You may apply for a visa at the Embassy in London or the Consulate General in Belfast.  As with all nonimmigrants, you will be required to establish your eligibility for the visa under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  This section of law stipulates that all visa applicants are presumed to be intending immigrants until they can establish otherwise. Applicants typically confirm that they are bona fide visitors by demonstrating sufficiently strong social, economic, and financial ties to their place of residence to compel them to depart the United States after a brief visit.

Although we will accept visa applications from anyone physically present in the United Kingdom, if you are not a permanent resident of the U.K. you should be aware that the interviewing officers’ unfamiliarity with local conditions in your country may make it more difficult to demonstrate your qualifications for a visa.  If you are a temporary resident, or are planning on traveling to the U.K. specifically to apply for a visa, you may wish to consider applying for a visa in your country of permanent residence where you will be best able to establish your qualifications for a visa. 

If you wish to schedule an appointment to apply for a visa, you should call the Operator Assisted Information Service for further information.  

If you are found ineligible for a visa under U.S. visa law, your passport will be returned to you together with a written explanation of why you did not qualify for the visa.  Your passport will also be returned to you at the interview if your application is subject to additional processing, as your application could take 90 days or more to process.  Once processing has been completed, the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit will contact you.  If you are qualified for a visa, you will be required to submit your passport through the courier company and should allow between 10 – 15 workdays for your application to be processed.

If you are disabled and need assistance, you can arrange for someone to accompany you to the visa interview.  If you have not yet booked the interview you should notify the agent at the time of your call of the name of the person who will accompany you.  They will take his or her details and add their name to the access list.  If the interview is booked, then please call the Operator Assisted Information Service with the information.  Your friend relative or carer will be required to bring with them photo-id in order to gain access to the Embassy.

A translator, or a parent of a child under the age of 18, may also accompany the visa applicant to the interview and should follow the procedures described in the above paragraph.

As you can see, the interview is a two-stage process.  You will be called up to hand in your visa application forms and documents and have a set of your fingerprints scanned electronically.  You will then be asked to take a seat and wait for the visa interview which will be conducted by a U.S. consular officer.  While the period of time this takes will vary depending on the time of day and number of scheduled interviews, you can expect to be at the Embassy two to three hours. 

While there is a snack bar to purchase drinks and snacks, facilities are limited.  Please keep this in mind if you have young children.  If you cannot leave with a friend or relative for the day, please ensure that you bring books or toys to entertain them, keeping in mind that electronic items of any kind are not permitted on U.S. Embassy premises.