H1B visa appointment availability

[harirajmohan]

No luck and I dont think itll happen either. The wait continues.

Ok. They might respond few days earlier too. What date did you request the appointment for?
I also submitted request on Sep 21 to Toronto for oct 5 appointment.
For the backup date, did you find any regular appointment date? Mine is Jan6.

Edit on Sep 22: I got the appointment approved for Oct 6th. I gave the reason as Financial loss since i am paying 2 rent(Canada and US). I planned to move before covid started hence i did arrangement earlier but got stuck. So possibly they considered this problem and approved the expedited request and it seems we can request something other than the emergency reasons listed in the site.

 

[harirajmohan]

Limited Services are being provided except for locations Montreal and Calgary.

Last updated : September 18, 2020 at 10:26am EDT
https://ca.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/consular-operations-updates/

 

[IamBeingPatient]

Ok. They might respond few days earlier too. What date did you request the appointment for?
I also submitted request on Sep 21 to Toronto for oct 5 appointment.
For the backup date, did you find any regular appointment date? Mine is Jan6.

Edit on Sep 22: I got the appointment approved for Oct 6th. I gave the reason as Financial loss since i am paying 2 rent(Canada and US). I planned to move before covid started hence i did arrangement earlier but got stuck. So possibly they considered this problem and approved the expedited request and it seems we can request something other than the emergency reasons listed in the site.

Oh I’m glad you got it approved. I asked for Oct 1st appointment. Still haven’t heard anything. And no I can’t find any other appointment dates.

 

[IamBeingPatient]

Oh I’m glad you got it approved. I asked for Oct 1st appointment. Still haven’t heard anything. And no I can’t find any other appointment dates.

Edit
I heard back from them and they approved my emergency appointment request for the 15th October.

 

[usandcanada]

Hello ... I am trying to apply for H4 Visa stamping. I am in Canada in PR status and would like to go to US with H4 stamping to join my wife and kid. I completed the DS-160 and filled the appointment details in https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ca website but when I was about to make payment for visa fee it displays the message "There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments" and lists in the right side "No Appointments Available" for any consulate. I was hoping I can apply for emergency visa for H4 but there is no place to even book a regular appointment. Please provide suggestions, pointers to get a h4 visa stamping date in Canada ...

 

[harirajmohan]

Hello ... I am trying to apply for H4 Visa stamping. I am in Canada in PR status and would like to go to US with H4 stamping to join my wife and kid. I completed the DS-160 and filled the appointment details in https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ca website but when I was about to make payment for visa fee it displays the message "There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments" and lists in the right side "No Appointments Available" for any consulate. I was hoping I can apply for emergency visa for H4 but there is no place to even book a regular appointment. Please provide suggestions, pointers to get a h4 visa stamping date in Canada ...

Till few months back, we all could pay the fee, only after which one could even able to see the appointments calendar and i used to tell others that one first pay fee and then check for latest appointment.

So i am not sure now what happened and why they are blocking. May be this is condition was existing already as we never faced appt unavailability nationwide. So its possible that it expects some appointments in one consulate available before they allow to pay fee as its logical that you cant anyway book an appointment without single appointment in one consulate in the whole country.

But it still blocks the people wo wanted to request emergency.
In India they allow officially request emergency appointment for H4 but not seeing any note in Canada.

Why suddenly you need appointment? Are you planning to apply 485?

 

[IamBeingPatient]

Hello ... I am trying to apply for H4 Visa stamping. I am in Canada in PR status and would like to go to US with H4 stamping to join my wife and kid. I completed the DS-160 and filled the appointment details in https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ca website but when I was about to make payment for visa fee it displays the message "There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments" and lists in the right side "No Appointments Available" for any consulate. I was hoping I can apply for emergency visa for H4 but there is no place to even book a regular appointment. Please provide suggestions, pointers to get a h4 visa stamping date in Canada ...

You can try to email the consulate directly to request an emergency appointment. That would be your best bet. Yes, usually you need to have an existing appointment to request an expedite. So try emailing them directly and let them know if you are part of the exception to the presidential proclamation and that you would like an appointment

 

[usandcanada]

Till few months back, we all could pay the fee, only after which one could even able to see the appointments calendar and i used to tell others that one first pay fee and then check for latest appointment.

So i am not sure now what happened and why they are blocking. May be this is condition was existing already as we never faced appt unavailability nationwide. So its possible that it expects some appointments in one consulate available before they allow to pay fee as its logical that you cant anyway book an appointment without single appointment in one consulate in the whole country.

But it still blocks the people wo wanted to request emergency.
In India they allow officially request emergency appointment for H4 but not seeing any note in Canada.

Why suddenly you need appointment? Are you planning to apply 485?

