dmgraham8

Hi all,

I am a British architect applying for a J1 visa (work trainee exchange program, 18 months).

Today I was denied an expedited visa appointment at the London embassy. My placement program starts soon, 18 October. I might be able to put back until mid November if necessary.

The earliest visa interview appointment is March 2022.

I cannot wait until March (I will lose my place on the program) and it seems no earlier appointments are becoming available.

What can I do?
Can I go to another embassy with shorter waiting times, and request an expedited appointment there? (Perhaps outside Schengen area, e.g. Eastern Europe or the Caribbean).

Should I re-apply in London and attempt to request an expedited appointment again, perhaps with more explanation?

Any advice much appreciated.

Kind regards,

David

christmasoompa

I'm not sure that would count as grounds for an expedited appointment. Pretty much everybody applying for an employment based visa has got a job start date they'll have missed! You'd need a better reason usually. You could look overseas though, my understanding is that you can go anywhere, but I've no idea which countries may have less of a backlog.

Is it a program that runs every year, if so can you defer your place to next year maybe? The employer should understand, I suspect they'll probably have very few people that can take up the opportunity this year as everybody is in the same situation.

tariqbutt

Note that earlier appointments come up all the time. I regularly see December appointments and have seen mid November appointments as recently as last week. Might be worth checking the calendar a couple of times a day.

mark720b

I am in the same position. My NIE was denied last week.

I have been on the website non stop for 2 weeks and the only appointment I can see is for 1 in November.

I am currently awaiting an appointment in March but have been going through this process for 18 months now.

scrubbedexpat099

I know of people who have been expedited obviously you have to have a valid reason.

mark720b

I have colleagues who had the same NIE transcript from the immigration attorney word for word, but I believe the London consulate had been inundated with requests and now it’s a case of getting an appointment.

best of luck to everyone applying, and spends as much time as me checking for cancellations.

christmasoompa

The criteria was tightened up considerably for NIE’s, around spring IIRC? NIE’s are a different thing to getting an expedited appointment though. An NIE just means you’re exempt from the travel ban and can fly directly to the US, you still need an appointment first though.

mark720b

You are correct, my wording is not correct there. I have the NIE, it was the expedited appointment that was rejected.

As far as appointments go, there’s nothing online. Anyone any experience in going to another consulate? I have read one successful attempt in Mexico and am considering something similar at this stage.

christmasoompa

There was somebody on here that went to Mexico, I've not heard of anybody else doing it though. We're no longer in a rush, won't be moving until 2023 now due to children's schooling, but if you need to get out there before next year it could be worth a try.

Good luck.

tariqbutt

Just to clarify your national interest exception was accepted?
What exactly was denied then. just your request for an expedited appointment? Did you follow the same process Selig described in his post below?
Presidential Proclamation on UK travel and National Interest Exceptions

Just to clarify: You can see an appointment available in November? Why dont you take that one?

Noodler

I made a request on Aug 27th and got an email back on September 10th with an appointment for October 1.

tariqbutt

Hi Noodler, how did you make that request? Was this after you got the NIE you made a request for an expedited appointment? Or do you mean the NIE request itself?

Noodler

That was for the expedited appointment to get my Visa.