The US Consulate in Melbourne gave me a single entry visa to cover the entire duration of my trip. Then I was advised that Malaysian citizens usually get multiple entry visas that range from 10-15 years in validity, and in order to get such a visa I have to apply at the US embassy in KL where they'd supposedly find it easier to assess my ties. I find it odd that they assume ties = place of citizenship in my case because both my parents do not live in Malaysia any more, although they're there from time to time. And I've presented lots of evidence of my ties outside the US (including my pay slips and the fact that I'm an Australian government employee, my enrollment at uni, my parents' addresses, my bank account statements etc etc).

I do intend to visit the US more often, after getting over myself and realising that the security paranoia is here to stay. And I was hoping to get a multiple entry visa as described above for my next application. Should I then physically fly up to Kuala Lumpur for my next application, or stick to the US Consulate in Melbourne in the hope that they'd realise I'd followed the rules and am a genuine traveller? Such a visa would remove the need for paying an AUD130 application fee every time as well as the hassles involved in organising each application, and wasting passport pages.

The weird thing is there's such a difference in how visa applications are treated in both places. It took 2 weeks (10 working days) for passport/visa to be posted back to me from the Melb consulate, but at the KL embassy I'm told that the norm is that I'd know the results of my application at the end of the interview and collection of passport/visa is ready 'next business day.'

Thanks,
Keith

ps and as for the 'previous visits' question, the consular official stated that it's preferable, but not necessary, that I present copies of old passports. Trouble is I probably travelled on Mum's passport back then.