What Are Nonimmigrant visas?
Nonimmigrant visas temporarily allow you to live and/or work in the U.S. However, even with this delineation, some work visas can lead to a green card if the employer chooses to sponsor the worker. There are three primary nonimmigrant visa categories. You can visit the United States for temporary tourism or business, study, and work.
How to get a Visitor Visa on the Fast Track?
The COVID pandemic has made international travel unpredictable. The conditions in every country are different and change quickly, making getting a visa appointment more complicated. Consulates must balance expanding routine visa services with limited resources, other responsibilities, and country conditions.
We encourage you to consider the following guidelines for requesting an expedited visa appointment:
1. Have realistic expectations
- First, consult https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html to find the Visa Wait Times for the consulate where you intend to apply. At worst, you will know how long the backlog is and have maximized the time you have to prepare a request.
- Before you request an expedited appointment, you must file a nonimmigrant visa application and pay all application fees. Even if the expedite request is granted, this does not always mean that you will get an immediate appointment.
2. Be prepared to thoroughly explain and prove the urgency of your travel
- Unforeseen emergency travel for humanitarian reasons is more likely to qualify for an expedited appointment.
- Keep in mind that each consulate makes its own guidelines for expediting appointments, and you should prepare your request with those guidelines in mind. Check the consulate’s website to see what requirements it has.
3. Work with your attorney to meet the consulate’s requirements
- Your attorney is your ally. Your attorney will typically have experience with other clients’ requests for expedited appointments and familiarity with the experiences of their colleagues. Working with an attorney gives you access to that experience and the best chance for success. The attorney can help you prepare the request for an expedited appointment and can also discuss your legal options if the expedited request is denied or if the appointment is scheduled later than you would like.
