Rescheduling K1 Visa Interview Date - Sydney, Australia

[Sio 0]

Hi all

 

I am looking for any advice or any input from individuals who may have gone through a similar experience. 

 

The Consulate in Sydney emailed me my packet 4 on Friday March 29, 2019. The email they sent was blank. It contained no text in the body at all. All I recieved in this email was three attachments; a copy of my approved petition, the 'K Required Documents' pdf and the 'K1 Document Cover Sheet' pdf. From looking through Visa journey I was acutely aware this email should not be blank. I proceeded to lodge multiple enquiries with the consulate including phoning the 'call centre' and the robot line. 

 

When they finally responded on Thursday 4 April 2019, they advised they had sent an email on March 29, and forwarded it again... forwarded the BLANK email again. See below:

 

My mind was blown. I was extremely concerned and confused. I responded once again advising them that the email was blank and did not contain my interview details. They responded with this on Friday 5 April 2019:

 

I responded asking them to please confirm the date as the date they had provided does not exist and the year states 2017. 

 

They finally respond on April 8 2019:

 

They had not even given me 24 hours notice from when they had scheduled me.

 

I am currently in the US visiting my fiance and had literally no way to get to this appointment on time. Even if I was not in the US, I live in regional WA and for me to get to Sydney at such short notice would be extremely difficult. 

 

I immediately requested to reschedule, however, their response to this has been quite vague and I'm left wondering if I'll have a new appointment scheduled at all.

 

Does anyone know if I have some sort of protection due to the communications from the Consulate containing errors that prevented me from knowing (or being able to find out) my interview date with enough time to be able to attend? 

 

This has been one of the most stressful and frustrating things I have ever experienced.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I cannot find much help anywhere else or find anything on Visa Journey from anyone who has experienced something like this. Perhaps I am not looking hard enough. 

 

Thanks all.

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by Sio

[Derek & Cece 27]

Wow this sounds incredibly frustrating and rather troubling. My fiance will be going through Sydney herself for an interview in the fall and this sort of thing scares us. It's bad enough she has to pay for a flight to Sydney (like you she also lives in WA),  but if something happens that delays her flight or forces the consulate to reschedule her appointment, then what would happen? Trying to change a flight at the last minute can be expensive. On a side note who's bright idea was it to only have one place in the entire country to conduct these interviews? Anyway I hope you are able to get this resolved... this sounds very unfair to you and your fiance!