US B2 Holiday Visa Interview

LouR

Hi all,

my family is going on holiday to USA in August. My VWP was denied so I need a full B2 Visa/interview at the London or Belfast consular. I've completed the DS-160 form but the usvisa-info website says the I need to pay MRV fee and earliest appointment is late august. I phoned to see if there was any earlier and the man/robot non-stop suggested I pay the fee and he will check his "calendar", I asked if there would be earlier appointments than what can be seen on usvisa-info and his reply was "pay the fee and I can check my FULL calendar". Again, I asked if this would show earlier dates and his reply was to pay the fee.

I don't want to pay the fee and him say "sorry the earliest is what's shown on the website". Is it possible he'd be able to get earlier dates? You'd think so but on the website itself it states customer service can only see the information/dates that WE can see so I'm sure they just want me to pay anyway.

Has anyone had any experience with phoning for cancellations or getting an expedited interview for a holiday?

Really appreciate any help.

danielthomark

Why was it denied?

Not being nosy but if it requires a waiver of inadmissibility then August is cutting it fine. If you are Iranian it would probably go to administrative processing.

As they now have your details, your only option is to try and get an appointment or arrange another holiday.

LouR

danielthomark wrote: »

your only option is to try and get an appointment.

Yes, that's what I'm trying hence my original question

I'm looking for help trying to get an earlier appointment and not sure if I should pay before it's available in the hopes the man can "look in the full calendar" or if that's just a ploy for me to waste my money.

danielthomark

I do not know if the website is updated in real time but from what I can see the Belfast wait time is 17 days, London is 14 days.

h**ps://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/wait-times.html

LouR

danielthomark wrote: »

Hes a script monkey working on a script that he can't go off. I do not know if the website is updated in real time but from what I can see the Belfast wait time is 17 days, London is 14 days.

h**ps://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/wait-times.html

I believe those times are for how long the Visa can take to be processed once approved as the earliest interview for a standard non-immigrant B2 visa at Belfast is end of July.

Thanks for checking and helping.

danielthomark

It definitely states 'Appointment Wait Time'




The website was updated today as well. That reads to me as a 14 day wait, and 5 day processing.

LouR

danielthomark wrote: »

It definitely states 'Appointment Wait Time'




The website was updated today as well. That reads to me as a 14 day wait, and 5 day processing.

Update: just spoke with the embassy and they said 14 days is approximate times. I said late August is a lot longer than 14 days :mad:

Yes I see the same thing on the website, alas the usvisa-info website where you actually request an interview has extremely different appointment times

Not sure what's going on.

stclair

When I applied it was easier to go to Belfast than London.

liviboy

The embassy won't do anything without the fee being paid as until then there is no application (regardless of DS-160 status).

My wife and I had to have a B2 visa appointment in February for our upcoming summer trip because we had visited Sudan (wife's country of origin) for a family wedding.

At that time the availability was pretty much anytime after 2 weeks...and in fact I pushed our interview dates forward a couple of times without any hassle...but talking to the interviewer he had the impression it was going to get a whole lot busier come the summer.

It is, however, definitely worth trying to get a cancellation appointment if you can.

Belfast is apparently generally quieter than London, but we opted for London because it was cheaper for us to get to.

Admin. processing can take a long time depending on the reason for the VWP denial.

Most of all though, good luck with it all. The embassy isn't as "bad" as some folk try and make out. It's very well organised and they have relaxed a lot of the rules so you can take your phone, a backpack, lunch, etc. in with you. The first window where you hand in your documents won't really talk to you at all..but will talk AT you...but the second window for the actual interview was much more relaxed and down-to-earth than I had been led to believe.

Let us all know how you get on.