Can I buy my flight ticket before the k1 Visa interview?

[Jessica Morais 0]

I'm waiting my interview in January, but I watn to buy my flight ticket before it because Its cheaper hahahhaa 

Have anybody bought the flight before the interview? 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

Do not buy a ticket until your visa is in hand. you have no idea if there will be any issues, or how long your case may be in AP for.

[Illiria 980]

Yes we hear horror stories of people doing this all the time - don’t do it (could you save a bit maybe but you could cost yourselves the cost of a flight.)

[geowrian 22,337]

Can you? Sure. They will gladly accept payment.

Is it wise? No. Things can happen - both in getting the visa (missing documents, extended AP, etc.), delivery of the visa/package (they can get damaged), and even with the visa itself (wrong information on it).

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

33 minutes ago, Jessica Morais said:

I'm waiting my interview in January, but I watn to buy my flight ticket before it because Its cheaper hahahhaa 

Have anybody bought the flight before the interview? 

It's not illegal or against any regulations, and won't hurt your chance of getting approved.

 

HOWEVER, it's a very bad idea to buy non-refundable tickets (or make non-refundable wedding plans) before you have your visa in hand. Your case could take longer than expected from interview to visa in hand for any number of reasons (long administrative processing, shipping delays, etc.). There could be a mistake on your visa that needs to be corrected. The sealed envelope could be damaged in shipping and need to be re-sealed. Etc.

 

Having said that, if you can get reasonably priced refundable tickets (or other tickets with zero or low change fees), it's fine to get them now. I ended up getting Anastasia's ticket to the US while her visa was in post-interview administrative processing because a refundable ticket was similar in cost to a non-refundable one when you added an assigned seat and a second checked bag, and ticket prices for the date she wanted to travel had been going up and unexpectedly came down.

[Andy & Val 494]

 

It isn't forbidden to get a flight ticket before the interview but it isn't recommended either.

Reason being you can never tell/predict the outcome of the interview.

By now you should be fully aware that with this process, surprises are to be least unexpected.

 

[Hank_ 9,174]

The NAYs have it!

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 hour ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

 

Having said that, if you can get reasonably priced refundable tickets (or other tickets with zero or low change fees), it's fine to get them now.

This, though generally the ones that are refundable or no/low cost to change are not the ones that are cheap.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

4 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

This, though generally the ones that are refundable or no/low cost to change are not the ones that are cheap.

Yeah; Aeroflot's pricing structure for one-way flights from SVO to LAX last March isn't similar to most airlines (and I only discovered that the fares worked out that way when I was pricing out Anastasia's tickets and looking at what was included at each fare level).

 

But it is worth mentioning, because if you can get a good deal on refundable or other low change fee tickets (you usually cannot), then buying them early isn't a bad idea.

[carmel34 3,620]

2 hours ago, Jessica Morais said:

I'm waiting my interview in January, but I watn to buy my flight ticket before it because Its cheaper hahahhaa 

Have anybody bought the flight before the interview? 

If you decide to buy a ticket, read the fine print and ask questions about change fees BEFORE you buy the ticket.  Some airlines are better than others in this regard, so know all the consequences of buying a ticket that you may have to change to a later date if things don't work out with the timing you want.  You may end up buying before you get your visa, thinking that it will save you money, only to discover later that it ends up costing you more money if the visa is not approved, if there are delays for any reason.  If you want to buy early because you think it's cheaper, it sounds like you don't have extra money to risk.  Why not wait until you have the visa in your hands, then buy the cheapest ticket you can find, even if it means a later arrival in the US than you were hoping for.  I know flights from Brazil are very expensive, I've flown there 9 times now.  My husband and I were looking to go for Christmas this year, but $2,000 and more is crazy, so we're staying home and will go next year when prices drop.  Good luck with your interview!  Rio is a pretty good consulate, well run, friendly...

Edited December 11, 2019 by carmel34

[sandraannie 63]

I bought mine before my interview. It's a risky move, but it saved us about 300 bucks. We also had our wedding venue booked and our whole wedding planned because my family and friends were coming to my wedding (so they wouldn't have to buy last minute tickets). Again, very risky and I don't nedessarily recommend it, but it worked fine for us 😊 Good luck!

[Nat&Amy 623]

44 minutes ago, sandraannie said:

I bought mine before my interview. It's a risky move, but it saved us about 300 bucks. We also had our wedding venue booked and our whole wedding planned because my family and friends were coming to my wedding (so they wouldn't have to buy last minute tickets). Again, very risky and I don't nedessarily recommend it, but it worked fine for us 😊 Good luck!

Worked fine for me as well. Definitely risky, but the Consulate in Rio is notoriously efficient, so that is a plus if all your docs are okay and there are no special circumstances to your case.

 

Even so, you know what they say: hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

[SalishSea 17,793]

11 hours ago, Jessica Morais said:

I'm waiting my interview in January, but I watn to buy my flight ticket before it because Its cheaper hahahhaa 

Have anybody bought the flight before the interview? 

Can you?  Sure.  Should you?  Only if losing that amount of money would be okay.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

5 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Can you?  Sure.  Should you?  Only if losing that amount of money would be okay.

^^^^ This

 

My experience is that the visa validity usually leaves room for optimizing the price of the flight over, no need for buying into the timing game.

[chi6488 94]

Be confident and just buy it