Rescheduling London Consulate IR-1/CR-1 interview - new process?

[ElGrandeDoodel 37]

Hi folks

 

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who recently (in the last few months) rescheduled their immigrant visa interview at the London Consulate. Browsing through older VJ posts (even those from mid-2022) on the topic, I get the impression that the process has recently changed.

 

I was sent an IL on 1 March for an interview on 20 April. I'd like to postpone the interview until after May.

 

This guidance, which is specific to the London consulate, says:

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Rescheduling or cancelling your interview

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If you are unable to attend your appointment, please go to ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv to select a new appointment date after the date of your NVC scheduled interview has passed. There may be a significant wait before the next available appointment, so please attempt to attend the date already assigned. For some family-based and employment preference visa categories, a visa became available within the month you have been scheduled by NVC. DV applicants should be aware that visas are numerically limited and must be issued by September 30 of the program year. There is no guarantee that a visa will still be available on the date of your rescheduled interview. Please carefully consult the Visa Bulletin before you decide to reschedule your interview.

Please note: You need to register your original NVC/KCC appointment online before you can reschedule it. Rescheduling is only possible on a date after your assigned appointment.

 

However, looking at my case in YATRI (ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv) I have the option to cancel the interview now. Prior to cancelling, I get the following warning:
 

Quote

Reschedule NVC Appointment

If you proceed, you will be cancelling your consular assigned appointment. You will be able to schedule a new consular appointment based on the next available appointment in the system but please note that availability may be limited.

 

Another VJer in a similar situation recently told me that when they hit the button the reschedule, their interview was cancelled, but when they checked the system to reschedule, no appointments were available.

 

What I'd like to understand from anyone who's recently done this is:

1. How tricky is it to get another appointment once you've cancelled the original one?
2. What approach did you take to actually securing the appointment - is this just a case of checking YATRI every single day until a suitable appointment pops up?
3. Is there any way of telling when new interview dates have been released so you can grab one?

Thanks!

[timcornelissen 6]

11 hours ago, ElGrandeDoodel said:

Another VJer in a similar situation recently told me that when they hit the button the reschedule, their interview was cancelled, but when they checked the system to reschedule, no appointments were available.

That'd be me ;). I had not realized it would leave me in this limbo where my appointment has been cancelled, but where I am unable to reschedule. I suspect that either there won't be appointments available until for example the next batch of interview letters goes out, or that I won't actually be able to reschedule until my initial date has passed. 

If anyone can share some recent experience with this that would be greatly appreciated!

[ElGrandeDoodel 37]

14 hours ago, timcornelissen said:

I won't actually be able to reschedule until my initial date has passed

Sounds like you're right @timcornelissen - I just received a response to the question I sent to the London Consulate as follows:

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If your appointment was scheduled by National Visa Center, please wait until after the original appointment date has passed and then sign in to your account at https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb/iv to book a new interview date. 

 

Appointments are booked through the Visa Appointment Service. You may wish to check the appointment calendar periodically for any newly released appointments or cancelations. However, as the calendar operates in real-time, we cannot guarantee an appointment on or before any given date.

This is still a bit unclear, but what I think they mean is (i) before your original appointment date has passed you can periodically check for a new interview date and you might get lucky; and (ii) after your original interview date has passed you'll be able to book a new interview date straight away.

[timcornelissen 6]

An update: today I was able to see appointments available for rescheduling! After checking daily for the past weeks, today I was presented with a few dates and time slots. Unfortunately these slots are all in between the 20th (my original interview date) and 28th April, during which I will still be traveling, so I will keep checking.

But it is good to confirm that this rescheduling system does actually seem to work, and you no longer have to miss your original interview to reschedule. I am not sure why they released some appointment slots now, but assume they will do this every so often.

[Jeshua 22]

On 3/13/2023 at 3:26 PM, timcornelissen said:

An update: today I was able to see appointments available for rescheduling! After checking daily for the past weeks, today I was presented with a few dates and time slots. Unfortunately these slots are all in between the 20th (my original interview date) and 28th April, during which I will still be traveling, so I will keep checking.