Thank you Harirajmohan for your time and instant response. Really appreciate it. Whatever you explained totally makes sense. Probably there are just no appointments absolutelya nd so they are blocked. Rather than letting peopel pay , t is a better design to even block payment when there are no slots available. But unfortunately for emergency apointments, this is a problem as they ask for a regular appointment to even begin with. I'll try sending emails directly requesting for emergency requests. To answer your last question, not really. My wife has a good job in US which she cannot leave and move now and we have a baby too and my parents are going to go back to India soon and she cannot manage the job and kid without help. Plus we are worried to leave the kid in daycare during these covid days and So I wanted to get the H4 soon now so I can manage there for few months and ay be apply for EAD and work or something. First priority s to reunite with family and take care of kid during these covid hardships.

 

[usandcanada]

You can try to email the consulate directly to request an emergency appointment. That would be your best bet. Yes, usually you need to have an existing appointment to request an expedite. So try emailing them directly and let them know if you are part of the exception to the presidential proclamation and that you would like an appointment

Thank you so much "IamBeingPatient" for your instant response. People like you and "harirajan" are really life saviors when it comes to tuff moments like these when you need help during tough times. Emailing them with clear explanation of situaion was what I was planning to do too. In fact I was going to email all consulates in Canada so even if one consulate gives me an appointment I can go immediately. Hope this does not create any issues/confusions. Thanks again for your answer, it gives me more confidence that there is a remote chance to get an appointment based on my emails. Hoping for the best.

 

[harirajmohan]

Thank you Harirajmohan for your time and instant response. Really appreciate it. Whatever you explained totally makes sense. Probably there are just no appointments absolutelya nd so they are blocked. Rather than letting peopel pay , t is a better design to even block payment when there are no slots available. But unfortunately for emergency apointments, this is a problem as they ask for a regular appointment to even begin with. I'll try sending emails directly requesting for emergency requests. To answer your last question, not really. My wife has a good job in US which she cannot leave and move now and we have a baby too and my parents are going to go back to India soon and she cannot manage the job and kid without help. Plus we are worried to leave the kid in daycare during these covid days and So I wanted to get the H4 soon now so I can manage there for few months and ay be apply for EAD and work or something. First priority s to reunite with family and take care of kid during these covid hardships.

So then you can explain in detail on the actual situation and ask them to consider the request. Good luck.

 

[harirajmohan]

Thank you so much "IamBeingPatient" for your instant response. People like you and "harirajan" are really life saviors when it comes to tuff moments like these when you need help during tough times. Emailing them with clear explanation of situaion was what I was planning to do too. In fact I was going to email all consulates in Canada so even if one consulate gives me an appointment I can go immediately. Hope this does not create any issues/confusions. Thanks again for your answer, it gives me more confidence that there is a remote chance to get an appointment based on my emails. Hoping for the best.

Please dont send email to all of them. Please email the one you need which is near to your home. Later call the emergency line about the request you made and leave voice mail to check the request if they dont respond in 2-3 days. But emailing all would might create confusion and problem of accepting from multiple places and later cancelling might create issue for you.

Note: They have not responded to my email request since Jul but its for clarification on exemption of H4.
But you should not worry for your request. I am specifying this because they might or might not respond in one day hence you call them after 2 days if they dont respond.

 

[usandcanada]

So then you can explain in detail on the actual situation and ask them to consider the request. Good luck.

Thank you "harirajmohan" I'll do that.

 

[usandcanada]

Please dont send email to all of them. Please email the one you need which is near to your home. Later call the emergency line about the request you made and leave voice mail to check the request if they dont respond in 2-3 days. But emailing all would might create confusion and problem of accepting from multiple places and later cancelling might create issue for you.

Note: They have not responded to my email request since Jul but its for clarification on exemption of H4.
But you should not worry for your request. I am specifying this because they might or might not respond in one day hence you call them after 2 days if they dont respond.

Please dont send email to all of them. Please email the one you need which is near to your home. Later call the emergency line about the request you made and leave voice mail to check the request if they dont respond in 2-3 days. But emailing all would might create confusion and problem of accepting from multiple places and later cancelling might create issue for you.

Note: They have not responded to my email request since Jul but its for clarification on exemption of H4.
But you should not worry for your request. I am specifying this because they might or might not respond in one day hence you call them after 2 days if they dont respond.

Ok got it. Very valid point. I'll just email Toronto then and follow-up in like 2 days. So they haven't responded to your email from July. Wow that spooks me. So were you able to reach them by phone and if yes how soon were you able to talk to them?

 

[harirajmohan]

So they haven't responded to your email from July. Wow that spooks me. So were you able to reach them by phone and if yes how soon were you able to talk to them?

My query was different and just was asking clarification. So there is no obligation for them to respond to clarification on Executive Order exemptions.
So my email request is totally different than yours. They will respond for you as its related to appointment.

 

[usandcanada]

My query was different and just was asking clarification. So there is no obligation for them to respond to clarification on Executive Order exemptions.
So my email request is totally different than yours. They will respond for you as its related to appointment.

Good to know "harirajmohan". I keep saying this again n again but it is such a relief when someone responds to such queries at such stressful times. Thank you so much my friend ...