Visitor visa appointment canceled but required to get back in wait line

[s75h 5]

My wife’s sister who lives in the Philippines had a B2 interview appointment scheduled for January 14, 2022. However, we got noticed that all of the appointments for January were canceled and not to do anything until January 31, 2022. When I called to speak with a CSR I was told that there was nothing they could do to get a. Reschedule appointment date but relatively soon and that my sister-in-law would have to schedule an appointment as if she was signing up for a new appointment date. The current appointment dates available are November 2023.

 

This is completely ridiculous and unfair for those that have waited this long to have an interview date. The CSR that was helping me said that we could apply for an emergency interview date to expedite it but as far as I know my sister in law would not qualify because there is no emergency. I pointed this out to the CSR and asked for her name so that I could include it in a request for an expedited interview day since he was the one that was suggesting it,  She refused to give me her name and hung up on me.

 

Is there a way for me to speak with someone else with the embassy to express my dissatisfaction with how they are treating people. If they are going to cancel appointments that are supposed to be right now then they should make available appointment slots as soon as the interviews begin again. I don’t see how they can treat people this way.

[Boiler 45,541]

She can keep a lookout for a cancellation.

 

I suppose you could write to them:

 

1201 Roxas Boulevard
Manila, Philippines 1000

[gregcrs2 1,778]

5 hours ago, s75h said:

Is there a way for me to speak with someone else with the embassy to express my dissatisfaction with how they are treating people. If they are going to cancel appointments that are supposed to be right now then they should make available appointment slots as soon as the interviews begin again. I don’t see how they can treat people this way.

Tourist visa cancellations are happening in many countries.  This is the new normal, hate it, but it is what it is.  We have family & friends that are experiencing the same situation where a tourist visa interview was scheduled, canceled, and next available interview is a year or more later.  You can try to express your dissatisfaction but doubtful it will help change anything.  There is no "right" for anyone to receive a tourist visa.  And it's more than likely that people still in queue for their interview will have their interview cancelled too.      

[s75h 5]

It is understandable that there is no right to a visa interview, but this is not how you treat people. It makes more sense to push back all of the scheduled interview dates rather than bumping the most current dates until the end of the line.

[jan22 3,056]

51 minutes ago, s75h said:

It is understandable that there is no right to a visa interview, but this is not how you treat people. It makes more sense to push back all of the scheduled interview dates rather than bumping the most current dates until the end of the line.

I understand your frustration, but a few points of information to maybe consider:

• The Embassy website has posted the procedure for rescheduling after an appointment cancellation for months now -- you reschedule for the first available date -- so the procedure hasn't suddenly changed.  There are instructions and links for those with an urgent reason to travel and those with difficulty in rescheduling an appointment included in those procedures that maybe your sister-in-law can take advantage of, depending on her reason for travel.  (See the response under the NIV FAQ section at https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/contactus/).
• In the past, if mass cancellations of appointments were due to a fault on the part of something completely under the Embassy's control (e.g., a sudden computer system failure, etc), they would usually mass re-schedule the new appointments -- but this is a very labor intensive process, as the system is set up for an individual to select an appointment date best for them, not to book/re-book large groups of people.  With COVID restrictions, sudden scheduling change issues, and limited staffing that the Embassy is still facing, it is unlikely they have the time or staff to do the mass rescheduling while still trying to process as many applications as possible.
• Keep checking the appointment schedule.  They may open new, sooner, appointments at any time if current situations and staffing changes enough to allow them to do so.

I'm sorry for your disappointmental with the process and the frustration of things that are outside your control adversely affecting your family, but I suspect, unfortunately, things will not normalize for quite a while yet, as Embassies try to work through the huge backlogs while dealing with world crises that further complicate staffing and changes in Consular priorities worldwide.  I hope I'm wrong, though.

[Lemonslice 4,858]

1 hour ago, jan22 said:

I understand your frustration, but a few points of information to maybe consider:

• The Embassy website has posted the procedure for rescheduling after an appointment cancellation for months now -- you reschedule for the first available date -- so the procedure hasn't suddenly changed.  There are instructions and links for those with an urgent reason to travel and those with difficulty in rescheduling an appointment included in those procedures that maybe your sister-in-law can take advantage of, depending on her reason for travel.  (See the response under the NIV FAQ section at https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/contactus/).
• In the past, if mass cancellations of appointments were due to a fault on the part of something completely under the Embassy's control (e.g., a sudden computer system failure, etc), they would usually mass re-schedule the new appointments -- but this is a very labor intensive process, as the system is set up for an individual to select an appointment date best for them, not to book/re-book large groups of people.  With COVID restrictions, sudden scheduling change issues, and limited staffing that the Embassy is still facing, it is unlikely they have the time or staff to do the mass rescheduling while still trying to process as many applications as possible.
• Keep checking the appointment schedule.  They may open new, sooner, appointments at any time if current situations and staffing changes enough to allow them to do so.

