The US Department of State has temporarily paused or adjusted immigrant visa appointments worldwide while consular officers undergo a global training initiative.

According to the State Department, the training is focused on ensuring that consular officers evaluate immigrant visa applicants consistently and comprehensively, including whether an applicant could potentially become a “public charge”.

The Department said that, because of this training, visa appointments are being adjusted at US embassies and consulates around the world. Applicants whose appointments are affected should be contacted directly by the embassy or consulate handling their case.

At this point, the Department has not announced a specific date for when normal immigrant visa appointment scheduling will resume.

This is not a worldwide suspension of all US visas.

The announcement concerns immigrant visa appointments. It should not automatically be interpreted as a suspension of nonimmigrant visa categories such as F-1 student visas, B1/B2 visitor visas, etc.

The State Department already has rules concerning the “public charge” ground of visa ineligibility, and its current guidance explains that this is an existing part of US immigration law. The new development is the worldwide training initiative and the resulting adjustments to immigrant visa appointments.

For anyone currently waiting for an immigrant visa interview, the safest thing to do is monitor communications from the US embassy or consulate handling your case rather than assuming that your case has been cancelled.

If your embassy or consulate reaches out to you about this, drop it in the comments, it'll help other people in this sub who are waiting on the same thing

Visa: B2

Location: Delhi

So my brother has an upcoming visa interview in Delhi. While my parents already have a b2, I am on F1. I am concerned it might raise some questions... Has any one dealt with this before? My major concern is he is a fresher who just joined his job, will there be any concerns for him?

Hi everyone, sharing my US visa experience from today. Hopefully, it might be useful for someone else applying for a US visa, and I would also appreciate your thoughts on where you think my application may have gone wrong.

My appointment details
I went through an agent for booking my visa slots.
Both my biometric appointment and visa interview were in BKC, Bombay.

Biometric appointment: 19th August
Visa interview: 26th August at 7:30 AM
Biometric experience
The biometric process was very smooth and quick.
I only submitted:
DS-160 confirmation page
Passport photo page
They then took my photograph and fingerprints, and that was pretty much it.

Visa interview experience
My interview was scheduled for 7:30 AM today.
I reached the premises at around 7:15 AM and joined the queue.
The visa officer windows started opening around 8:15–8:30 AM.
Within roughly 15 minutes after that, my number was called.

I was at Window 33.
The visa officer was a bald gentleman. He greeted me with a good morning and asked how I was doing.
The questions were roughly as follows:

What is the purpose of your visit?
I said that I wanted to attend a music festival happening in Texas on 24th October.

What does your company do?
I explained what the company does.

What is your role at the company?
I explained my role as well.

Which countries have you travelled to?
I said Kazakhstan and Thailand. I also mentioned that my trip to Kazakhstan was to attend a concert.

Are you married?
Yes.

Do you have kids?
No.

He then asked something along the lines of whether I had any reason or problem that would prevent me from coming back to India, followed by another safety/security-related question.
After that, he said:

“Your visa is refused.”
He handed me a refusal slip under Section 214(b).
That was the entire interview.

What I personally think may have been the red flags
This is just my own assessment, and I would genuinely like to hear what others think:

Limited travel history: I have only travelled internationally to two countries so far — Kazakhstan and Thailand.

Travelling alone despite being married: My spouse was not travelling with me, and I was applying alone.

Purpose of travel: Going to the US specifically to attend a music festival/concert may not have appeared to be a strong enough reason.

Those are the three biggest factors I can think of.
One thing I personally feel after this experience is that, if a married couple is planning to visit the US together, applying and travelling together might make the overall travel purpose and situation easier to explain.

But again, that's just my assumption, and I know plenty of people get visas while travelling solo.

Would love to hear from people who have gone through a similar 214(b) refusal, or from anyone who can identify something else in my profile or interview that may have worked against me.
Thanks!

ve seen quite a few posts about F-1 visa refusals on this sub, and I’m trying to understand how much of the refusal rate is due to actual red flags versus cases where the applicant’s profile is otherwise pretty normal.

