THE VISA PROCESS: SIDE TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO

Getting a visa isn't the same as it used to be. Once, I assume, you probably had to mail in your application and passport using registered mail months before you were actually going to travel or study, and you'd get your passport returned with a visa stamped inside. Time-consuming and low-tech, but effective nonetheless.

Today, however, owing to biometrics and computers and other sorts of technology, visas have gone high-tech, allowing students (like myself) applying for a visa to get their visa processed in literally hours, not days. That means greater convenience, but at the same time, also increases the possibility that you could miss out on getting your visa if you forget to bring the right paperwork. In my case, I gave myself an extra day to track down any documentsthat I might have overlooked in preparing my application; any of you who are considering applying for a visa would do well to do the same.

I chose to get my visa at the San Francisco consulate. If you live on the West Coast, you are obligated to get fingerprinted (biometrics) in this regional consulate, and that means you have to appear in person regardless of where you live. Right in the same room as I was were people who had flown in that morning from Washington or Oregon, equally jet-lagged.

People reading this might consider such travel an unnecessary expense, but before you draw conclusions, the U.S. also requires French citizens to appear in person for visa applications, not once but twice. For people not residing in Paris -- even for those in Lyon -- it's an equally inconvenient prerequisite to getting a visa these days. Generally, stays of up to 90 days are permitted, visa-free, but getting a visa for an extended stay for citizens of either country is equally inconvenient.

Preparing the paperwork is part of the process; making sure to have copies of all necessary documents and have ready the proper ones, is a task in its own right. Even though I had double-checked the documents list on the consulate home page, I was asked to provide copies of my travel documents and health insurance. Fortunately, there's a copy shop on Kearny Street only two blocks from the office where I was able to run to and get the job done without much lost time. Consequently, I was in at 10:00 and out by 12:30. By some people's standards that is a tremendous expense of time, but as my earlier writings in the previous blog reflect, I've accepted that waiting for things to be processed is an inevitable part of the way French organizations work. Accept it, and it ceases to grate on you.

One other thing that they forget to mention about getting a visa: although the application itself is free (available both in the lobby of the visa section of the consulate as well from the Internet), the visa fee is 99 Euros, or about $125 at current exchange rates.

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Comments:

The French Consulate in San Francisco is literally just steps away from the Bush Street gate to Chinatown. To find it easily walk up on the right side of Union Square and head towards Chinatown. Head left when you arrive at the Chinatown gate and you will find the office next to STA travel and the Goethe Institut.