I'm sorry for your disappointmental with the process and the frustration of things that are outside your control adversely affecting your family, but I suspect, unfortunately, things will not normalize for quite a while yet, as Embassies try to work through the huge backlogs while dealing with world crises that further complicate staffing and changes in Consular priorities worldwide.  I hope I'm wrong, though.

I've written emails recently where the word overlap with your post is probably 90%+

(International org, not US government; similar frustrations it seems)

[s75h 5]

We were able to find a slot open in March 2023 but now we are unable to reschedule again because we have used up the limit if 3 times for scheduling an interview. There isn’t even an option to see what is available anymore. I sent an email to the support address in that link to see what they say. How do we go about paying for another 3 rescheduling opportunities?

[Boiler 45,541]

Do not think there is a limit to how many applications you can make, but not sure I have come across somebody doing this before the previous interview.

[millefleur 5,046]

58 minutes ago, s75h said:

We were able to find a slot open in March 2023 but now we are unable to reschedule again because we have used up the limit if 3 times for scheduling an interview. There isn’t even an option to see what is available anymore. I sent an email to the support address in that link to see what they say. How do we go about paying for another 3 rescheduling opportunities?

Apparently the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) receipt may become inactive if you use it to reschedule multiple times. So, you're correct, you need to pay again in order to reschedule.

 

I'm not sure how it works. I hope they get back to you and if they do, please update us here with that info.

[s75h 5]

I emailed them and received a canned reply. 

[SalishSea 17,839]

On 2/7/2022 at 8:10 PM, s75h said:

My wife’s sister who lives in the Philippines had a B2 interview appointment scheduled for January 14, 2022. However, we got noticed that all of the appointments for January were canceled and not to do anything until January 31, 2022. When I called to speak with a CSR I was told that there was nothing they could do to get a. Reschedule appointment date but relatively soon and that my sister-in-law would have to schedule an appointment as if she was signing up for a new appointment date. The current appointment dates available are November 2023.

 

This is completely ridiculous and unfair for those that have waited this long to have an interview date. The CSR that was helping me said that we could apply for an emergency interview date to expedite it but as far as I know my sister in law would not qualify because there is no emergency. I pointed this out to the CSR and asked for her name so that I could include it in a request for an expedited interview day since he was the one that was suggesting it,  She refused to give me her name and hung up on me.

 

Is there a way for me to speak with someone else with the embassy to express my dissatisfaction with how they are treating people. If they are going to cancel appointments that are supposed to be right now then they should make available appointment slots as soon as the interviews begin again. I don’t see how they can treat people this way.

No one is "entitled" to a tourist visa for the US.  Visa appointments are cancelled all the time; you are not being singled out for "unfair" treatment. And I'm not sure what you mean by CSR.  There are no 'customer service representatives."  It isn't the cable company.

[s75h 5]

11 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

No one is "entitled" to a tourist visa for the US.  Visa appointments are cancelled all the time; you are not being singled out for "unfair" treatment. And I'm not sure what you mean by CSR.  There are no 'customer service representatives."  It isn't the cable company.

You’re right, at least the cable company cares about the service they are providing. The embassy does not care if someone has to go to the back of a nearly two-year-wait line.
 

You are not adding anything with your snide response. Cancelling appointments isn’t a surprise nor a problem but telling these unfortunate people to just go sign up again and wait a couple years clearly isn’t right. I never claimed an applicant is entitled to a tourist visa. However, people should be entitled to a certain level of treatment.

[Lemonslice 4,858]

3 hours ago, s75h said:

You’re right, at least the cable company cares about the service they are providing. The embassy does not care if someone has to go to the back of a nearly two-year-wait line.
 

You are not adding anything with your snide response. Cancelling appointments isn’t a surprise nor a problem but telling these unfortunate people to just go sign up again and wait a couple years clearly isn’t right. I never claimed an applicant is entitled to a tourist visa. However, people should be entitled to a certain level of treatment.

Tell that to Comcast here, where they have a monopoly. 

Best of luck in getting an appointment, check back often, cancelations are not rare.

[martinzl 91]

Same thing happened to my stepdaughter.  She has now been cancelled twice due to covid closure (March 2021 and January 2022) and has rescheduled for September 2023. I don't think it is right to count these cancellations against your rescheduling limit since it is the Embassy, not the applicant, that is cancelling the appointment. Seems unfair to be pushed to the back of the pack but it is fair to the others and it is certainly the easiest way for the Embassy to handle it. It seems like visitor visas are not a priority in Manila. 

[SalishSea 17,839]

12 hours ago, s75h said:

You’re right, at least the cable company cares about the service they are providing. The embassy does not care if someone has to go to the back of a nearly two-year-wait line.
 

You are not adding anything with your snide response. Cancelling appointments isn’t a surprise nor a problem but telling these unfortunate people to just go sign up again and wait a couple years clearly isn’t right. I never claimed an applicant is entitled to a tourist visa. However, people should be entitled to a certain level of treatment.

Per the site's TOS, anyone is allowed to comment.

 

My comment was in response to you sounding entitled.