Interview location for non-immigrant visa (B-2)

[msittig 1]

Many years ago when my wife applied for tourist visas to visit the US, the location of her non-immigrant visa interview was determined by her place of residence and the various consular districts defined on the embassy website. Since we lived in Shanghai at the time, she interviewed at the Shanghai consulate.

 

Now we are beginning to help her parents apply for tourist visas. The situation is different this time because they live in Hunan. However, I cannot find the consular districts defined anywhere on any of the embassy/consulate websites, nor on ustraveldocs.com. Does this mean B-2 applicants can interview at any consulate location they choose? It's so far to travel from their home in Hunan to Beijing, as the old district boundaries dictated, and we would much prefer to have them interview in Guangzhou.

 

It will be even easier next year when the Wuhan consulate begins processing visas...

[RandyW 149]

Physical Contact Information for Consulates

includes the Dept of State districts, and links to the Dept of State websites where the information comes from. Unfortunately, it looks like the Beijing Embassy has jurisdiction over Hunan, even though the USCIS district for Guangzhou includes Hunan.

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by RandyW

[msittig 1]

7 minutes ago, RandyW said:

includes the Dept of State districts, and links to the Dept of State websites where the information comes from

Yes, but... that information has been scrubbed from all official websites, including the Dept of State's and embassy/consulates. The only place I can source that info from now is from older websites like Candle for Love and passporthealthusa.com. I'd assume that the old consular districts are still in place, but I hate to assume. The DS-160 application asks me which consulate we will be applying to... I guess I will try emailing the embassy directly.

[msittig 1]

I've emailed Guangzhou and the support email for US Travel Docs. I will report back what they say.

 

Also, I found an unofficial but comprehensive Chinese-language guide to applying for a US tourist visa from January of 2018, and it says:

 

Quote

美国旅游签证申请原则是：不管申请人现居住何处，永久居留地在哪里
都可以在美国驻中国的任一签证办事处（北京、上海、广州、成都及沈阳）申请签证

 

My translation:

 

Quote

The US tourist visa application follows this rule: No matter where the applicant lives, or where their permanent residence is,

they can apply for a visa at any of the US visa offices in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenyang)

Here's to hoping that is true...

[RandyW 149]

Oh, hi! I didn't realize that was you. The information on CFL came from this Dept of State page - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/China.html

 

under Embassies and Consulates. They don't "scrub" the sites, but they do change them up periodically.

 

They may TELL you to go to the one by their DOS district, but it's not always enforced.

 

You can contact them directly, or start out at USTravelDocs and select the Consulate of your choice and see how it goes.

Edited April 14, 2018 by RandyW

[RandyW 149]

They don't "scrub" the sites, but they do change them up periodically - the other links at the top of the CFL page work, also. 

 

The Dept of State pages were re-worked a couple of years back to consolidate the information. China consulates information was consolidated under https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/

Edited April 14, 2018 by RandyW

[msittig 1]

I received a reply from USTravelDocs in about a day and a half:

 

Date/Time Case Opened:	4/14/2018 11:03 AM
Description:	Hi! I am helping my parents-in-law apply for a B2 visa to visit my wife and me in California. They live in Hunan. When I looked up visa information several years ago, I found that that Hunan was in the Beijing consular district, which meant they would need to travel to Beijing for their visa interview. But now I cannot find any information about consular districts on the embassy/consulate websites, nor on the State Dept website. *Does this mean that B2 visa applicants can now interview at the consulate of their choice?* From Hunan, it would be much easier for my in-laws to travel to Guangzhou than to Beijing. I hope this is possible. Thank you for your assistance, -- msittig
Origin:	Email
Case Reason:	B2 interview location
Public Response:	Dear Applicant, Thank you for writing to the U.S. Visa Service Desk. We understand that you want to ask about district restrictions to apply for U.S visa. There is no regional limit to apply for a U.S visa, and the applicant can apply for the visa in a nearby U.S consulate or where the applicant has the strongest tie. For more information, please visit www.ustraveldocs.com/cn. Yours Sincerely, U.S Visa Service Desk

[msittig 1]

This is the reply from the embassy, received in about two days:

 

Quote

Thank you for your email.

The visa applicant can submit the non-immigrant visa application to any consulate in China. However, applicants should decide where to apply based on more than just convenience or delay in getting an appointment in their home district. One thing to consider, for example, is in which consular district the applicant can demonstrate the strongest ties.

 

Consular Information Unit

U.S. Embassy

 

[RandyW 149]

On 4/16/2018 at 11:21 PM, msittig said:

This is the reply from the embassy, received in about two days:

 

"However, applicants should decide where to apply based on more than just convenience or delay in getting an appointment in their home district. One thing to consider, for example, is in which consular district the applicant can demonstrate the strongest ties."

Interesting weasel words  - sounds like it'll work for you, though.

 

Thanks for reporting back!

Edited April 19, 2018 by RandyW

[msittig 1]

A little late to be replying to this 10-month old topic, but I wanted to report that my Hunanese in-laws applied to and interviewed at the Guangzhou consulate, and were successful in their application for tourist visas. It probably helped that we/they went all-out in preparing evidence of their ties to China, and of their intention to stay in the US for a short visit. They have since visited the US, and then returned to their home in China.

 

Thanks for your help, Randy.