this US Visa photo I decided to visit a photobooth and an expensive £7 (and a terrifying photo of myself) later, I had a photo I could use to upload and complete the application.


THEN I could finally book and pay for my Visa appointment, which I'll be heading to on Friday 5th June at 8:30am (Yes all Q1 Visa appointments are crazy early!)

Got the result. So what's next?

Just to give those interested an idea of how long this process can take I thought it might be useful to see my application timeline:

So once you have the congratulations email and followed the 'accept offer' links from Yummy Jobs and Disney, what's next?

• Program Acceptance Fee: $154.50 Which needs to paid when you accept your offer with Disney. This helps to cover the cost of housing events put on by Disney Housing.

• CRB/DBS Check: £60, which should be paid 7 days after you've accepted your offer with Yummy Jobs.

• Flights - The cost obviously varies as to when your program starts. I'm flying in peak season but managed to get a good deal with Thomas Cook Airlines.

• Medical Insurance - Depends who you go with and whether or not you want to go with Disney (who will only cover you for 8 months of the year as the first 4 months you can't be covered by them you need to be covered by someone else for that time).

• Visa Appointment - Yummy Jobs give you your documents for this 6 weeks before your flying out date so I'm not sure on the costs involved with this yet.

• Hotel in Orlando - If you choose to fly out a day or couple of days before you can check in to your Disney Housing accommodation, hotel stay will need to be sorted. My Disney flight crew and I have sorted out a 2 night stay at Radisson Lake Buena Vista costing just £34.40 each - bargain!