How to apply for a US B2 tourist visa for a through hike (United Kingdom)

So you've decided that you want to do a through hike in the US? Great! For most people coming from outside the States you'll need to apply for a non-immigrant B2 visa.

For most European citizens wanting to go the the US this isn't a problem as there is a visa waiver programme for any stays under 90 days. The problem is that the main through hikes (Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail or Continental Divide Trail) all take longer than 3 months to walk, so you're going to have to apply for a visa that will allow you to stay longer. Now, weirdly, the next step up from the 90 day waiver is a visa with a 10 year validity that lets you stay for 6 months at a time. It feels crazy that there isn't a middle step here for a country so hell-bent on keeping out immigrants, but then there are stranger decisions that have been taken in this space (see: Trump's wall).

Once you've decided that you want to go on this trail the first thing you'll want to do is make sure you have got a place. For information on how to do this read our post on applying for a PCT permit. You should make sure you do it in this order as otherwise you might end up with a visa, but no trail to walk! Instructions from here may vary, but we're written this for other hikers from the United Kingdom who want to apply for a B2 Visa. Whilst this should be fairly similar for other European nations, your mileage may vary.

The next step is the online application form. This is done in two parts. Firstly you will need to apply for a DS - 160 which can be done here. Put simply, this is like creating an online identity for any visa application you do with the US. It'll ask you a load of questions like 'are you a terrorist', 'do you want to be a terrorist' and 'are you a terrorist sympathiser'. Joking aside, this form took about 2-3 hours to complete as there are lots of detailed questions, like every country you've visited in the last 10 years (with dates). You'll also have to upload a mug shot to the site. This doesn't have to be a professional photo, but you'll have to ensure your photo meets all the guidelines required (well lit, white background, ears showing). It's a good idea to get someone to read through the form when you are done, as a simple mistake here could prove quite expensive if you get rejected.

Then you need to schedule an appointment and pay for the visa you don't yet have. This can be done here: https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/niv. Scheduling an interview costs $160 and at this point you don't even know if you'll be accepted. What is even cheekier is that the online form will ask if you want a couriered delivery of your passport back, for which you'll have to pay extra, and again you don't know if that's wasted money until the interview day. Last year about 40% of people were rejected for B visas, but you can expect a high percentage of these were for people applying to work in the US, rather than just to enter as a tourist. If for whatever reason you need to reapply (say there was a mistake in your application form) well that is another $160. Therefore it is good to over-prepare for this interview, ready for every eventuality.

When applying for an appointment time we were tipped off that the best times to go are the 8.00 and 8.30 spots. From here the interview times get progressively longer as you are forced to wait until the slot in front of you makes it through the churn. A few friends who applied over lunch time said that this was especially bad as the number of interviewers halved. One friend waited for about 4 hours to go through the process, whilst we were done in about 50 minutes.

So now onto the big day! Joal made the unfortunate mistake of bringing his two laptops along with a fork for his packed lunch. The fork was confiscated, and he had to pay an additional £20 (£10 per laptop) for the privilege of a locker at a nearby pharmacy. You'll want to get to the embassy at least half an hour before your appointment at which point you'll be asked to empty your pockets of everything electronic and get in line. Once inside the building you get ushered into a holding pen. You'll see numbers on a big board in front of you, which pings each time a new number appears.

After about 15 minutes of waiting we were called to the first desk. Here you are clinically processed "Are you Joal?", "Which visa have you applied for?", "Why are you travelling to the United States?" after which you are 'ten printed' (finger printed on all fingers). This bit was easy, and took about 10 minutes for Jenny and me, and isn't really the main screening part.

Now onto the main act: the interview. You proceed down a narrow corridor to the interview windows. For us this was the most nerve-wracking part, purely because you can hear other interviews clearly and not all of them go to plan. We overheard a man get rejected for a B2 visa who was looking to paint portraits in Georgia. The view was this was work that could earn a taxable income, even though he argued he wasn't selling the paintings. We also overheard a family who were told they needed to come back with the right documentation.

Once we were called up we were asked the main question upfront: "Why do you want need a B2 visa". We'd prepared for this one with a well rehearsed answer "We are looking to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. This is a trail that goes from Southern California up to Washington state". Once we said this the interviewer relaxed, smiled and from here the rest of the interview was fairly easy. The main questions were around finances and the work we were coming back to in the UK. For both of these we had printouts of our bank statements and our work's sabbatical policies, although we never needed these. At this point our interviewer jokingly said "I wish I could get one of those sabbaticals!" and from here we relaxed. "Good luck with the walk!" she said as she stamped our application form; approved.

After about a week we were told our passports were ready for collection. Our advice would be to get these sent to you rather than pick them up. The collection office was only open 10-4 Monday to Friday and was a bit of a pain to get to. On the plus side, we've now both got a 10 year visa, which means if we do decide to do the triple crown, we won't need to go through the same pain again!