If you have a valid US visa (I have a B1) and are returning from the US, you can stop over in Singapore without visa for upto 4 days (96 hours). But your entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer processing your stop over request.
I am planning a family trip in Singapore on my way back and I could not take that chance. Possession of a tourist visa gives me a sure shot chance and so I looked up applying for a Singapore visa through the embassy at San Francisco.
The process is a cakewalk. The required documents are
1. Visa application form filled in (For address put in your India address as well as your US local address with phone number and email address)
2. Your original passport with a copy of the first, last and the US visa pages.
3. Copy of invitation letter for your business trip in US. ( I am on B1 so this is mandatory, for L1, H1B could be waived)
4. Copy of flight e-ticket. (Obviously your itinerary should have a stop over in Singapore)
5. Copy of your hotel confirmation voucher in Singapore. (do the booking before hand, better to get some good deals)
6. 1 passport sized photo, maintain a white background, I think the size does not matter.
7. Self addressed US postal express return envelope - flat rate $17.50. (Write your US address in the recipient columns, ensure that the postage is pasted on the cover)
8. $20 in cash.
Drive in, or take the BART (to Montgomery station) to 595, Market street, SF. The embassy is on the 24th floor, suite 2450. Give the documents to the receptionist and get them verified. Pay the cash and collect the receipt and you are done. Note the submission hours are from 9 am to 12 pm only.
Drive or take the BART back home. I drove the rental car out to Milbrae, parked at the BART station and took the BART to get to SF and back. I did this (submitted the application) on a Monday morning and I received the stamped passport on Wednesday.
If you want to pick up your passport from the embassy office directly, skip the US postal express return envelope, will save you some money, but adds on to some extra effort. The collection hours are from 2 pm to 4 pm. The receptionist will actually let you know when to come for getting your stamped passport.
You can also send your application and supporting documents to the embassy via post, but then you need to make sure that you have a draft for the processing fee of $20. I skipped this part just because I did not want to go over the hassles of going to the bank. I don't know if we can do that if we do not have a SSN.
If you want some other detail on the process look it up on Embassy@SF site, or send put in a comment/send me a email.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
My 50th post... Something special? Well no just the usual
Have not blogged in weeks. Well cannot say that I have been too much occupied with work. Just that I did not get the peace of mind to write something.
Spent a weekend at Austin with my college friends Sexme and Sixty. Travel was hectic with 5 hours of flight journey for one way. Visited a couple of places in and around Texas and experianced the night life in a college downtown.
Last weekend my cousin Kiran visited me. We spent time roaming around SF downtown and trying some Italian and French restaurants. Also made a visit to the Great Mall at Milpitas and spent about half a day shopping.
Spent a weekend at Austin with my college friends Sexme and Sixty. Travel was hectic with 5 hours of flight journey for one way. Visited a couple of places in and around Texas and experianced the night life in a college downtown.
Last weekend my cousin Kiran visited me. We spent time roaming around SF downtown and trying some Italian and French restaurants. Also made a visit to the Great Mall at Milpitas and spent about half a day shopping.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Past the 4 weeks point
Right now its 4 hours past the 4 weeks time since I landed in the US. Time has been passing swiftly with work in the weekdays and outings in the weekends. But still I have 8 more weeks to pass. This time separation is starting to take its effect.
Last time I visited US, when I was at this 4 week mark, it was less than 2 weeks that separated me from going home. I am starting to miss home. I love driving here, its driving for dummies. I can drive all I want, all cars big and fancy and drive them safely. But for that the feel is missing in this place. US is a great place to visit, but I would say it not a great place to call home.
The effect of this distance has started to show on Pallavi too. Mom visited her and played guest for a week, but she is also back to her duties and Pallavi is starting to miss me. She has grown up a lot, displayed excellent maturity. Last time it was just 6 weeks and not a day passed without her crying to me over the phone.
I miss everything. I miss Pallavi, that's very obvious, needless to say. We share a superb bond, emotional and surreal, one that words cannot express. One that only we can understand and just being so far away for so long is paining. I miss home, I miss the cozy place I have created where I can relax after a busy days work or laze around on a weekend.
I miss my friends. I am in touch with most of them, let me list the things I have missed or am forced to skip
1) Mathan-Gayathri's kiddo, pictures don't speak much
2) Vishwa-Seetha's wedding, man its today, I mean in a few hours from now...
3) Weekend cricket, sometime when I meet all my buddies together and we have a ball
4) I will be missing the utter nonsense talk during lunch/coffee hours with my buddies and hours of humor.
As much as I have a great times with friends, I have equally amusing times with family. April and May are the months that a lot of family visit us. We have accommodated at one point close to 12-13 guests in our small 900 sq.ft two bedroom house. Family will be visiting but I will be the one that odd and out.
There is a lot happening in the country that I will be missing totally. One thing is the election, before the US trip was planned, I had actually decided to take off and go to my native (ok, yeah I will mention Kottampatti) to cast my vote. My voter's ID card will be catching up with more dust.
There is IPL happening, of course we cannot be going live to SA, but watching cricket with company is always fun. You must come to the cafeteria when there is a heated match in progress. I bet you will not find a place to sit.
To be continued.
Last time I visited US, when I was at this 4 week mark, it was less than 2 weeks that separated me from going home. I am starting to miss home. I love driving here, its driving for dummies. I can drive all I want, all cars big and fancy and drive them safely. But for that the feel is missing in this place. US is a great place to visit, but I would say it not a great place to call home.
