# Visit to the USA



## Arianna (Nov 17, 2014)

I live in the USA, so I am not familiar with the procedures for coming in as a tourist. But some of my characters have to know, for they are coming in for vacation/holiday. I found there is a visa waiver program for a few countries, but my characters are out of luck. 

It it looks like getting a visa is an arduous and expensive proposition. It looks like everyone has to make an appointment for a visa interview. How long is it and what is asked? Are spouses interviewed together or separately? And what about kids old enough to speak for themselves?

it also looks like there are more procedures and paperwork to do upon arrival. I expected things like presenting documents, inspecting for contraband, etc., but it seems nothing is simple about admission either. 

Does anyone here have experience (preferably 2010-2014) with visiting the USA without the help of a visa waiver? Even failed experiences could give me some helpful insight. 

I already researched flights, and it's going to take 21 hours, not counting time for changing planes and customs at each airport along the way. They're definitely going to want to be sure they've got all their ducks in a row. The intermediate countries make it easy for people passing through; the destination is the hard one.


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## Riis Marshall (Nov 18, 2014)

Hello Arianna

It would safe to assume the country you are coming from would make a significant difference in what you would need - visa, etc. - to enter the USA.

I am an American ex-pat who has lived in the United Kingdom now for almost 30 years. I have not been back to the states since 1998 so my experiences would be dated in view of what has happened to international travel since then. My wife is a UK national from Scotland.

Over the next few days I may be able to talk to some Scottish friends who traveled to the US about a month ago and ask them what kind of hoops they had to jump through.

Since your characters are flying for 21 hours they must be coming from someplace much farther from the US than I am. In my experience, when changing planes on international flights you do not need to clear customs and immigration because while on the ground you remain within a secure area but I could be wrong on this - it may vary dramatically from country to country.

I'll come back when I have some useful information. 

Good luck with your research.

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## Schrody (Nov 18, 2014)

For my country (Croatia) you need to get an appointment with the US embassy which is located outside the town, it's almost an hour of driving (with a car). They only work a few hours for the clients, and as I recall not every day. You have to pay around $100 (it's around 500 kn, and it's not that much, but it's not a little), not knowing will you get the visa. If you get it, great, if not, bad luck. You won't receive your money back. I should say that visa rejection here is really high (even for a touristic visa), and it needs to be less than 5% of rejection so Croatian citizens wouldn't need visa. Sadly to say, that's not gonna happen. Don't know where your character is from, but it's almost impossible to get it here. Good luck!


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## Arianna (Nov 18, 2014)

I'm adding a new island to the Pacific Ocean. As volcanic as the area is, it could become real someday 

They would begin their journey flying from their island to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, or Singapore. I thought the next segment would most likely be to Beijing, but now it seems Narita (Japan) is more probable. It seems most flights from Narita go to Seattle, but I found a few direct flights going as far as Atlanta. The arrival city is not too important since they could always change planes in Seattle. 

I will need to ask questions about these airports too, but their visa needs to be settled first. 

The USA visa fee I saw was $160. Not too bad if you are going alone, but it can be expensive for a family traveling together.


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## Riis Marshall (Nov 18, 2014)

Hello Arianna

You may want to check out the Lonely Planet website. Follow the links to 'USA' then 'Practical Information' then 'Visas'. This page might give you some of the information you're looking for. I had some experience with the Lonely Planet people a few years back when I traveled to Nigeria and their information was accurate and practical so I think this would be a good place for you to start.

The next thing you may want to try is to find webpages for the government of the country your characters are travelling from and see if you can find information on visa requirements to travel to the USA.

You may also want to go to Wikipedia and search for 'USA Visa'. There you will find some more information that is country-specific. A warning, however! If you find interesting stuff on any Wikipedia page, it's important you verify it using another source. In the past I've found information on Wikipedia that turned out to be wrong - like a proclamation supposedly issued by British Queen Anne two years after she died.

I hope this helps.

Go for it!