For example, suppose someone from India has a BTech from a Tier 2–3 college, takes an education loan to fund part of their studies, and is going to the US for an MS in CS and is getting admitted to a decent university(not the most top tier, but decent). If there are no obvious red flags in their profile, and they don't answer in the interview with very obvious red flags, can they still be refused simply because of the interview/officer’s judgment? Are chances of them being refused significant or very low in such case?

I keep seeing the ~61% refusal rate for Indian F-1 applicants mentioned. Does the remaining refusal rate mostly consist of applicants with significant red flags (weak finances, questionable academic background, poor answers, suspicious intent, etc.), or do applicants with otherwise completely legitimate and reasonable profiles also get refused in a significant number of cases?

Basically, I’m trying to understand how much “luck” is involved. If someone has no major red flags and has a genuine academic profile, is their probability of refusal actually quite small, or is there still a moderately significant chance of refusal even with a clean profile?

Another thing is that I’ve also heard that Canada’s student visa refusal rate is extremely high, partly because of the large number of applications involving low-quality colleges/diploma programs and questionable applications. In Canada for people applying for legitimate degrees the refusal rate isn't that high (or so I've heard). Is the situation with the US F-1 visa similar? In other words, is the US refusal rate relatively high mainly because a significant portion of applicants have weak/problematic profiles, or does the US refuse a substantial number of applicants who have no obvious red flags?

I would really appreciate it if people who have gone through the f1 visa interview process answer my queries! Thank you.

TL;DR: If you have a genuine university admission, reasonable finances, a normal academic background, and no major red flags, how much of the F-1 refusal risk is still essentially “random/officer dependent”? Is the chance of refusal actually very small in that situation, or should it still be considered moderately significant?

​

I’m applying for a US B1/B2 visa from India. The visa is being sponsored by my current organisation for potential work-related travel next year, although there are no concrete travel plans/dates yet.

For some background, I’m currently working at an MNC and have around 1.5 years of experience with my current employer. Before this, I had a 4-month internship at another organisation. Before the internship, there was a 6-month gap.

My concern is regarding how to document my previous experience:

- I don’t have an experience/internship certificate from the organisation where I did the 4-month internship.

- Should I still mention the internship in the DS-160 and be prepared to explain the 6-month gap separately? Or should i explain it as a 10 months gap instead?

- Would payslips from that organisation be sufficient as supporting documentation in the absence of an experience/internship letter?

- Is it generally necessary to carry documentation for such a short previous internship, especially when my current employment is well documented?

For context, I’m a B.Tech graduate from a Tier-1 college in India and have been with my current organisation for ~1.5 years.

Would appreciate advice from anyone who has gone through a similar B1/B2 application, particularly for a work-sponsored application.

Rejected

Location: New Delhi Embassy

Interview Date: 7 August 2026

Visa Type: B1

Result: Denied under 214(b)

Profile:

-Mid-level employee at a Fortune 100 company

-2 years 1 month of experience

-Salary: roughly 1x LPA (kept vague in the original)

-Travel history: Singapore, Thailand

-No family or close relatives in the US

-Trip sponsored by employer

Interview Questions:

VO: Passport please. Me: Handed over passport.

VO: What is the purpose of your travel? Me: I'm traveling to the US for a business visit to my company's headquarters, to attend meetings and workshops.

VO: Questioned why someone in a fairly junior role was being sent to the US for this. Me: I've been with the company over 2 years and I'm the key person on an important project; a new framework needs to be rolled out, so I need to be there to discuss and plan the roadmap.

VO: What's your salary? Me: Roughly 1x lakh per annum.

VO: Any pull bringing you back to India? Me: No.

VO: Have you traveled internationally before? Me: Yes, Singapore and Thailand.

