Those who plan to visit the country of highways and burgers must not only obtain a visa, but also undergo a special interview, after which a document allowing them to stay in America is issued. This is one of the stages that cannot be bypassed, and it is not easy to overcome. How do you sign up for an interview? What documents are needed for this and how to correctly answer all the questions asked by the officer?
Some general information
Anyone who does not have American citizenship must obtain a visa before visiting this country. This can be either a migrant visa, which will allow you to live in the United States for a long time, or a non-immigrant permit document, which is suitable for those planning to spend their holidays in this state, study or work.
On a note! An interview is required in person. You can take it in Belarus, Latvia, Georgia and a number of other countries. You will not have to visit the Embassy only if the visa is reissued.
You must come to the interview at the consulate or embassy. Moreover, registration is usually made via the Internet, although for some it will be more convenient to contact the contact center directly. But before calling or requesting an interview, it is important to review the basic information regarding this procedure. Then, perhaps, everything will go more smoothly, and the applicant will successfully complete the interview and receive the long-awaited visa.
Everyone needs to undergo an interview - this is enshrined at the legislative level. However, the following categories of persons are exempt from it:
- those sent on behalf of institutions;
- diplomats;
- official representatives.
What papers will you need to prepare?
Even before scheduling an interview, you need to find out what documents the applicant may need and be sure to prepare them. You can get acquainted with the approximate list by studying the table below. In general, here is a list of all the main papers, but it is possible that some others may be required.
Table. Documents required for your nonimmigrant visa interview.
| Document | Information |
|---|---|
| This is one of the main documents. The passport must be valid and have at least one blank page. Moreover, the document must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of return from the USA. That is, the deadlines must be adequate. |
| This invitation is issued only after scheduling an interview. First you need to register on the website of the American Embassy, fill out the appropriate application and wait to receive an invitation. It must be printed out in full (3 pages). |
| Once this document is completed, a confirmation will be issued. The paper also needs to be printed. It indicates the applicant's alphanumeric personal code. |
| The photo can be uploaded directly on the embassy website, but it is better to take one physical copy with you to the interview - glitches computer equipment no one has canceled yet. |
| The consular fee must be paid. You must have a receipt on hand. |
It is also advisable to take with you other documents that may be required, but are not mandatory. These are property certificates, papers confirming the presence of children, if any, as well as a certificate from work - the latter will confirm the financial independence of the applicant. It is also important to take documents that will confirm that you have booked a room at the selected hotel in the United States, and a return plane ticket will also be useful, which will confirm your intention to return to your homeland.
If a person applies for a visa for the purpose of migration, then a special case will be opened, and the list of required papers will differ from the one given above. The procedures are different in both cases.
On a note! Since the staff of the diplomatic mission has now been reduced, the acceptance of applications for interviews from citizens of the CIS countries and Belarus has been suspended. Registration at the Embassy in Moscow has also been suspended, but sometimes free “windows” still appear in Russia, for example, in Vladivostok. The American Embassy in St. Petersburg is now closed. You can also have an interview in Yekaterinburg. In the latter case, you will have to wait a very long time.
Interestingly, once you have scheduled an interview in one country, you cannot transfer it to another. It is also impossible, having paid the consular fee in one state, to present a receipt for its payment in another.
A few words about the photo for the profile
Which needs to be attached to the application form, must meet certain criteria. The first one you come across, even a documentary one, is not worth attaching. The requirements for the card are as follows:
- it must be fresh, that is, no older than 6 months at the time of submission of documents;
- photo dimensions – 5x5 cm, resolution 600x600 – 1200x1200 pixels;
- the photo must be in color, taken on a white background - no extraneous shadows, the applicant must be clearly visible;
- You need to look straight into the frame; you cannot wear glasses or any accessories. An exception is a hearing aid if a person wears it daily;
- clothing should be neat and casual;
- The applicant's face should occupy the majority of the photo - no less than 50-70%.
Usually photographs are taken in specialized salons, and their employees already know what criteria to use to make a card. But once again, it is recommended to check what you have yourself for compliance with the parameters.
Attention! An incorrectly taken photo may result in a refusal of a visa and an invitation to an interview.
When do the dates appear?
You need to sign up for an interview by collecting all the basic documents and preparing a photo. In order to get to the meeting, you need to create your personal account on the embassy website, and you will have to enter your passport data - this is a normal procedure, and there is no need to worry about information leakage. IN personal account Then it will be possible to track the status of the application.
The interview date may be postponed for certain reasons. Fortunately, the receipt is valid for a year, and the money will not be lost. There are few dates, but they still appear on the site. Often their number depends on the purpose of the trip and seasonality. The purpose of the visit can also affect the speed of the interview.