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## InstituteMan (Nov 18, 2014)

Arianna said:


> I'm adding a new island to the Pacific Ocean. As volcanic as the area is, it could become real someday
> 
> They would begin their journey flying from their island to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, or Singapore. I thought the next segment would most likely be to Beijing, but now it seems Narita (Japan) is more probable. It seems most flights from Narita go to Seattle, but I found a few direct flights going as far as Atlanta. The arrival city is not too important since they could always change planes in Seattle.
> 
> ...



If you need any fun memories of Narita, let me know. I have spent hours in a jet lagged stupor in that airport. Back in the olden days (only a year or two ago) when I was doing a lot of business travel to Asia, everything seemed to connect through Narita.  

One bit of logistics (if you need to get into this level of detail), is that in Tokyo, they make you deplane and re-enter the international terminal through a new security line (you never officially enter Japan, though). So you have to get off your flight, march through security, and then find your gate. Another frustrating thing about Narita is that they didn't have free wifi any of the times I was there.

My first trip to Asia, I landed on a flight from Chicago to Narita to connect to a flight to Taipei. The dry airplane air was hard on my nose (I am prone to nose bleeds under the best of circumstances), and once I got into the gate for my next flight with only 3 or 4 hours to wait, I had an explosive nose bleed. I ran to the men's room, discovering that the toilets were those rather challenging (to an American) trench things. Happily, I wasn't needing the facilities just then for anything other than staunching the bleeding and changing out of my cheap sweatshirt, which I ultimately threw away as too disgusting to carry with me to Taiwan and then back home. I made a note to always plan appropriately to avoid certain restroom emergencies in Narita, however--and I was happy to be male.

I also have purchased the most expensive Pringles in existence at Narita while returning home from one trip. I was so sick from the jet lag and utterly tired of the authentic local cuisine experience that I was willing to pay something like $0.50 a crisp.


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## Arianna (Nov 18, 2014)

I am going with a fictional country. Stories need conflict, and my story's conflict involves hacking. The government's position is, "We don't care. Securing your computers is your problem, not ours." The hackers work inside the law; there is not even an unenforced prohibition. With such a policy being a key part of the story, I thought it better not to use a real country. Their closest economic ties would be to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, so I am using them to help me formulate what USA policy might be if this were a real country. 

I have been trying to assemble a good bit of data on what this country would be like, including weather, ethnic diversity, religion, popular sports, and kids' education. I've even worked out their Internet country code (.lm), international dialing code (696), and ITU prefix (X0).


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## Arianna (Nov 18, 2014)

InstituteMan said:


> If you need any fun memories of Narita, let me know. I have spent hours in a jet lagged stupor in that airport. Back in the olden days (only a year or two ago) when I was doing a lot of business travel to Asia, everything seemed to connect through Narita.



You probably have a lot I could draw from  You can learn a lot about characters from how they react to what's going on around them.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Nov 19, 2014)

Arianna said:


> I am going with a fictional country. Stories need conflict, and my story's conflict involves hacking. The government's position is, "We don't care. Securing your computers is your problem, not ours." The hackers work inside the law; there is not even an unenforced prohibition. With such a policy being a key part of the story, I thought it better not to use a real country. Their closest economic ties would be to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, so I am using them to help me formulate what USA policy might be if this were a real country.
> 
> I have been trying to assemble a good bit of data on what this country would be like, including weather, ethnic diversity, religion, popular sports, and kids' education. I've even worked out their Internet country code (.lm), international dialing code (696), and ITU prefix (X0).




Sounds pretty ambitious Arianna. I've done a lot of that with imaginary countries of my own (though not for a book). Anyway, wishing you much luck. :smile:

EDIT: While I think of it, there are some web pages out there that deal with fictional countries and earth-like worlds created by some enthusiasts. Try to Google them up. You might find one to your liking to use information from


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## sailorguitar (Mar 21, 2015)

As a U.S. citizen, which you are, try going through the visa process for the country which most closely resembles the country you are writing about.  Often countries do the same to each other when it come to visa apps.  Save the money and fly off to China, Argentina, India, Canada, UK, whatever... The processes' that you have to go through to get into those countries often reflects what a person from those same countries would have to do to get into the U.S..  You'll get a feel for it.


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