Have to leave Europe very close to probable Interview date

[bananite 67]

Hi all,

So my husband and I have lived in Europe for the past few years, but my work contract is ending and we have to leave Europe by December 28th 2014. We planned to go to Israel to stay with his parents, because we expected to get his visa by next March-April.

But our I-130 got approved today, a month earlier than we expected, and it says the average time to interview is 143 days. We'll be here in Europe the next 164 days. This feels like it's cutting it awfully close.

I'm not sure if we should keep the consulate here in Europe and hope we get the interview before leaving, or if we should change it to Jerusalem now (though we were only planning to go to Israel if we didn't get his visa before we left Europe. Ideally we'd go right to the US if we had his visa.)

Or should we wait and see? Is it difficult to change a consulate late in the game?

P.S. Our requested consulate is not in our country of residence. (We live right on the border of France and Switzerland, and the Swiss consulate is 3 hours away, whereas the French one is 8 hours away). So I'm not sure how this affects things. The form said if it's a consulate outside your country, you might not get it.