How long does it take to apply for a U.S. visa?

Posted by Avisa:   10.04.2020

The U.S. is a visa country for Ukrainian citizens, so you need to prepare for the trip in advance. How can you to predict everything and calculate the application time correctly? The first thing you need to think through is a detailed itinerary of the trip.  It will help to learn more about the country, its attractions, and this will give you an opportunity to clearly formulate the answer to the question of the visa officer about the reasons for visiting the United States. If you plan to apply for a visa in the United States for business purposes, such as attending an exhibition or meeting with partners, you must get an invitation or a ticket to an exhibition or event in advance. We strongly recommend that you do NOT buy flights and hotel rooms before visa approval.

It is necessary to think through the trip at least a month or two ahead. Below, we outline the factors that will prove to you this:

1. Interview dates in the embassy are not always readily available. For example, in spring (April-May), summer, autumn (October-November), winter (December) periods the embassy is very busy because during these months US holidays (Christmas, etc.) and summer vacations occur. Interview dates can be given 2-3 weeks in the future, and if you have been denied an American visa in the last 12 months, then, unfortunately, the earliest date for you can be a month, or even 2 months away.
2. If you are a foreign citizen with a residence permit in Ukraine or just came to apply here for the dates, your interview may be scheduled a month or two from the time of application.
3. The preparatory process also plays a role, because before applying for a visa, you will need to:

• Pay the consular fee. You can schedule an appointment for the interview 24 hours after your payment is processed;
• Fill out the application;
• Prepare all the documents;
• Prepare for the interview.

4. Once the visa is approved it takes from 3 to 5 more days for the visa to be put into the passport.

We remind you that the cost of a visa in the U.S. depends on the category of visa, for example, it is a $160 B1/B2 visa.

There are unforeseen situations in the life of every person.  If you need to visit the country urgently the reasons can include:

• Urgent business negotiations, on which the viability of the company depends on;
• Participation in an exchange program or the start of study;
• Funeral or death of a close relative who lived in the United States;
• Urgent patient treatment or care.

For the embassy to approve an urgent interview, the arguments must be strong and documented. By the way, you can request an urgent interview only after paying the consular fee.

There is no additional charge to accelerate the process to get an interview at the U.S. Embassy, however, if your case does not seem urgent to the visa officer, you will not have the opportunity to speed up the review process.

By the way, we want to remind you that if your plans have changed, the interview can be transferred to other dates.  You can transfer 2 times, but for the third time the consular fee will have to be paid again. Also, if you do not have the exact date on which you want to reschedule the interview, you can cancel it and reschedule the interview within 1 year of payment of the consular fee.

Extending a current, valid U.S. visa is another way to get a visa quickly.  You don't need to schedule an interview again and it will take three to five business days to complete the process. This procedure is very convenient, but there are a few requirements that you need to meet to be able to use it:

• You can reapply for your visa if your previous visa is still valid or has been expired for no more than 12 months,
• You are a citizen of Ukraine;
• You apply for the same type of visa as before,

Children under the age of 14 and adults over 79 years of age can also use this procedure.

As you have noticed there are a lot of pitfalls and ignorance of the nuances which can lead up to being denied a visa.  The most common reasons for being denied a visa are:

• Errors in the application;
• Providing incorrect or inaccurate data about yourself, your relatives, etc.;
• Residence of relatives in the United States who have not legally entered the country;
• Not enough money;
• There is no attachment to the homeland;
• No appropriate use of previous visas for travel abroad (concerns more tourist and guest purposes).

Our company, has 6 years of experience in working with visas in the U.S.  We will help you avoid the most difficult moments and will answer all your questions regarding the visa process.