Sometimes you can schedule an interview urgently. But they will attend a meeting only if there is a justified need to quickly enter the United States. You can only use this opportunity once.
Visa Process
So, the process is quite simple. To begin with, all documents are collected, but only after a decision has been made regarding the type of visa. We remember that the package of papers in the case of an immigrant/non-immigrant visa will be different.
Next, you will need to undergo fingerprinting and the interview itself - the procedure takes place at the consulate or embassy. In general, an interview is a questionnaire on English language. The applicant will be asked certain questions to which answers must be provided. Sometimes it can take place in Russian.
By the way, you can choose a country for an interview. For example, just go to the CGI Federal website and choose the option where you can go for an interview if, for some reason, it is inconvenient to take it in Russia.
After this, the consular fee is paid, which is approximately $160. And you only need to pay for it for the country in which the conversation will take place.
How do I register for an interview?
So, all the preliminary steps have been completed - all that remains is to sign up for an interview. To do this you need to follow simple instructions.
Step 1. First, you need to go to the State Department website (https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/) and create a personal account there, creating a username and password if you are obtaining a visa for the first time. If you already had a visa before, you need to log in. It is important to remember that a passport can only be registered once in the system. In extreme cases, your login information can be restored via technical support Embassies.
Step 2. Next, you need to enter all your personal data (passport details, email) and select certain categories from the proposed items. This is the country of circulation (in our case, Russia). You will also have to come up with a password and then go through a captcha check.
Step 3. The next step is to select the “New Application” tab, and then you can sign up for an interview.
Step 4. After this, you need to select the city in which you would like to have an interview.
Step 5. The next step is to choose the type of visa (these are B1 and B2, where B1 is business, and B2 is tourist. Both of them are non-immigrant).
Step 6. You also need to specify the subcategory of the permission. If the applicant is traveling to the United States as a tourist, then he needs to choose a B2 visa.
Step 7 Now you need to enter all the data exactly as written in the document. You can't make mistakes! This will be the number, date of issue, expiration date, place of birth, gender. Also at this stage, the number of the DS-160 questionnaire is indicated.
Attention! You won’t be able to edit your passport data after saving it yourself! It is important to avoid mistakes. Edits can only be removed by Embassy employees.
Here on the page contacts are also indicated - from telephone numbers to Email. Although the email is usually copied to the one that was specified during registration on the portal. But in general, it can be changed to another. The main thing is that you have access to it, since it is to this address that all important notifications will be sent.
Step 8 Next, fill out the item regarding relatives if they are traveling with the applicant. You can sign up for all your relatives at once for one interview. But you won’t be able to fit friends into your date like that. You can schedule joint interviews for your spouse, children, parents, and other family members. Visa categories must match.
Step 9 By the way, you don’t have to take a child under 14 years old for interviews - the parent will submit all the papers for him. Also, people over the age of 80 are not interviewed. These people will go straight to the “how to obtain a document” page, bypassing the other points.
Step 10 It is worth remembering that they cannot contact representative offices in Russia.
Step 11 Now you can choose how to obtain a passport. It could be Express delivery (Pony Express), as well as personal collection at delivery service branches.
Step 12 Next, indicate the number of the receipt indicating that the consular fee has been paid. The receipt can be either paper or electronic. The number will be tied to the profile, and it will not be possible to re-register it to another one.
Step 13 From the options offered, you need to select the day of the interview and time. Dates that are free for visits are blue.
Step 14 All that remains is to print out the confirmation of the entry itself. And all you have to do is wait for the chosen time.
By the way, the interview date can be postponed. This can be done three times in total. The fourth time, the payment receipt will be blocked and the consular fee will have to be paid again.
Passing an interview
Anyone who applies for a visa is always considered as a possible migrant. That is why the interview is given Special attention. So during this procedure, the applicant will have to do his best to prove his intentions to return home.
To begin with, the applicant will be asked about the purpose of the visit. Often this is what determines what direction the conversation will take next. You shouldn’t answer that the trip is just a tourist trip. It’s better to think through the route in advance and tell us what you plan to visit. Moreover, the plan must be realistic in terms of time.
They will also ask about work. It is better to talk about your responsibilities in a few sentences, and not limit yourself to voicing your position. The more detailed the answer, the better - the less risk that your visa will be denied.
They may also ask about companions and family. You need to answer fully, without hiding anything. Sometimes they are asked to show additional documents, but, as a rule, this is rare.
Once the interview is completed, the applicant will be told when the visa will be ready. You can check the status in your CGI Federal personal account.
Important! All answers during the interview should not differ from the answers in the previously completed questionnaire.
Video - How to sign up for an interview?
Of course, during such interviews everyone gets nervous. But don’t panic - if you stay more or less confident and answer all questions without hesitation, and also don’t think about refusal in advance, then your chances of getting a visa by successfully passing the interview will increase significantly.
