Consulate General of the United States

I have heard that Consulate General of the US can be a pain in the arse. But my experience was complete the opposite. As long as you read all the rules, you are okay.
First, no walk-​in. You have to make online appointment for any purpose. Most of the people come for the US travel/​working visa, and it shouldn’t be hard for you to find the relevant information on their website and apply for a time slot.
If you have all the documents ready, and have paid all the fee, you should be completely fine. Print and bring your appointment confirmation, and the security guard will let you in. Don’t start a drama with the guard like some of the Mainland Chinese did. Again, rules are rules.
They make it easier with the security (and probably helps improving the efficiency) by having some of the counters outside of the actual building. Some may complain about the weather, but that’s just non-​sense, as it’s relatively quick, compared with almost ANY other queue applying for a visa.
If it went well, you can then proceed to the interview with the consular officer inside the building. No phone, weapons, nor other dangerous goods. That was another queue there, again some complained about the time, but the staff patiently explained to them that it’s the holiday and people tended to apply the visa at the very last minute.
Anyway, during the time I waited for my turn, I observed how it went other people. Some took considerably longer time, some couldn’t even speak English. Well, to my surprise, the consular officers were pretty fluent in Mandarin! That earned the respects from me (and stood up the whole time they were at the counter too, no seating).
So yeah, it was my turn and I expected to have like a dozen questions coming to me and I might not even get approved for the visa. But I got two questions, and my visa was approved right away. Well, guess I didn’t look like I was going to move to the US any soon. But hey, whoever in the US could hit me up from now on!

I love the efficiency. I made my appointment on line, got one within 3 days. Forgot my appointment confirmation, they said no worry as I was in line outside the consulate gates.
They found my name and I went my way as a US citizen, parted with my phone, for my passport renewal.
The check in process was smooth and fast. The wait, however, to go through my passport renewal was LONGGGG. So, bring reading material. There’s no CNN to watch, no technology to play with, nothing but crying babies and monotony.
I had my passport renewed before a holiday, and they got it done and ready within 3 days post holiday, so about 1 week. I didn’t pay for the expedited service.
Thumbs up. I’d go back there for additional visa pages.
ps — I heard them interviewing a new citizen’s parents (baby born in the States). Cute process. Parents are waiting to be permanent residents but the baby was already ahead of the game.
Last, I have NO IDEA why Unilocal categorized this as IT support ?!