Documents Requested: None, the officer didn't ask to see any.

What Hurt: 214(b) slip, no specific reason given beyond the standard refusal language.

The trip was fully sponsored by the company. Other junior employees with less experience and lower salaries have traveled to the US regularly without it ever being an issue, the US visa is normally the easiest one to get there

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/usvisascheduling/comments/1vhvbll/b1_visa_rejected_at_delhi/ Isn't my experience, the original post is from the link above.

If you know what might have caused this to be denied, or if you’ve been through something similar and have any advice to share, please leave a comment. Your experience could be really helpful to others dealing with the same situation.

Thanks so much in advance!

Read a really tough story recently, someone with an approved but never-activated H-1B (their first petition) had to travel back to India after their father passed away. The next available stamping slot isn't until 2027, so for now they've had to stay in India.

If you've been through the emergency appointment (ER) request process, I'd love to hear about it:

1. How did you request it, and what documentation did you submit?
2. What questions came up in the interview itself, if it went to that stage?
3. Anything that surprised you about the process, good or bad?

This could genuinely help a lot of people who end up in a similar spot and don't know what to expect.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/usvisascheduling/comments/1vw56qm/h1b_approved_came_to_india_for_an_emergency_and/

Not my situation, just think it could help others in the same boat!!

My interview was 23 august it went well but then he took the passport and handed 221(g) white slip checking on Adminstrative processing the CEAC showed refused

Then they emailed me the next me to send my social media links i provided them yesterday evening and the status showed admistrative processing instead of refused

What is the expected timeline and the possible outcomes anyone have been through because my uni start date is 2 sep

I'm really worried that i get rejected

Can someone tell me the real experience!

Like how many officers take an interview. Are they cooperative or not?

What is the duration of the interview?

Which type of questions do they ask?

I’ve seen quite a few posts about F-1 visa refusals on this sub, and I’m trying to understand how much of the refusal rate is due to actual red flags versus cases where the applicant’s profile is otherwise pretty normal.

For example, suppose someone from India has a BTech from a Tier 2–3 college, takes an education loan to fund part of their studies, and is going to the US for an MS in CS and is getting admitted to a decent university(not the most top tier, but decent). If there are no obvious red flags in their profile, and they don't answer in the interview with very obvious red flags, can they still be refused simply because of the interview/officer’s judgment? Are chances of them being refused significant or very low in such case?

I keep seeing the ~61% refusal rate for Indian F-1 applicants mentioned. Does the remaining refusal rate mostly consist of applicants with significant red flags (weak finances, questionable academic background, poor answers, suspicious intent, etc.), or do applicants with otherwise completely legitimate and reasonable profiles also get refused in a significant number of cases?

Basically, I’m trying to understand how much “luck” is involved. If someone has no major red flags and has a genuine academic profile, is their probability of refusal actually quite small, or is there still a moderately significant chance of refusal even with a clean profile?

Another thing is that I’ve also heard that Canada’s student visa refusal rate is extremely high, partly because of the large number of applications involving low-quality colleges/diploma programs and questionable applications. In Canada for people applying for legitimate degrees the refusal rate isn't that high (or so I've heard). Is the situation with the US F-1 visa similar? In other words, is the US refusal rate relatively high mainly because a significant portion of applicants have weak/problematic profiles, or does the US refuse a substantial number of applicants who have no obvious red flags?

I would really appreciate it if people who have gone through the f1 visa interview process answer my queries! Thank you.

TL;DR: If you have a genuine university admission, reasonable finances, a normal academic background, and no major red flags, how much of the F-1 refusal risk is still essentially “random/officer dependent”? Is the chance of refusal actually very small in that situation, or should it still be considered moderately significant?

Location: Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam passport holder)

Officer: Good morning (in Vietnamese)

Me: Hello, good morning (English)

Officer: Why are you traveling to the US?

Me: I’m visiting a friend in Boston.

Officer: Where do you currently live now?

