Can I change the location of my US embassy or consulate interview to another US embassy or consulate?
We understand that the reason you’re asking this question is because you’re wanting to be creative and try to find the fastest route to be together. We love that you’re being creative and that’s what we do all of the time here at our office; trying to find creative ways to help people be able to be together as soon as possible.
US embassy and US consulate interviews will occur in the immigrants’ country of origin or the country where they’re born. They can also occur in a country where the immigrant is living. Sometimes, we have couples who are married or they’re going through the fiancé visa process and their immigrant spouse or fiancé might have citizenship in several countries. And so, there might be a few countries available that we could have that interview.
Other times, individuals have citizenship in one country but they have a resident status or lawful status in another country where they’re working. If an individual has lawful status in another country where they happen to be working in, you can have an interview in that country too.
So, you have some choices available to you on what country you can have your US embassy or consulate interview. This depends on what countries of citizenship you have and also where you happen to have lawful status.
At the beginning of our clients’ cases, we determine what options are available to you; what embassies and consulates could we potentially have your interview scheduled at and what’s the most convenient for you. At the beginning of the process, that’s when you would make that determination and ask immigration to have that interview there. Typically, they will default to your country of origin but you can ask to have it in other places.
A lot of people are asking this question because they’re hoping that due to all of the backlogs and because there are so few interviews being scheduled, they could move it to another US embassy or consulate and be able to get an interview faster. In some countries, specifically the Philippines, there’s a very low amount of interviews being scheduled and there’s a high volume of people waiting for an interview. A lot of individuals are feeling desperate and want to find another place to have the interview.
The reality is that moving your interview to another US embassy or consulate might be possible if you have citizenship in another country or have lawful status working somewhere else. That would really just depend on your specific case where you’re wanting to move it. That could be possible. The way to do that would depend on where you are in the case.
If you’re still in the national visa center, you would ask if it’s already been moved to an embassy. Then, you’d reach out to the embassy of the country where your interview will be scheduled and ask to move it to another US embassy or consulate. But to be completely honest, this would not necessarily get you an interview faster. It could actually delay the process if you try to move your interview to another US embassy or consulate because you could get put back in the back of the line with other people who’ve already been waiting.
It is really going to depend on where you are in the case.
If you’re at the beginning of your case and you’re picking a US embassy or consulate to have your interview at, that’s a good time to weigh options about which might be best. But if you already are waiting for an interview at a US embassy or consulate, the likelihood of moving your interview to another US embassy or consulate could be pretty complicated and also would not necessarily give you an interview on a sooner date.