We have one scheduled at 9am. I have searched on here and found mixed opinions.

Is it first come first served, or do interview times hold some weight? It seems to be the case that being be there at 7am would get an early interview.

I need to be back home for work that evening, as I have no options for cover.

If you're there at 7:00 for a 9:00 appointment, someone who arrives at 8:15 for an 8:30 appointment will be seen first. Regardless, you won't get in the door until almost 8:00.


With respect, you need to choose which is more important to you.

Ian

My interview was for 8am, I got there at 7:30 and still had to wait around in a queue. I suggest getting there as early as possible to ensure you are one of the first for your time slot.

As for getting back to work, it depends where you live!

I was out by 1pm so chilled out in London until my bus home at 5:30. It also depends on how well organised your documents are. The better organised, the less time they spend flicking through it all.

Hope it all goes well!
Good Luck!

Thankyou for the helpful answer.

Once you get in the door, each person is given a ticket with a number on - I for immigrant visas and N for non immigrant. It seemed to us that the sooner you got there, the lower your number was.

I don't know if someone with an 8:30 appointment who gets in the door at 8:15 would be seen before someone with a 9:00 appointment who gets in the door at 8. I also don't know whether the person with the 9:00 appointment would be told to wait outside until closer to the appointment time.

Hi - I had an 8am appointment - was in the queue at 7.30am. There were people in front of me but it wasn't a massive queue - I couldn't get there any earlier as the pharmacy for storage doesn't open till 7.30 ish) - waited around 15 mins or so before the queue started to move - was out by approx 9.15am!!
Guess it all depends on how busy they are on an given day. Be prepared for a wait. I found the process really clear and efficient and was very impressed.

You have to show your appointment letter when you get to the queue outside, so possibly they would tell you to come back later if you get there to early... but it's worth a try. When you come inside you get a queue number so from that point I think it's first come first served.

I expect that there are a number of consular officers doing the interviews, and that the cases are pre-assigned to each interviewer. So how long you will wait compared to others will depend on how fast your interviewer moves through his (or her) stack of cases and where your case is in the stack.

Regards, JEff

I agree with Jeff.

And you are assigned a number upon arrival, but they are not called in order.

Yes this is so true. You arrive at the embassy and there is a queue for your time slot - a queue for the 8am, a queue for the 8.30am and one for the 9am. My assigned number was 22 once in the waiting room but I seemed to get left behind as they were seeing no 46 by the time I was called.

Hi,

I had my interview on Monday. My scheduled time was 9am but I got there about 7.45 and there was already a line. Decided to go for some breakfast and returned about 8.30, by which point the queue hadn't got very much longer. Waited in line outside for about 20 mins. Someone after me came up to the lady stood organising things outside, said she had an 8.30 appt and after the lady had checked her docs she was allowed to jump the queue to the security door.

The whole process was complete by 11.30, which included around 30-45 mins where all the windows closed due to a system failure. As for getting to work it, depends on how far away you live

It could all be different on the day of your interview but just as a guide....

When I had mine the pattern was a bit complicated because everyone goes up twice but the numbers did seem to be called in order, and the earlier you got in the lower the number you got. As has already been said, if you're too early they might make you wait but being a bit early is worthwhile. I arrived bang on 9am for a 9am appointment and I know from people I chatted with that someone with a 10am appointment who arrived at 830 got seen before me.

The numbers being called out of order could just be due to the fact that more than one person is interviewing. Some interviews go quickly, and others take time. If yours is in with an officer who has a couple of long interviews you might just be left waiting longer...

Sort of like the lines at the supermarket - except that at the supermarket you get to make your own choice of line.

Regards, JEff

Scientifically, You Probably Are in the Slowest Moving Line