I feel her pain with regards to US visa's.
As a sailor, I have to have a US C1/D visa allowing me to both work on ships in US waters, and to enter/leave US airports.
You spend 10 hours sat in the US embassy, going through the number lottery, to finally get all sorted (luckily I was issued a visa), and then when you do land in the US, you spend another 4 hours in some crappy little room whilst they do god knows what checks.
You then finally get your docs handed back and allowed in.
By this time, the taxi that has been sent for you has fecked off, and your baggage has been destroyed as they suspect its dodgy (ok, not quite - but its normally made its way to some storage room by now and is a pain to get back).
Generally, the US suck at visa's.
I am going back to the US for a holiday next month, and I am dreading it. Even though I am entering as a tourist on a standard ESTA, I will have to present my passport which has my US visa in it. So God alone knows what crap I am gonna have to go through.