Lack Of US Visa Interview Dates: How To Ensure You Get The Dates?

Getting a US visa interview date is a huge hassle. First of all, there are limited dates available, and even if you find one, it can go away in seconds. Secondly, you have made minimal attempts to book an interview date. If you run out of attempts, you will be restricted to logging in for a maximum of 72 hours. It is a frustrating job requiring ample patience, discipline, and pre-planning.

Here are three tips to ensure you get your US visa interview dates with as little hassle as possible.

Apply To A University From Where You Can Get An I-20 Early

It is better to apply to universities that release the I-20 earlier than other universities. While many applicants will wait for their I-20 to arrive, you will already be booking your US visa interview date, which increases your probability of securing one. Adding on, once you have secured your date, you still have the liberty to change your university 5 to 6 days before the US Visa interview date. You just need to update your DS 160 in CGI Federal. To know more about which university releases the I-20 early, inquire here. We will help you out.

Don't Go Crazy Over Visa Interview Bookings

As we mentioned earlier, you need to be patient enough while booking US visa interview dates. We mean it because each time you try to book a date, and if that date is not available, your attempts will keep on decreasing. There are a total of 12 attempts. Once you have reached your 12th attempt, you will get warnings, and if you ignore them, you will not be able to log in again for 72 hours, leaving you feeling miserable. So, to prevent such a situation from happening, you need to keep your attempts in check.

Do Not Reschedule Multiple Times

Even if the US visa interview fee is valid for one year, rescheduling a US visa interview date is limited. You can reschedule your date two times only, without penalty. Sounds simple? Nah! Sorry to burst your bubble. There is always a possibility that your first scheduling attempt might get canceled. If it gets canceled, you will have to wait for 90 days to reschedule a new date. Thus, it is better to maintain your discipline and not to reschedule your US visa interview date as much as possible.

Bonus

Start Applying Early: Here is How The Timeline Looks Like

To break it all simply, you just need to start applying to universities early. Applying early to universities gives you the flexibility to secure the US visa interview date of your choice and change your university preference time and again. The only recommendation is just don't reschedule your dates.
Regarding the timeline, you need to understand that your I-20 arrives on March 20, and it states that your session or classes start on August 20. You can immediately start booking your dates from March 20 in CGI Federal, the official US visa interview booking site for Nepal. However, you can only choose 120 days before the start date of classes mentioned in your I-20. Suppose even if you get a date before 120 days, the chances are you might get your visa rejected during the interview. Please refer to the timeline below to understand better.