Getting a US visa from Kenya is quite a challenging and easy task these days. The US government has made it easier by making the process quicker and less stressful for people in Kenya looking forward to visiting or traveling to the US. Hence the need to curate all the procedures and processes that the interested person has to go through. Below are the procedures to apply for a US visa from Kenya.
What is a travel visa?
A travel visa is an authorization within an alien’s passport that gives the holder official permission to enter, leave or live in a specific country for a specific period of time. Visa shows that the holder’s documents have been verified and the holder has been granted permission to travel to a country for a specified period of time to visit, live or for other purposes. The situation is different with a passport, which is normally issued to a citizen for identification and international travel.
The US visa comes in two forms. Nonimmigrant Visas and Immigrant Visas. The former is mainly granted to people who wish to explore the country for a period of time or temporarily, while the latter is for permanent residence in the country.
However, note that there is no reason for your travel, whether for employment, permanent immigration to the United States, or even for temporary visits such as tourism, business travel, temporary work, study, and visiting family. The US visa only allows you to enter the country. It does not guarantee or allow you to live in the country permanently. There are other steps you must take if you wish to live in the United States permanently, even after you have obtained a visa. A visa does not guarantee that you will enter the United States. It simply shows that you are authorized to enter the port of entry, where further verification will determine whether or not you are allowed to enter the country.
How to get US visa from Kenya?
1. The applicant must apply for the visa by making an appointment for a nonimmigrant visa. This can be done by calling the call center number where officers will assist you in figuring out the further details. There is this rule for paying the appointment fee, which can be done by paying the money through any of the specified banks.
2. The various questions related to the visa categories and any other doubts about the procedure are duly clarified by telephone. All one has to do is call the customer service number and they would definitely suggest and provide the necessary details.
3. Once you are clear about the purpose of your intended trip, you will be sure of what type of visa you prefer that complies with United States immigration law. In addition, you must meet all of the established requirements to be granted a visa based on the category you are applying for.
4. The next step is to apply for the visa. Here, applicants are required to fill out an online form for the visa before starting the payment.
5. When paying the fees, keep in mind that the money cannot be transferred. This means people have to pay their respective fees and have the details of the submission attached to their respective passport ID, which cannot be altered under any circumstances.
6. After successful payment, you need to make an appointment at the US Embassy for your visa interview. This is determined by the Visa Center officials. After the interview you will be informed of your visa status.
Set Rules
There are a few rules to follow when making appointments. Some of these rules are as follows.
1. If a child under the age of 18 is to be taken by the parents, the parents must be present at the appointment with their respective visas. In cases where the parent is a single parent, the parent must present court orders that ensure the parent’s 100 percent consent to full custody of the affected child.
2. The appointment may take some time. There are several other applicants as well, so the entire episode is quite time consuming.
3. If there are applicants with disabilities, they must be accompanied by family members to make the process easier and safer. This is because all applicants, including children, must appear in person for the interview at the scheduled time.
4. Only the visa would be provided by the visa agencies. Entry validation would be done by the immigration officer who would be present at the port to validate the visa that one would receive earlier.
With the above information, we have answered the common question “How to get US visa from Kenya?”. Yes, it’s that simple. Any kind of documentation process requires a lot of patience and hard work. However, the visa procedure provided by the Kenyan government is comparatively simpler and following the above steps would lead to a positive outcome.
Anything you need to do outside of these would again be said by the officers who would be present at the visa office. If things are done accordingly, it’s pretty easy to get through the whole episode.