Imagine a scenario when you will need to travel to the U.S urgently and are wondering if it is possible to get an appointment for an expedited visa at your nearest U.S consulate. The good news is this is possible provided you have a genuine reason and have documents to prove the urgency of the situation that requires your immediate travel to the United States.
Here are the criteria for qualifying for an expedited visa appointment:
- You must travel to the US for urgent medical treatment of either yourself or your relative
- You must go to the US because of the death of a family member such as brother, sister, husband, wife, children or parents. The visa is given either to bring the dead relative back to the home country or attend the funeral in the U.S.
- You must appear in a U.S court related to a case.
- You lost your visa, or it was stolen.
- You need to make an unplanned visit to attend an event of economic, cultural or political importance.
- You must attend an emergency business meeting or have to attend a training of 3 months or less, then you can apply for an expedited visa appointment.
- If you are student or an exchange student and have to start or resume your course in the U.S in a specified time or in less than 60 days, then you can apply for an emergency visa. However, you may not qualify if you have been refused a visa in the past six months.
The emergency must be a valid one. You must mention the emergency in the Emergency Request Form. Requests for attending a wedding, graduation ceremony, attending an annual business conference or helping a pregnant relative are not considered emergencies.
If your visa application was rejected in the last one year, you cannot apply for an expedited visa appointment.
Documents required as proof for different emergencies
If it is a medical emergency, you must provide proof that you have the required funds to meet the expenses of your travel and treatment in the U.S.
A letter from the doctor who is treating you which has details about the nature of your illness and reasons for getting it treated in the U.S.
Letter from the hospital in the U.S indicating their willingness to treat you and details about the cost of treatment.
If you must attend the funeral of a dead relative, you should provide documentary proof of your relationship with the deceased. You should also have a letter from the funeral director with his contact details. The letter should have details about the date of the funeral and about the deceased.
If it is a business emergency and you want to attend an urgent meeting or training, you must have a letter of invitation from the U.S company giving details about the business and the reasons for having an urgent meeting and account of the losses it will incur if the meeting does not happen.
If the travel is for training purposes, it must have details of the training program and details of the losses if the training is not conducted.
If you are a student or exchange student you must have proof that you have paid the SEVIS fees. You must also have the original I-20 or DS-2019 form as proof that your program is starting within 60 days and you need to go the U.S on an urgent basis.
Application process for an expedited visa appointment
You must follow certain steps to successfully obtain an expedited visa appointment at the U.S consulate or embassy nearest to you.
Step 1: Pay the visa application fees
Step 2: Fill the Non-immigrant Visa Electronic Application (DS-160) form.
Step 3: Fix an appointment online at the earliest date that is available. You must first make an appointment before making your request for an expedited appointment.
When making your online appointment you can view details of the earliest appointment dates available. Based on this information you can decide whether to make a request for an expedited appointment or not. However, if you must make an expedited appointment you must fill and submit the request form. You will then have to wait for a response by e-mail from the embassy or consulate.
Step 4: If your request is approved, you will get an e-mail with details of the scheduled appointment date.
Step 5: Once you have received the confirmation, ensure that you attend the interview at the appointed date and time. Documents you need to have include:
- Copy of the appointment letter
- Confirmation page of Form DS-160
- Recent passport size photograph
- Your passport
- Original receipt for payment of visa fees
A word of caution
If the immigration authorities find out that you have provided false information in your expedited visa application, you will not get your visa, and this might affect the outcome of your future applications. Your visa interview could be postponed for up to 90 days.
If the consulate realizes you do not have a genuine emergency, they may ask you to come back for a regular visa interview later.
Think through before you make a request for an expedited visa appointment. Your reasons must be genuine, and you must have documentary evidence to back your case.