If you are going through consular processing, the last and most important step of the process is to have a visa interview at your nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. Visa interviews are similar to USCIS interviews, except that they do not place in the United States, they take place in your home country. At the visa interview, an applicant’s job is to mainly explain their reasoning for pursuing a visa to come to the United States, and also present any necessary supplementary documentation (such as medical records).
Visa interviews are perhaps a little more stressful for those seeking immigration benefits because if a visa is denied to an applicant, they cannot enter the U.S. as planned and perhaps will not be able to accompany family members already living in the U.S. or pursue their dream job. For this reason, it is highly advised by the State Department, and immigration experts more broadly, that applicants should not try to reschedule their visa interview appointment.
However, if it is absolutely necessary, and the applicant has no other choice, a visa interview appointment can be rescheduled at a U.S. embassy or consulate. In this blog, we will go through that procedure.
First Steps
If you are planning on rescheduling a visa interview at a U.S. consulate or embassy, you need to first consider that only legitimate reasons will give you access to cancelling your current appointment in place of another. For instance, if you have a medical emergency or your son or daughter is having a medical emergency, this will suffice. Additionally, your current visa appointment may be impossible given your plans to travel to the United States. If you need to re-work your travel plans, you may consider finding a new date for a visa interview.
Once you have determined that you will be going forth with setting a new date, you will need to relocate to the State Department website, and find the list of consulates or embassies so you can select the one that applies to you. Each U.S. embassy or consulate has different contact information, so you will need to follow up with the right email address.
Find your U.S embassy/consulate here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/list-of-posts.html.
Scroll down the list and select the relevant Consulate. Once you have selected, scroll down again and see that there will be some information regarding “Rescheduling an Appointment”. This is where you will find the right email address associated with your visa appointment.
Making Contact and Rescheduling
Send your respective consulate a professional email explaining your situation and why you need to reschedule your visa interview. Include important such as the following:
- Name
- DOB
- Receipt of approved alien petition/employment petition
- NVC application number
- Explanation of request for new visa appointment date
Other Options
You can also call the NVC directly and wait on hold to speak to a representative in order to change your U.S. embassy/consular visa appointment. In order to do this, please see the following link and make sure to call the right number depending on whether you are applying for an immigrant or non-immigrant visa: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/nvc-contact-information.html.
