How to Get a US Visa Appointment
The United States embassy and consulates in Canada will only issue non-immigrant visas after a successful face-to-face interview. You can schedule the interview in the U.S Embassy in Ottawa, and selected Consulates General in Canada regardless of where you currently live and indeed, some consulates have more appointment vacancies than others do. The fee for the interview is a non-refundable $8.40 CAD, payable by Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
U.S. visa appointments are scarce and are booked as soon as they become available. Generally, it can take anything between 6 to 10 weeks to obtain an appointment at one of Canada's U.S. Consulates. Depending on the type of visa, you will need to fill out application forms also known as DS -156, DS-157 and DS-158 forms. In addition, you may be required to submit a passport-sized photo, proof of legal in status in Canada and your valid passport for at least 6 months and an application fee. Again, these documents vary depending on what kind of visa you are applying for.
You can go through this procedure yourself and that is what I tried to do at first. However, I found the procedure to be too time-consuming and sometimes confusing, so I decided to hire professionals to help me with the appointment and the documents.
I got my visa appointment in Toronto in November and I plan to travel to the land of unlimited opportunities for the Christmas holidays and say hello to my US-born niece. Now that I have gone through the process, I wish I had braved it earlier and had a nice and warm Florida vacation in August.
To learn more about US visa appointments, visit www.usavisaappointments.com
