Description of current situation by another serving British ship's officer

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Page context: World Maritime Day 30 September 2004 > Current Situation UK 2

British seafarers have required a visa in their passports to visit United States ports for many years. Previously these had a five-year validity and were quite easy to obtain --at least as far as the seafarer was concerned; normally you only had to sign a blank application form sent to you by your personnel department and send in your passport.

Your company would then employ an agency to obtain the visa from the embassy.

Things have now changed – since 1 January this year all seafarers will have to travel to London, from no matter where they live in the UK, and attend an interview at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

Once there, expect to queue for up to four hours. In addition, you will personally have to fill in your application forms, pay the fee and make your appointment to visit the embassy.

The following is a summary of the procedure to follow to obtain a US C-1/D seafarers’ visa and a brief description of my own experience in obtaining it:

A description of how to apply for a C-1/D visa can be found on the US embassy’s web site at www.usembassy.org.uk . All the forms that you will have to fill in and take with you to the interview can also be downloaded from this site, although hard copies will be posted to you by the embassy once you’ve made your appointment. (Downloaded copies can be filled in on your home computer, which makes life a little easier.)

All C-1/D visa applicants are required to:

Call the operator-assisted visa information service on 09055-444546 Monday through Friday between 8.00am and 8.00pm, or Saturday between 9.00am and 4.00pm. Calls are charged at £1.30 per minute. This number may only be accessed from within the UK. You can expect to have to wait about two weeks for your appointment and they will give you a time on a take it or leave it basis. If you have to travel far you may have to stay overnight in London.
The embassy will send you written confirmation of your interview date and time together with hard copies of the forms you will require to complete and take with you. This letter will serve as your pass to get into the embassy.
Complete the visa application form DS-156
Complete the supplemental visa application form DS-157
Complete a biographical data form NIV27a
Pay a visa application fee of £67.00. Payment for this has to be made at a Barclays Bank in cash using a paying-in slip provided by the embassy. Attach the cashier-stamped receipt to the above forms.
Present your passport, valid for at least six months and which has at least one blank page. (When you renew your passport the British passport office will cut the corner off your old passport. The US visa in your old passport can still be used providing that no part of it is removed by the action of the corner being clipped – which it almost certainly will be!).
Furnish a letter from your employer on letter headed stationary confirming the applicant’s employment with the company and period that he or she will be in the United States.
Provide one colour passport-type photograph measuring 1.5 inches square.
Furnish a stamped, self-addressed special delivery envelope for the return of your passport (no other type of s.a.e. will be accepted). These envelopes can be purchased from any post office and cost £3.65. The envelope comes with a coupon. Remove the top part and stick it on the envelope. Keep the sender’s receipt in case you have to follow up non-delivery with the post office.
Attend the interview in London at the appointed date/time.

I had my interview in London on a Wednesday in late January. I’d allowed one and a half hours to get across London to the embassy located at Grosvenor Square, but my train was late and I arrived with only 10 minutes to spare. The nearest tube station to the embassy is Bond Street. The embassy is now surrounded by a security fence and patrolled with highly visible armed police. I had to show my appointment letter at the security fence located at the gate. If you arrive 10 minutes too early or 30 minutes too late you will not be allowed to enter -- so be warned, be on time.

I joined the queue at the door, which took two hours of standing in the cold -- so wrap up well! Once at the door they let people in five at a time to go through another security gate with airline-type x-ray machines. From here I entered a large office where several hundred people were sat waiting to be seen at the railway station-type ticket windows where they do the interviews. Here I joined another queue for about an hour to where an official standing by the line checks to make sure you have all your papers with you and that you’ve paid your fee.

The queue proceeds to a window where they take your papers off you and issue you with a numbered docket and tell you to take a seat. On the docket you have to write your name and postcode. After another hour of waiting in relative comfort, compared to previous, my number was called. I went to the window to be interviewed --expecting to be questioned (as stated by the State Department) on such things as employment history or knowledge of my trade. The very nice young woman asked me only one question, which was: ‘Do you get seasick?’ She then informed me that they would send my passport back in the mail within a few days and that was it – eight hours travelling time, four hours in a queue, and all for a 30 second interview! The only good thing about the new procedure is that your visa will now be valid for 10 years rather than five.

Like most seamen, I like the Americans. They are very nice, open and friendly people -- but I have to say that their bureaucracy sucks!

Supplied courtesy of NUMAST

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World Maritime Day 30 September 2004

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