A small number of visa applicants may qualify for an expedited emergency visa interview appointment, as long as they can satisfy one or more criteria listed below:
- You need to travel to the US urgently to seek emergency medical treatment. You must provide a description of the matter and your attending physician’s contact information.
- Your need to accompany your immediate family member (mother, father, brother, sister, child, grandparent, or grandchild) who needs to seek emergency medical treatment in the US. You must provide the name, relationship, place, and description of the matter, and the attending physician’s contact information.
- You urgently need to travel to the US due a family emergency, such as a death or illness of an immediate family member that requires your presence urgently. Applicants must provide the name, relationship, place, and description of the matter, as well as the attending physician’s or funeral home’s contact information.
- You need to return to the US to attend classes or resume working in a timely manner. Form I-20 or Form DS-2019 should show a start date that is earlier than the first available visa appointment.
- You must travel to attend an urgent and late-breaking matter, where the need to travel to the US could not have been foreseen.
- You need to make an appearance in a US court.
- Your visa was lost or stolen.
- You have an unexpected visit that is of significant cultural, political, journalistic, or economic importance.
- You are a U nonimmigrant visa applicant.
- You are a foreign non-resident citizen of a Visa Waiver Program (VWP) country who has lost or had your biometric passport stolen. Once you apply for an emergency replacement passport obtained from the Embassy/Consulate, you can apply for an emergency appointment because travel is NOT permitted under the Visa Waiver Program without a biometric or machine-readable passport. Therefore, a visa is required.
Please note that the above list is not exhaustive.
Expedited US Visa Appointment Procedure
- Schedule a regular appointment, even if it does not meet your needs.
Before you can schedule your appointment, you must complete DS-160 form, pay the non-refundable visa fee, and so on.
Details - Send an emergency appointment request to the US Embassy or Consulate. This procedure varies with the country. Make sure to fill out all required fields.
- Generally, within two business days after you send your request, based on the circumstances, you will receive an email from the Consular Section approving or denying the emergency request. If your emergency appointment is approved, the email will include additional instructions. If your request is denied, your regular appointment is still valid.
- When you go for the interview, you must have documentary evidence to prove that you satisfy one or more of the criteria for an emergency appointment.
Caution
- If the consular officer finds that you have misrepresented your case, such record will go in your file and may adversely influence the outcome of your current and future visa applications.
- If the consular officer finds that you don’t have a genuine emergency that requires an emergency appointment, you will be asked to come back later on your regular appointment date.
- Even during an interview at an emergency appointment, you are treated as a normal visa applicant. You must qualify for a US visa in every respect.
- Please note that the emergency appointment does not expedite the delivery of a visa.
Emergency USA Visa Appointments
In certain circumstances, US Embassy or Consulate allows you to schedule an emergency appointment with them when you can’t wait for a normal appointment, due to well-justified reasons.
The criteria for the emergency appointments vary by the country.
Country-Specific Emergency US Visa Appointment Information
India
 
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China
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Mexico
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