Meaning of Visa Appointment Wait Times

[CelloLover 26]

Here is an official government website that allows you to check visa appointment wait times by embassy location.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

 

I have 3 questions surrounding this topic:
 

1) What does 'Appointment Wait Time' mean? Is this the time frame from DS-160 submission/fee payment to the point where interview appointments become available for selection in the online portal?

2) How are interview appointments distributed to applicants? Is it based on a queue that is ordered by DS-160 submission/fee payment date or is it simply released to the entire pool of applicants in a situation where we all need to fight for an appointment date by constantly checking the online portal?

 

3) An acquaintance told me that she is using a visa agency that has a 'robot system' that secures interview appointment dates for clients. Is this BS or do certain entities have special access to interview appointment registration besides the online portal?
 

[arken 4,197]

1. Fee payment to interview availability date.

2. Not distributed, one has to log into interview scheduling often to try to see any available dates, they could be 1 year down the road. I'd assume they release a pool of available date/time everyday.

3. They will have people who will log in through your portal all the time to see the available times as soon as it's released by the embassy. Whoever sees it first, schedules it first will get lucky.

[CelloLover 26]

20 minutes ago, arken said:

1. Fee payment to interview availability date.

2. Not distributed, one has to log into interview scheduling often to try to see any available dates, they could be 1 year down the road. I'd assume they release a pool of available date/time everyday.

3. They will have people who will log in through your portal all the time to see the available times as soon as it's released by the embassy. Whoever sees it first, schedules it first will get lucky.

Thank you for the information.

Sounds to me like interview registration is based on luck of whoever gets to the page first. If this is the case, how can  'Appointment Wait Time' even have a meaning? It could very well be that an applicant continuously checks every day and never gets an appointment.

[arken 4,197]

15 minutes ago, CelloLover said:

If this is the case, how can  'Appointment Wait Time' even have a meaning?

It's useless Covid time. Those wait times were very useful pre covid planning wise.