So, we've decided. It's time!
I'll say right away - I am Belarusian, studying in St. Petersburg. I am applying, accordingly, in St. Petersburg. Because the embassy has now introduced quotas for foreign students, my confidence that I will definitely get a J-1 Visa has been slightly shaken.
The second step, after the "decisive" one, will be submitting documents to IEC... Well, or wherever everyone else submits documents =)
By documents, I mean only my passport (I had a regular "Passport of the Republic of Belarus" because we only have one, both for domestic and international use), student ID, and... I think that's it.
Remember, foreigners in St. Petersburg who want to go on Work and Travel USA! You will be sent to pay the first installment ($300) to Societe Generale Vostok Bank. It is located literally a couple of houses away from the IEC office on Vaska. So, you will need to bring a translation of your passport there. It doesn't matter that everything is in Russian (like mine), or that what is not in Russian would be clear to a fool (like Imya: Mariya... no one understood that Imya means Name?)... you need a notarized translation of your passport. You can get it done at Vosstaniya 6 on the 4th floor. Almost no queue... I advise you to make a translation of the passport and a copy of that same translation... just in case.
So. You go to Societe Generale Vostok Bank. There are not very friendly girls sitting there, who will look at you from bottom to top with a little contempt (their chairs are positioned low) and will give you a bunch of papers.
"A bunch of papers" means a hell of a lot of all sorts of documents that need to be filled out. A contract, another one, another one, a form, another form, then something else... they will rip a lot of money off you)))) I spent about 4 thousand on all the bank work. Maybe it's because I'm a foreigner, maybe something else... But thank God I had them. In the bank, they open an account for you, to which you deposit money that is sent to InterExchange. You deposit them into the cashier to your account. Don't forget to say that you need to make a transfer from this very account and need to pay a commission. Because if you don't remind them, they won't tell you, and the money won't go anywhere. After you have deposited the money into your account, you go to the "contemptuous girls" and say that the money needs to be transferred and hand them the paper from IEC. Although they are aware of where to transfer it. You fill out an application for a transfer and that's it.
ADVICE: Don't go to the bank in a whole crowd, even if there are 10 of you going and you are a team and do everything together in the 1st grade. I was alone. To fill out the papers, they took me to an office, gave me tea with a cookie, and explained everything very nicely. Then the guys came (there were 4-5 of them). They were filling them out on each other's backs in front of the contemptuous girls (there is almost nowhere to sit there). And by the way, don't forget to take one photo like for a passport. It will need to be attached to all the forms and contracts.
