Can We Make Our Own Embassy Appointment to Save Time?

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Okay so I made what I consider a major mistake. I made a typo on my wifes DS-230. Typed 2019 to present instead of 2009 to present under question 30. NVC wants a new signed form from wife sent from Manila. Now waiting for newly signed document to arrive here in Hawaii from Philippines. Then I will send it on the NVC. Because of this error I found the US Embassy Manila website. As I now understand it I can schedule my wifes embassy interview appointment. Even for CR-1. So heres my thinking. I will have the newly signed document (DS-230) at NVC by Friday 05/03/2013. NOTE: Due to my job....if I cannot go to Manila to pick up my wife before the end of June 2013 I might have to wait another 3 or 4 months before I can take vacation. So here is my question: Is there any reason why I cannot go ahead and schedule an interview appointment for say 06/03? I am hoping that the NVC will receive and accept the corrected form within 2 weeks of receiving same. (By May 15) If they do can I simply tell them that I have already scheduled the Embassy interview in Manila and ask that they just send the CASE COMPLETE to Manila? I understand that if you are unable to make your scheduled embassy you simply cancel the appointment on-line and schdeule a new one. I have also read from other Visa Journey folks that the NVC take sometimes 2-3 weeks to contact the embassy just to set your appointment and then the appointment is anywhere from 1-3 months off from that date. IS THERE ANY REASON WHY MY THINKING IS FLAWED HERE? I mean the US Embassy Manila needs passport number, NVC case numbers, etc..for me to create a profile for my wife in order to set up the appointment. We already have all the required information. It just seems like this is a logocal approach to saving more time. Does anyone know if this will work and does anyone know how I would request NVC to send the Complete Package on to the embassy seeing as I have already set up an interview appointment. P.S. NVC says everything was okay will all documents submitted and the case would be complete if it were not for the typo. What a bummer. Can anyone help me with this?

[Inky 1,110]

Generally spousal visa interviews are made only by the NVC.

As this is also country specific i'm moving your post to the Phils forums so you can get proper information to your countrys interview booking procedures.

[dd215 9]

Okay so I made what I consider a major mistake. I made a typo on my wifes DS-230. Typed 2019 to present instead of 2009 to present under question 30. NVC wants a new signed form from wife sent from Manila. Now waiting for newly signed document to arrive here in Hawaii from Philippines. Then I will send it on the NVC. Because of this error I found the US Embassy Manila website. As I now understand it I can schedule my wifes embassy interview appointment. Even for CR-1. So heres my thinking. I will have the newly signed document (DS-230) at NVC by Friday 05/03/2013. NOTE: Due to my job....if I cannot go to Manila to pick up my wife before the end of June 2013 I might have to wait another 3 or 4 months before I can take vacation. So here is my question: Is there any reason why I cannot go ahead and schedule an interview appointment for say 06/03? I am hoping that the NVC will receive and accept the corrected form within 2 weeks of receiving same. (By May 15) If they do can I simply tell them that I have already scheduled the Embassy interview in Manila and ask that they just send the CASE COMPLETE to Manila? I understand that if you are unable to make your scheduled embassy you simply cancel the appointment on-line and schdeule a new one. I have also read from other Visa Journey folks that the NVC take sometimes 2-3 weeks to contact the embassy just to set your appointment and then the appointment is anywhere from 1-3 months off from that date. IS THERE ANY REASON WHY MY THINKING IS FLAWED HERE? I mean the US Embassy Manila needs passport number, NVC case numbers, etc..for me to create a profile for my wife in order to set up the appointment. We already have all the required information. It just seems like this is a logocal approach to saving more time. Does anyone know if this will work and does anyone know how I would request NVC to send the Complete Package on to the embassy seeing as I have already set up an interview appointment. P.S. NVC says everything was okay will all documents submitted and the case would be complete if it were not for the typo. What a bummer. Can anyone help me with this?

You CAN schedule your own embassy appointment online at USEM. We are K-1 filers. Armed with the NVC case number and your visa payment receipt number, along with her passport info, you can create a profile online and then schedule an appointment without waiting for "official notification," which as you said can take months. We received our NOA2 on April 19. Received our case number from NVC on the 29th. I got that from calling NVC EVERYDAY until our packet arrived. The operator was able to give me the MNL case number. Our USEM interview is May 16th. Like you, I have a limited window to travel and it's imperative that we get this done in the month of May. You can expedite things, but you have to be proactive. Detailed instructions for online appointments are located within the USEM home page. Good luck. It CAN be done!!