The effect of this distance has started to show on Pallavi too. Mom visited her and played guest for a week, but she is also back to her duties and Pallavi is starting to miss me. She has grown up a lot, displayed excellent maturity. Last time it was just 6 weeks and not a day passed without her crying to me over the phone.
I miss everything. I miss Pallavi, that's very obvious, needless to say. We share a superb bond, emotional and surreal, one that words cannot express. One that only we can understand and just being so far away for so long is paining. I miss home, I miss the cozy place I have created where I can relax after a busy days work or laze around on a weekend.
I miss my friends. I am in touch with most of them, let me list the things I have missed or am forced to skip
1) Mathan-Gayathri's kiddo, pictures don't speak much
2) Vishwa-Seetha's wedding, man its today, I mean in a few hours from now...
3) Weekend cricket, sometime when I meet all my buddies together and we have a ball
4) I will be missing the utter nonsense talk during lunch/coffee hours with my buddies and hours of humor.
As much as I have a great times with friends, I have equally amusing times with family. April and May are the months that a lot of family visit us. We have accommodated at one point close to 12-13 guests in our small 900 sq.ft two bedroom house. Family will be visiting but I will be the one that odd and out.
There is a lot happening in the country that I will be missing totally. One thing is the election, before the US trip was planned, I had actually decided to take off and go to my native (ok, yeah I will mention Kottampatti) to cast my vote. My voter's ID card will be catching up with more dust.
There is IPL happening, of course we cannot be going live to SA, but watching cricket with company is always fun. You must come to the cafeteria when there is a heated match in progress. I bet you will not find a place to sit.
To be continued.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Livermore temple, Del Valle lake and Muir woods
So Friday evening ended with a ride to Madras cafe in Sunnyvale and couple of dosas. This place is typical Indian, you need to get your food coupons upfront before you are seated and the place was bulging full. Friday evening and the weekend means so much business for these folks.
Saturday morning we drove out on a 40mile drive to the Livermore temple. Good dharshan, lots of Indian crowd and best of all buffet brunch. Sambar sadam was a highlight. After finishing the temple we headed to a lesser known wilderness place called Del Valle lake off Livermore. It was rocking... People bring their own boats attached to the trailers and have a fun time boating, fishing, reading and having a leisurely existence. Apart from that there is cycling and hiking along the lake's shores and a lake side beach where people make fun.
We did not have a boat so we hired one. We wanted a rowboat for $10. But since oars were in short supply we got a upgrade to a motor boat. Couple hours in the lake, driving out in the vast water and into the shaded shores. It was fun, a new first for me. Vasanth and me were together on this trip and it was major fun.
Sunday was better, we took to the road again, this time to Muir woods north of San Fransisco city, we crossed the Golden Gate bridge and took to the Marlin county. This led us to a hill drive and it was challenging for me to keep to the lane and navigate through the curves. Bigger car here is a problem, but we reached Muir woods in good shape.
Muir woods is the a ecological preserve that hold the Coastal red wood trees, giants reaching 350 feet (30 storied building). There are some great trails for trekking (out here its called hiking) and we took a smaller one, but got lost and had to find a way back and finally we finished exhausted, but greatly satisfied that this day's gym time is done for.
View the pictures here
Saturday morning we drove out on a 40mile drive to the Livermore temple. Good dharshan, lots of Indian crowd and best of all buffet brunch. Sambar sadam was a highlight. After finishing the temple we headed to a lesser known wilderness place called Del Valle lake off Livermore. It was rocking... People bring their own boats attached to the trailers and have a fun time boating, fishing, reading and having a leisurely existence. Apart from that there is cycling and hiking along the lake's shores and a lake side beach where people make fun.
We did not have a boat so we hired one. We wanted a rowboat for $10. But since oars were in short supply we got a upgrade to a motor boat. Couple hours in the lake, driving out in the vast water and into the shaded shores. It was fun, a new first for me. Vasanth and me were together on this trip and it was major fun.
Sunday was better, we took to the road again, this time to Muir woods north of San Fransisco city, we crossed the Golden Gate bridge and took to the Marlin county. This led us to a hill drive and it was challenging for me to keep to the lane and navigate through the curves. Bigger car here is a problem, but we reached Muir woods in good shape.
Muir woods is the a ecological preserve that hold the Coastal red wood trees, giants reaching 350 feet (30 storied building). There are some great trails for trekking (out here its called hiking) and we took a smaller one, but got lost and had to find a way back and finally we finished exhausted, but greatly satisfied that this day's gym time is done for.
View the pictures here
Saturday, April 04, 2009
What a hectic week this one was
I was constantly into and out of meetings and when I was not in one, I was hard into my document getting it into shape and putting all the deliberations into the document. Finally weekend has arrived, my document is also done and uploaded for review from the big guns. But come weekend I will have some time relax, have fun, try some different food and go some places.
Whats the vehicle for the weekend? Its a Toyata camry, man this one has got some power. I got to watch that pedal when I drive. I am done with the gym time for the day, now to head to the showers and then on to the road, One week without Indian food is enough and I am heading out to Madras Cafe in Sunnyvale for a Dosa dinner.
Whats the vehicle for the weekend? Its a Toyata camry, man this one has got some power. I got to watch that pedal when I drive. I am done with the gym time for the day, now to head to the showers and then on to the road, One week without Indian food is enough and I am heading out to Madras Cafe in Sunnyvale for a Dosa dinner.
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