The National Visa Center says I’m documentarily qualified. How long until I get an interview?

Once you’re documentarily qualified with the National Visa Center, that means that there’s nothing else they want from you in order to pass your file onto the embassy. What you don’t know is how many people are waiting in line to get an interview from the embassy.

This varies extremely widely based on the country that you are in line for. In some countries such as Mexico, if you are interviewing in Ciudad Juarez, you will see a wait of over a year even after the National Visa Center got everything in order just to get a slot in there unless you have an emergency situation. It’s quite a long wait, currently. There are other places where it can be weeks. It’s not very fair but it does vary depending on the embassy itself.