VISA Appointment Cancellation FAQ’s

With bulk visa appointment cancelations that happened recently, it is natural that students are worried about their study abroad plans. Please do not allow these concerns to affect your morale. We expect that this year, Covid response will function in a much more informed and decisive manner across all industries and organizations. The consulate has taken these measures early to maintain social distancing within their premises to safeguard their staff health while prioritizing emergency cases. Therefore, students must not panic and observe the situation for the next few days.

We will provide further updates as and when there is more clarity on this issue. As of today, we can answer some of the questions that we have received from our students through this short QnA document.

1. My consular appointment has been canceled. What should I do?
Ans:
1. If your OFC (biometric appointment) is done, you can reschedule the consular visa appointment to any other consulate.
2. If your biometric is not yet done, you can do one of these two things
a. You can continue for the OFC appointment as per the scheduled date at the Mumbai consulate. After the OFC, you can reschedule the consular appointment to another available date in Mumbai or another consulate in India.
b. you can reschedule both Biometric Visa and Consular visa appointments to another consulate in India or any future date available at your nearest consulate. In case another date opens up later in Mumbai, you will be able to reschedule it back to Mumbai. However, please remember the number of attempts for rescheduling is limited to 2-3 attempts. So please use this feature wisely. 

2. I don’t want to go to another city for the visa interview. It is expensive and tedious for me. what should I do?
Ans: When you are within 60 days of your program start date, you will be allowed to apply for an emergency visa appointment at your nearest consulate. You can follow the steps mentioned in the link given towards the end of this article to apply for an expedited interview. If you apply for an expedited visa when you are not within 60 days of the program start date, they may not approve the expedite request.

3. If I change my consulate, do I need to fill in the DS-160 again to mention this change?
Ans: No, you don’t need to update the DS-160. If the V.O. questions you in the interview, you could state the unavailability of dates as a reason for the change.

4. Does XYZ consulate have a higher rejection rate?
Ans: We do not believe this to be true. The visa officers have to follow similar protocols in all consulates.

5. If I choose a different consulate, can I change my delivery option from ‘pick up’ to ‘courier’? I don’t want to stay in another city for so many days to collect my passport.
Ans: If you have already scheduled an appointment online but wish to modify your document delivery address, you can do so by logging into your profile. You may change your document delivery address at any time before 11:59 p.m. on the day of your interview at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Check this link
https://www.ustraveldocs.com/vn/vn-iv-reschedulevisa.asp

6. Can I have a visa interview and OFC on the same day? How much minimum or maximum gap should be there between both of them?
Ans: You cannot have a visa interview and OFC both on the same day. However, you can select any combination of OFC and Consular appointments available in their system without worrying about any minimum or maximum gap.

7. What happens if I book at another consulate and even that gets canceled later?
Ans: The consulate will email you if it gets canceled. Try to book refundable tickets for any travel plans that you need to make. You can always apply for an emergency visa in your nearest consulate when you are within 60 days of your program start date.

8. Can I book only the OFC right now and book the consular interview later?
Ans: You have to book both the dates together.

9. My OFC dates have not been canceled, so can I reschedule only my consular appointment without disturbing my OFC appointment?
Ans: Before the OFC interview, their system does not allow you to reschedule only your consular appointment. You would have to reschedule both. However, once the OFC is done, you will be allowed to reschedule the consular interview to any future date/ another consulate. (provided you have NOT exhausted your rescheduling attempts)

10. I recently got a visa rejection. Can I book an emergency Visa?
Ans: No, the consulate will not approve your emergency visa request if
1. You have received a visa rejection for any visa category at any USA embassy in the past six months
2. You are not within 60 days of your program start date.

11. When will the consulate open more dates?
Ans: The consulate will open dates randomly as when feasible for them. However, please note that if you keep checking the date booking page on your account repeatedly, your account may get locked for 72 hrs. We suggest that you not check this particular page more than twice or thrice a day.

12. What happens when my account get locked for 72 hrs?
Ans: If this happens, you will not be able to log in to your account and book an interview date for almost the next 3 days (72 hrs). Hence, be careful about not checking the date booking page for more than 2-3 times a day. They usually there is a warning that flashes on the screen stating that the account may get locked.

13. What happens if the consulate rejects my application for emergency visa interview?
Ans: Before you apply for an emergency interview request, you will have to book the first available date. If your emergency request is not approved, your previously booked interview date stands available.

For the exact procedure to book an expedited interview —
Please follow this link — https://ustraveldocs.com/lr/lr-niv-appointmentschedule.html

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