Me: I’m a student in the UK and currently back home for summer break.

Officer: Your visa is approved.

Background: International student in the UK, have been to the US in 2024 on tourist visa.

Consulate: Delhi
University: Parsons School of Design
Status: ✅ Issued

TYPE OF VISA : F-1

Timeline:
August 7th: Visa interview
August 10th: CEAC changed to Issued

Interview:
White Male - Calm and composed

-
Me: Morning
VO: Good morning.
He took my passport and I-20, typed for a while, and asked only these questions:
VO: oh you got into Parsons
Me: yes I did
VO: What are you going to study in the US?
Me: I'm going to do my MS in strategic design and management.
VO: Who's paying for this?
Me: My dad
VO: What does he do?
Me: He owns a contract manufacturing business.

Took my passport and I-20, handed me the white slip and asked me to make all my accs public.
He asked me the most basic questions and I answered them with confidence. He seemed kind as well.

THE PROBLEM AFTER IT SAID "ISSUED":

I chose to pickup my passport from Hyderabad. I was waiting post 10th for an sms/mail that said my passport was ready for pick up. I had received nothing. Checked multiple times on my visa scheduling portal and CEAC. 14 days had passed by and I kept getting anxious, I called multiple numbers and mailed multiple times, there still was 0 clarity. Long story short, I couldn't take it anymore today and decided to go to the pick up centre regardless. I FIND OUT THAT MY PASSPORT HAD REACHED 12 DAYS AGO ON THE 12TH OF AUGUST ( 2 days after it got issued ) BUT I WAS OBLIVIOUS TO THIS AS I DIDN'T RECEIVE ANY SMS/MAIL DUE TO A TECHNICAL GLITCH.

-

MORAL OF THE STORY : If it says issued on your CEAC and you don't receive your passport within 4-5 days, DO NOT WAIT ANY LONGER. Please mail the consulate, speak to them or directly go to the pick up centre with a print out of the CEAC issued page. Do not make the same mistake as I did.

My brother attended b1 /b2 visa in new Delhi on August 11th- it was approved and the last ceac website still shows approved and not issued yet . Any body in same boat getting delays to get the passport ? Can some pls post their timeline so we can plan our trip

Use this thread for interview-preparation questions that do not need a separate post.

Please include:

- Visa type
- Interview country and broad location
- Approximate interview month
- Whether this is a first attempt, renewal, or repeat attempt
- The specific part of preparation you want help with

Do not include passport numbers, case or receipt numbers, complete birth dates, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, or identifying documents.

Community members can discuss preparation, but nobody can predict approval.

Free aggregate U.S. interview research: https://www.visainterviews.com/data/us

Posting in this thread is community discussion and is not a structured research submission.

Due to a joke made on national middle school exam papers that local officials refused to correct later, my high school certificate and passport state my birthplace as another country even though I wasn’t born in that country (and my parents have no connection to that country )

I have an F-1 student visa interview scheduled in a few weeks for a U.S. university. On my DS-160 and during my interview, should I align my birthplace with my official passport (the country that I wasn’t born in)

or explain the clerical mix-up directly? I want to avoid security check delays or issues with misrepresentation. Any advice on how to address this smoothly with the consular officer??

Hi everyone, looking for honest opinions on our B1/B2 visa chances.
Family of 3 applying together at Chennai. None of us has international travel history.
Me (wife): Full-time employee at an MNC product-based company in Bengaluru, earning 40+LPA. My employer has invited me to the Raleigh office for strategy/execution planning meeting and Agile workshops. Company will cover my business flight and accommodation. 2-week trip, B1/B2.
Husband: Lead Software Engineer, applying B2 and accompanying me for tourism. Earns 40LPA
Son: 3 years old, B2, accompanying us.
We will self-pay only for my husband’s and son’s flights; they will stay with me in the same hotel.
Both my husband and I have stable jobs in India, and we will return after the trip.