I'm from Spain and I'm studying for a MFA at Brooklyn College. I moved here in August on a students visa. I had to go through a series of offensive questions like 'have you recruited child soldiers?' in order to get my visa. (I haven't, by the way.) It took me 3-4 months to get a student visa and then I had to go into the embassy in Madrid (I'm from Barcelona, it's a long trip) for an interview. It cost $100 just to make an appointment for a meeting at the embassy and then I was waiting in a concrete room with no windows, and no phone (they take away phones at the embassy for security reasons) for two hours before I could be allowed a visa.
~Albert