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Yeah I thought so so I went ahead and scheduled the appointment on-line. Then I called NVC and was told that I cannot schedule my wifes interview, that the NVC must schedule interviews. One would assume that since the US Embassy had a web site and a way to create a profile that it only made sense that they would expect people to schedule appointments for interviews?? I mean I even selected where we want the visa delivered to. So now I am wondering, if I go to Philippines to attend the interview with my wife will there be any problems. She has already completed her St Luke's Exam and they have made the proper notation in her passort. After Embassy Interview all we need to do is go back to Cebu to the CFO to get the sticker placed on her VISA/PASSPORT. (She already took and passed the class.) I am a domestic violence investigator in Hawaii for the State and the stuff they are teaching at CFO is from 1940's, really outdated and they gave my wife such a hard time demanding more and more papers. She had to go back three times, each time they asked for more papers, none of which were on the list of required documents by the way. But she did ger her certificate. There's a lot of a*s kissing that goes on in some of those offices. Anyway thanks for the info. Now I have you telling me it can be done and the NVC people saying it can't. I wonder how I can be sure that my trip there will not be a waste. It just seems like it can be done or why would the US Embassy have the web site and a way to do it?? Aloha and Mahalo

Oh and by the way. I hold in my hands a document that I printed out entitled APPOINTMENT CONFIRMATION from the US Embassy Manila.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Oh and by the way. Congratulations to you both. Good luck with your interview. May you forever be happy together.

[Tahoma 2,292]

Yeah I thought so so I went ahead and scheduled the appointment on-line. Then I called NVC and was told that I cannot schedule my wifes interview, that the NVC must schedule interviews. One would assume that since the US Embassy had a web site and a way to create a profile that it only made sense that they would expect people to schedule appointments for interviews?? I mean I even selected where we want the visa delivered to. So now I am wondering, if I go to Philippines to attend the interview with my wife will there be any problems. She has already completed her St Luke's Exam and they have made the proper notation in her passort. After Embassy Interview all we need to do is go back to Cebu to the CFO to get the sticker placed on her VISA/PASSPORT. (She already took and passed the class.) I am a domestic violence investigator in Hawaii for the State and the stuff they are teaching at CFO is from 1940's, really outdated and they gave my wife such a hard time demanding more and more papers. She had to go back three times, each time they asked for more papers, none of which were on the list of required documents by the way. But she did ger her certificate. There's a lot of a*s kissing that goes on in some of those offices. Anyway thanks for the info. Now I have you telling me it can be done and the NVC people saying it can't. I wonder how I can be sure that my trip there will not be a waste. It just seems like it can be done or why would the US Embassy have the web site and a way to do it?? Aloha and Mahalo

Oh and by the way. I hold in my hands a document that I printed out entitled APPOINTMENT CONFIRMATION from the US Embassy Manila.

^^^. The OP can't schedule an interview. He's a CR-1er, not a K-1er.

[let-it-be 36]

If it's IR (Immigrant Visa) you can only use the ustraveldocs site if you have to RESCHEDULE an interview in an event that you can't make it to the interview appointment date that NVC had set up.

Edited May 1, 2013 by let-it-be

[Hank_ 9,174]

You CAN schedule your own embassy appointment online at USEM. We are K-1 filers. Armed with the NVC case number and your visa payment receipt number, along with her passport info, you can create a profile online and then schedule an appointment without waiting for "official notification," which as you said can take months. We received our NOA2 on April 19. Received our case number from NVC on the 29th. I got that from calling NVC EVERYDAY until our packet arrived. The operator was able to give me the MNL case number. Our USEM interview is May 16th. Like you, I have a limited window to travel and it's imperative that we get this done in the month of May. You can expedite things, but you have to be proactive. Detailed instructions for online appointments are located within the USEM home page. Good luck. It CAN be done!!

