Updated on 09.09.2021
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Under certain circumstances, visa applicants may request an emergency appointment with the US Consulate. The US consulate lists the exceptions in which emergency appointments may be requested.
Permissible reasons for an emergency appointment
If the emergency appointment is needed for one of the following reasons, it may be allowed by the US consulate:
Please note that the decision on the allocation of an emergency appointment is always made by the US consulate. In addition, there is no guarantee that your emergency appointment request will be granted.
Failure to make timely arrangements to apply for a US visa does not constitute grounds for an emergency appointment.
Deaths of 3rd degree relatives are also not accepted as sufficient reason.
Furthermore, in the case of business travelers, the reference to an urgent customer appointment for meetings could not necessarily be considered an emergency.
In order to apply for a rush appointment, the first step is to make a normal appointment. Accordingly, you must pay the consular fee in the normal way, make an interview appointment and complete the online visa application form. DS-160.
Before requesting an emergency appointment, the availability of consular interview appointments at U.S. consulates in the home country should be checked. Emergency appointments are usually only made if there are no appointments available at all locations where one can apply for the desired U.S. visa.
Applicants in Germany, for example, have the opportunity to attend a visa interview in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main or Munich. While in Austria the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna is responsible, applicants in Switzerland can contact the U.S. Embassy in Bern.
If no available regular interview appointments are available, emergency appointments may be made for the next available appointment at U.S. consulates in the home country.
After you have prepared the application as far as possible and reserved the next available regular appointment, you can ask for an emergency appointment via the visa profile.
The urgency of the trip to the USA must be proven in any case with supporting documents. These can be, for example, letters from the USA, proof of appointments or invitations. Students should also include, in addition to proof of the start of the program, confirmation that theSEVIS-fee has been paid. In case of ESTA refusal, a printout or proof of refusal must be submitted.
The justification letter must be written in English and supported by other documents.
If your request is deemed an emergency by the US Consulate, you will receive an email notification that an emergency appointment can be scheduled. Thereupon, the emergency appointments available for you will be displayed in your visa profile, through which you booked the first regular appointment. After booking the emergency appointment, the rest of the application process will proceed as usual and you can prepare for the in-person interview at the US Consulate with the appropriate application documents.
It is important to note that the emergency appointment does not necessarily take place at the applicant's preferred location - e.g. close to home. The time and, in particular, the application location cannot be chosen by the applicant during an emergency appointment. In addition, an emergency appointment can only be requested once you have all the necessary documents.
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