Emergency Appointment Vancouver

[aksaokar]

Hi All,

As you all are aware, US consulates have been cancelling H1B appointments everywhere in Canada for Jan and Feb at the moment. I had already rescheduled my appointment thrice because of the pandemic and presidential proclamation introduced in June 2020. My recent appointment that got cancelled was supposed to held on Jan 14th 2020.

I have been reading about emergency appointment and decided to try it. My reason was separation from spouse who is in the US. I have drafted 300 words document and sent to consular via emergency appointment option earlier this month. I requested them to honor my original appointment citing the aforementioned reason. They have accepted it and scheduled me for Dec 22nd. I have completed my interview successfully and I hope this experience of mine helps others on how to approach emergency appointment situations.

Thanks! All the very best!

Hi, I have few questions:
1) What visa was your spouse working on?
2) Did you get an expedited appointment in Toronto itself and did you also have your regular appointment in Toronto itself?
3) Was your visa approved or any 221g/administrative processing needed as such?

 

[dry.00]

Any advice for me who's been using AVR to commute to work from Canada?
I'm not married, and I have no family in the US, so I can't use my spouse as the reason for emergency appointment

 

[harirajmohan]

Any advice for me who's been using AVR to commute to work from Canada?
I'm not married, and I have no family in the US, so I can't use my spouse as the reason for emergency appointment

Not everyone with spouse gets approved for appointment. So its not a sealed deal anyway.
Cant do much, just wait for new administration to open up consulates.

 

[dry.00]

Not everyone with spouse gets approved for appointment. So its not a sealed deal anyway.
Cant do much, just wait for new administration to open up consulates.

damn...that's frustrating.
Thanks for the reply as always.

 

[harirajmohan]

damn...that's frustrating.
Thanks for the reply as always.

it would have been much slower if current administration stayed. So there is quick hope for consulate opening. Will see how long the drama is streched.
These consulates are like cic who dont want to work i guess or not sure if it was specifically told not to reopen regular appointment. We will get to know in a month.

 

[dry.00]

it would have been much slower if current administration stayed. So there is quick hope for consulate opening. Will see how long the drama is streched.
These consulates are like cic who dont want to work i guess or not sure if it was specifically told not to reopen regular appointment. We will get to know in a month.

Well, the White House announced yesterday that the ban from Schengen and a few other countries will be lifted, but the Biden office said the travel ban will still be in place bwcause of COVID, so I'm not too hopeful.
I have my Vancouver appointment coming up in April, and I already bought plane tickets thinking I'll save money by buying them early. Thinking back, that may have been a stupid decision...

 

[harirajmohan]

Well, the White House announced yesterday that the ban from Schengen and a few other countries will be lifted, but the Biden office said the travel ban will still be in place bwcause of COVID, so I'm not too hopeful.
I have my Vancouver appointment coming up in April, and I already bought plane tickets thinking I'll save money by buying them early. Thinking back, that may have been a stupid decision...

ya its risky move. hopefully they open consulates in 1-2 months to serve regular appointments.

 

[swan0206]

ya its risky move. hopefully they open consulates in 1-2 months to serve regular appointments.

i still do not get the point of not serving regular appointments. Are they wantedly restricting people on Work Visa not to enter US on a whole? In India atleast they are allowing emergency appointments in most cases.

 

[harirajmohan]

1. i still do not get the point of not serving regular appointments. Are they wantedly restricting people on Work Visa not to enter US on a whole?
2. In India atleast they are allowing emergency appointments in most cases.

1. yes pretty much they are doing it deliberately or else they should have opened it at least with 50% capacity. The pandemic wont go for next 2 years even if we vaccinate everyone this year(which is not possible). So no point in waiting for virus to go fully. And its an idea of blocking immigration with the use of pandemic excuse wall.
2. ya this is what i dont get how a dept will issue orders in some consulates like that and in some like this. Seems no control and left it to the authority of the local embassy rather than state department.

 

[swan0206]

1. yes pretty much they are doing it deliberately or else they should have opened it at least with 50% capacity. The pandemic wont go for next 2 years even if we vaccinate everyone this year(which is not possible). So no point in waiting for virus to go fully. And its an idea of blocking immigration with the use of pandemic excuse wall.
2. ya this is what i dont get how a dept will issue orders in some consulates like that and in some like this. Seems no control and left it to the authority of the local embassy rather than state department.

I am eligible for dropbox if am going to India anytime in this year but why would anyone want to travel just for stamping. So, i am waiting for these people to open. But again using AVR every month is totally fine for me but the quarantine part is the craziest thing!

God knows when this is going to get normal.

 

[cr7isthegoat]

Thank you so much. I have not received the second email so I am worried. Did the expedite/emergency date provided show up in the AIS website ? Thank you so much

Second email took about 24-48 hours. It did show up on AIS website after I got the mail in my inbox. Thanks

 

[cr7isthegoat]

ok, since then you haven't atleast used AVR?

No I haven't. I didnt travel to US at all since then.

 

[cr7isthegoat]

Hi, I have few questions:
1) What visa was your spouse working on?
2) Did you get an expedited appointment in Toronto itself and did you also have your regular appointment in Toronto itself?
3) Was your visa approved or any 221g/administrative processing needed as such?

Spouse Visa - H1B
Expedited appointment in Vancouver. My regular appointment was also in Vancouver.
No 221g. Interview on Dec 22nd and I got the issued status on 23rd Dec through https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx

 

[cr7isthegoat]

Any advice for me who's been using AVR to commute to work from Canada?
I'm not married, and I have no family in the US, so I can't use my spouse as the reason for emergency appointment

Hopefully new administration will retract/cancel the EO ban in place. Heard Indian consulates have started scheduling regular appointments. Hang in there!

 

[swan0206]

Hopefully new administration will retract/cancel the EO ban in place. Heard Indian consulates have started scheduling regular appointments. Hang in there!

You are right. Are you talking about indian consulates or Us consulates in INdia? I read few visa interviews very recently. Seems like they started serving regular appointments.