They are IR/CR-1 and can not schedule their own interview, NVC does it. The process is not the same as for K-1

[Hank_ 9,174]

Yeah I thought so so I went ahead and scheduled the appointment on-line. Then I called NVC and was told that I cannot schedule my wifes interview, that the NVC must schedule interviews. One would assume that since the US Embassy had a web site and a way to create a profile that it only made sense that they would expect people to schedule appointments for interviews?? I mean I even selected where we want the visa delivered to. So now I am wondering, if I go to Philippines to attend the interview with my wife will there be any problems. She has already completed her St Luke's Exam and they have made the proper notation in her passort. After Embassy Interview all we need to do is go back to Cebu to the CFO to get the sticker placed on her VISA/PASSPORT. (She already took and passed the class.) I am a domestic violence investigator in Hawaii for the State and the stuff they are teaching at CFO is from 1940's, really outdated and they gave my wife such a hard time demanding more and more papers. She had to go back three times, each time they asked for more papers, none of which were on the list of required documents by the way. But she did ger her certificate. There's a lot of a*s kissing that goes on in some of those offices. Anyway thanks for the info. Now I have you telling me it can be done and the NVC people saying it can't. I wonder how I can be sure that my trip there will not be a waste. It just seems like it can be done or why would the US Embassy have the web site and a way to do it?? Aloha and Mahalo

Oh and by the way. I hold in my hands a document that I printed out entitled APPOINTMENT CONFIRMATION from the US Embassy Manila.

You were given bad info in the earlier post, as that is for K-1 and yours is IR/CR-1 for which NVC does the scheduling with the embassy.

You making an appointment does little if NVC hasn't sent your file to the embassy yet......... just saying.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

If it's IR (Immigrant Visa) you can only use the ustraveldocs site if you have to RESCHEDULE an interview in an event that you can't make it to the interview appointment date that NVC had set up.

Its really interesting this Visa Journey process. The US Traveldocs site allows me to create a profile for my SPOUSE. They ask if we are K-1 or CR-1. I select CR-1. No where on the site does it ask me for the missed appointment date or previously scheduled appointment date. Now, of course maybe common sense does not always work but why does the US goverenment allow me to create a profile and set an appointment date and time if they really don't allow this? I am so confused. Again this process does not make sense.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Generally spousal visa interviews are made only by the NVC.

As this is also country specific i'm moving your post to the Phils forums so you can get proper information to your countrys interview booking procedures.

I'm not sure why you moved this post? It really is not country specific as you suggest. It has everything to do with the US Embassy and really nothing to do with the Philippine government. I wish you folks would quit moving my stuff. This is why I get so few responses. Think about it. I am asking if anyone knows if CR-1 applicants can make their own appointments at a U S EMBASSY. Not the Philippines embassy. I would think this question would apply to all visa applicants that apply for a visa to enter the US regardless what country they are from.

[let-it-be 36]

Its really interesting this Visa Journey process. The US Traveldocs site allows me to create a profile for my SPOUSE. They ask if we are K-1 or CR-1. I select CR-1. No where on the site does it ask me for the missed appointment date or previously scheduled appointment date. Now, of course maybe common sense does not always work but why does the US goverenment allow me to create a profile and set an appointment date and time if they really don't allow this? I am so confused. Again this process does not make sense.

I understand what your saying. Even though my parents IR-5 interview was scheduled by NVC, in the ustraveldocs site there was no record of them even having that schedule. It's like the profile I created there couldn't be connected with that of what NVC & the USEM had scheduled. The profile is solely all about what information we put there.

Edited May 1, 2013 by let-it-be

[Caryh 5,206]

I'm not sure why you moved this post? It really is not country specific as you suggest. It has everything to do with the US Embassy and really nothing to do with the Philippine government. I wish you folks would quit moving my stuff. This is why I get so few responses. Think about it. I am asking if anyone knows if CR-1 applicants can make their own appointments at a U S EMBASSY. Not the Philippines embassy. I would think this question would apply to all visa applicants that apply for a visa to enter the US regardless what country they are from.

the process at the embassy varies by country. That is why they moved your post. There is no generic USA Embassy, you're dealing with the USA Embassy Manila, they even have their own web site with their own instructions that must be followed. what you would like to do makes sense to me, but many parts of this journey make little sense, yet we ignore jumping thru those hoops to our own detriment.