But it is good to confirm that this rescheduling system does actually seem to work, and you no longer have to miss your original interview to reschedule. I am not sure why they released some appointment slots now, but assume they will do this every so often.

hm Can I ask how many you saw? Just wondering cause I was DQ not longer after OP but still no IL, seeing if I may get an early May date or late April date

[timcornelissen 6]

9 hours ago, Jeshua said:

hm Can I ask how many you saw? Just wondering cause I was DQ not longer after OP but still no IL, seeing if I may get an early May date or late April date

I think there were about 6 days I could choose, each with 1-3 time slots. Now there are only two days (20-21 April) left, each with one time slot. It's unclear to me how these options relate to the dates given out by interview letter, it will be interesting to see when your batch of IL comes through.

[Jeshua 22]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:33 AM, timcornelissen said:

I think there were about 6 days I could choose, each with 1-3 time slots. Now there are only two days (20-21 April) left, each with one time slot. It's unclear to me how these options relate to the dates given out by interview letter, it will be interesting to see when your batch of IL comes through.

thank you for the info! it will be interesting. still haven’t heard anything yet for some reason 

[Jeshua 22]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:33 AM, timcornelissen said:

I think there were about 6 days I could choose, each with 1-3 time slots. Now there are only two days (20-21 April) left, each with one time slot. It's unclear to me how these options relate to the dates given out by interview letter, it will be interesting to see when your batch of IL comes through.

to update you. JUST got my IL and it’s for May 18

[timcornelissen 6]

Thanks for the update, hopefully I can get a similar slot. Unfortunately this batch of letters does not yet seem to have prompted more appointments to appear for me. Then again, earlier this month they also seemed to appear randomly, so I'll keep checking.

[timcornelissen 6]

Another batch of appointments for the first two weeks of May just opened up on the website today (one week after the last batch of IL).

 

I managed to reschedule my interview now for May 12th, proving that it is indeed possible to reschedule your interview through the website, and you no longer have to wait until your original appointment date has passed.

[appleblossom 2,516]

16 hours ago, timcornelissen said:

Another batch of appointments for the first two weeks of May just opened up on the website today (one week after the last batch of IL).

 

I managed to reschedule my interview now for May 12th, proving that it is indeed possible to reschedule your interview through the website, and you no longer have to wait until your original appointment date has passed.

That's massively helpful thank you. I'm expecting to have to cancel the interview date we're given as well and reschedule, we're EB1 though so just hoping it's the same process for us and we don't have to wait until the original interview date to do so.

[Babban 7]

Oh I am on similar situation now. I want to reschedule my IV interview that was slated for next month at the US consulate in Helsinki. But before my appointment date I can login and create a my profile online. However, since when I received the IL, I keep getting 'unable to process your request at the moment' whenever I Login. According to the instructions on the consulate website, I need to register my appointment before I can reschedule it. I emailed the consulate about scheduling my interview, and they replied that I need not to register my appointment. Now, I want to email them to request for reschedule. I will prefer to have the interview after August 2023, that will give me enough time to finalize my PhD in Finland. Please, do I need to mention my prefer month for the interview? Thank you

[ElGrandeDoodel 37]

Updating here for posterity - looks like another batch of interview dates for various days in May were released today. I've snagged one for late May, in place of my 24 April original interview date which I cancelled a few weeks ago.

 

So - more evidence that you can get a new interview date before the date of your original interview has passed. You just need to check YATRI frequently so you can see when something suitable pops up.

[Justme_13 2]

@timcornelissen can I ask from DQ how long until you received IL? Plz

[timcornelissen 6]

1 hour ago, Justme_13 said:

@timcornelissen can I ask from DQ how long until you received IL? Plz

I recommend to check this FB page:https://www.facebook.com/groups/349203266368670,

or this thread: 

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by timcornelissen