US Visa Renewal

Update March 7th 2013:

The U.S. Consular Section in Trinidad and Tobago has transitioned to a new appointment service for applicants applying for a visa to come to the United States

http://usvisa-info.com/en-TT/selfservice/ss_country_welcome



My Experience in 2012:

This is only a description on my experience and is not meant in any way to be advice or endorsement or be in any way similar to what you can expect to encounter.

My US Visa expired recently so I had to go through the process of renewing it.  All the info I needed was found on http://trinidad.usembassy.gov/
and via this video:


I did the online application form, paid $1008ttd at TTPOST, then went back to the site mentioned above to make the appointment online. You can find the appointment page easily by searching for "make appointment" in the search bar on the top right corner, or with some effort by browsing through the links. I uploaded a picture as part of the process. I made my appointment for an initial date and printed the confirmation page as I should have but I had to change my appointment date to a couple days later. Changing was no problem to do via the same page I made the initial appointment. I got a job letter and bank statements to take with me incase I had to have any supporting documents and an appropriate picture, just incase.

On the day of the appointment I parked at a car park at the corner of Marly and Woodford streets (to the south west of the embassy) where it was $10ttd per hour. I was lined up outside the embassy 30 minutes before my appointment time at 8.30am. There were actually two parallel lines on the side walk to the entrance. One was for 8am and the other was 8.30am. People were let into the gate a few at a time in the order they lined up for the earlier time. Some people still had cell phones and had to leave the line to go to a photo studio close by to have it stored while in the embassy. At about 9.15am I got inside the gate and went into another line to drop off my passport, confirmation print out(bar code page) and TTPOST receipts only. Another 15 minutes put me at the front of thos line and booth F was the main booth to go to but some people were also called to booth B. Here my passport was inspected and I had a boarding pass stub and departure stub inside it that was tossed back at me then I was told to wait for my name to be called.

There was a male and a female washroom (with toilet paper!), a water cooler with cups and many, many fans. There was a wheelchair sign on the female washroom door. I suppose a wheelchair could get in and out of the entrance gate. It seemed difficult for a person in a wheel chair to do fingerprint scans unless the scanner could come down off the high counter. It was rainy and overcast most of the time I was there so I am not sure how hot it really gets on a normal day but I was comfortable. The roof is designed to let hot air out and the fans circulate air from all directions. The citizen and immigrant visa section has A/C but not the non-immigrant visa section. The amount of people that came in was just about right for the number of seats there, people did not have to wait long to get a seat after they left the first counter. I suspect on a heavy day this would be a much longer wait.

I got a seat in direct view into the booths. Some people had their name called within 20 minutes of arriving- I am sure two parents and a baby who were behind me in line got called up for their passport quickly. It seemed that groups of parents and children got processed/called faster. The actual Interview for each person was approximately 5 minutes. Most people were prepared to submit documents when going up but they did not use it. Most people walked away with a white stub in their hand. Many people who came into the embassy after me were called up before me so it seems the passports were not all processed in order of arrival, or that some take longer to process than others. I was called at 11.20am. I was asked a couple questions and basically I just confirmed what I had submitted online.

At the end of the interview I was told my visa was approved and to go to the TTPOST counter with a stub and pay for delivery. As stated on the site, postage for my passport was $50ttd and it was sent to me a few days later.


You may also want to see:
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/renew_us_visa_before_it_expires.html

Topic:
How do I renew my US visa.
How to renew my US visa in Trinidad and Tobago.
Expired US visa.
Visit to US embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.