Camp America New Zealand

Applying for your visa if you went to camp last year (you can do it by mail now)

 
Here is the information from the Consulate.
 

J Visas Biometric Reuse

 

Applicants for Camp Counselor or Summer Work/Travel (SWT) visas, who previously held J-1 visas issued June 15, 2007 or later, may be able to apply for new visas without coming to the Consulate for an interview.  Instead, consular officers will rely on the applicants' paperwork and will re-use the fingerprints captured at the last application.  The key to this program is that the applicant must be applying for the same class of visa they previously held (i.e. J-1, not B1/B2 or any other visa class).  Also, applicants must have given the full ten-finger biometric data at their last interview, as opposed to the two index finger prints that were collected before June of 2007.  The U.S. Consulate in Auckland started collecting 10-prints on June 15 of 2007.

 

 

To take advantage of this program and avoid a trip to the Consulate an applicant must meet all of the following criteria:  

 

  • is applying for a J-1 visa 

  • was issued a J-1 visa last year;

  • normally resides in the Auckland consular district (New Zealand, Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau);

  • has not been previously refused a visa, unless that refusal was later overcome or waived;

  • last year's J-1 visa expired within the last 12 months; (In other words, the visa's expiration date must fall within the last 12 months of the date the applicant submits the application.  For example, an applicant whose last J-1 expired August 1, 2007 must apply for visa no later than July 31, 2008.)


and has never:

•    been convicted of a crime (even if the Clean Slate Act applies in his/her case),

•    stayed more than 30 days past the end of a J-visa program or overstayed any other visa, 

•    been told by a U.S. government official that he is ineligible for a visa.

 

To forego the visa interview, applicants must be willing to surrender their passports for the 10 business days expected processing time.  We will not have the resources to find and return passports early, so anyone who cannot give up their passport for the two weeks required to process by mail should come for an interview.

 

We reserve the right to call any applicant in for an interview, including those:

•    who do not meet the above criteria;

•    who check "yes" to any part of question 38 on the DS-160 and did not submit a recent criminal history report obtained from the Ministry of Justice;

•    who require additional administrative processing;

•    about whom the adjudicating consular officer has other concerns.

 

Each applicant's documents must be submitted in the following order:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Passport

  • Completed Ds160 - Download the DS160 Instructions and complete the form online - be ready to spend some time at the computer with a good internet connection! https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/

  • Recent photo (stapled to the space provided on the DS-156)

  • MRV fee receipt

  • DS-2019

  • SEVIS fee receipt

  • Pre-paid and self-addressed courier envelope for use in documents

 

 

All documents should be sent to:

Consulate General of the United States of America

Non Immigrant Visa Section

Private Bag 92022

Auckland, New Zealand 

 

For instructions on completing the DS forms and how to pay your MRV fee - please go to our visa instructions page.