The growing queues for US visas for Russians in Moscow were called a “political moment.”
The queue for an interview for an American visa in Moscow and Yekaterinburg is rapidly approaching a year. The US Embassy claims that what is happening is solely due to a reduction in the ability to provide consular services. However, former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, in a conversation with Izvestia, called such a sharp increase in the waiting period a “political moment.” According to him, Russian diplomats in the United States manage to cope with visa requests from Americans, having the same number of diplomatic personnel.
According to official data, Russians applying for a regular US visa in Moscow will have to wait at least 250 days for an invitation to an interview.
Exactly the same situation has developed today in Yekaterinburg. The opportunity to get an interview after three months is still available only in Vladivostok. At the same time, Russians who applied for a visa to Lately, note that in the capital the queue has already exceeded 250 days and continues to grow.
The long waiting period for an interview is explained by political reasons, former Russian Ambassador to Washington, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Sergei Kislyak told Izvestia.
“Queues for visas are a political issue. This is a desire to pretend that the current difficulties in Russian-American relations allegedly complicate the work of the US diplomatic mission. I just can’t agree with this formulation of the question, because the Americans have the same apparatus as we have in the States,” said the ex-diplomat. -If diplomatic forces were distributed correctly and were interested in developing contacts between people, the Americans would find a way to organize the work properly. They are very pragmatic people and know how to organize work correctly.”
However, the American side claims that the problems associated with visa services have exclusively technical reasons. The US Embassy in Moscow explained: the growth of the queue is due to a lack of staff, and it is not yet possible to reorganize this work.
“US law requires US consular officers to conduct interviews in most visa applications. Reduction of personnel of the US diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation upon request Russian Federation and the closure of the US Consulate General in St. Petersburg have radically reduced our ability to provide visa services,” the new press secretary of the US Embassy in the Russian Federation, Andrea Kalan, told Izvestia.
Let us recall that on March 26 it became known that the US authorities had decided to close the Russian Consulate General in Seattle. This decision on the consulate was made due to its territorial proximity to a military base submarines, plant corporation Boeing in Seattle, Washington, and in response to Russia's use of military-grade chemical weapons on British soil.
Ex-GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. They were taken to the hospital in critical condition, they are still in a coma, doctors assess their condition as stable and serious. The police determined that they were poisoned with a nerve agent. About 20 more people were poisoned, including the policeman who was the first to visit the scene and Skripal’s house. A case of attempted murder has been opened into the poisoning.
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Should I wait for an appointment at the US Embassy?
This week an information seminar was held by the Consular Service of the US Embassy, organized for travel agencies, during which we were able to talk with the head of the non-immigrant visa department and ask the questions that concern everyone.
From September 1, the issuance of American visas will be reduced. Three regional consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok have stopped issuing visas completely and are only processing applications for re-issued visas without interviews. Thousands of applicants had their appointments canceled at the Embassy by sending a corresponding application requesting a new appointment.
- The number of applications that the Embassy can process has been reduced. Accordingly, the number of available recording spaces has also decreased. The State Department immediately warned that Russians would have to wait on average for an interview for the B1/B2 visa category - business/tourism for almost three months - 85 days.
- An entry was introduced for submitting documents to extend a US visa (previously, documents could be submitted on any working day).
- The period during which it is possible to apply for a second visa has been reduced - from 47 months to 11.
So, let's summarize the meeting.
How can an appointment at the US Embassy be made now?
On this moment, when making an appointment at the US Embassy, priorities are set as follows:
1. Diplomatic visas
2. Student and work visas
3. Urgent visas (urgency should be understood not as inability to plan, but as travel related to the need for urgent medical care, for a funeral or for other unforeseen circumstances.).
4. Business and tourist visas
When should I expect a recording to open in standard mode?
The US Embassy in Moscow conducts about 250 interviews daily. Only a small part of these interviews, taking into account the gradation above, relate to tourist visas. Regular registration is now opening with very limited slots and only for those applicants whose interviews were canceled before September 1st. Embassy employees expect to process applications from these citizens until approximately September 2018. Until then, appointments will not be available for those applicants applying for a visa for the first time (We do not take into account employees of companies that are registered in the US Chamber of Commerce and have a separate recording option).
How do you apply for a re-entry visa to the USA without an interview?
If your visa is about to expire, hurry up and sign up to reapply for a visa without an interview using the Drop-Box procedure. Registration for submission is carried out not only (and not so much) in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg. There is no need to send documents to regional Embassies yourself. You can submit documents on the day according to the appointment at the Pony Express office and they will arrange delivery to the desired Embassy.
If you are called for an interview, it will be possible to undergo the interview only at the Moscow Embassy - several slots will be opened for you in your personal account to schedule an appointment.
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