Securing B1/B2 interview in Warsaw as a third party national

[millefleur 5,039]

3 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

I thought you actually needed to fill out the DS160 to be eligible to make the appointment...? Weird. 

I wonder if there's some vulnerability/loophole in the system they are exploiting. The ustraveldocs site looks so outdated, I wouldn't be surprised.

[JayFromTexas 61]

6 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

So curiously I looked at a popular Belarusian forum online, and they seem to be talking, as well, about the B2 slots being eaten up by "bots." One person alleges to have gotten an appointment in a week, whereas others are complaining that there's no spots for a year or something like that. I thought you actually needed to fill out the DS160 to be eligible to make the appointment...? Weird. 

 

Wonder if there's a different interview scheduler for immigrant appointments (i.e., K1, IR1/CR1, etc.). If not, that could explain what some Russians on the other thread here were complaining of something very similar. This all sounds like such a mess... 🙄

My Russian girlfriend has found similar sites were interview slots are being "harvested" by a bot. Definitely a mess.

[slavaskii 885]

59 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I wonder if there's some vulnerability/loophole in the system they are exploiting. The ustraveldocs site looks so outdated, I wouldn't be surprised.

Yes, USTravelDocs is a ridiculously outdated website, but they did 'improve' it recently (though unsure if this was just aesthetic). I didn't think you could even get to the scheduler without the DS160 confirmation, though... how is Warsaw not wise to this, if none of their appointments are showing up?!

55 minutes ago, JayFromTexas said:

My Russian girlfriend has found similar sites were interview slots are being "harvested" by a bot. Definitely a mess.

Wow. Do you know the names of those websites, by chance? If this is truly some 'massive' operation going on that's screwing with times, it needs to be reported to the embassy and DHS immediately. Warsaw won't be taking anyone if their openings are just filling up in 5 seconds. Again, unsure if this also impacts immigrant processing at all, but if there's concrete information that bots are targeting the site it needs to be reported ASAP.

[Boiler 43,857]

I am sure they know, has been going on for some time it seems.

[slavaskii 885]

18 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I am sure they know, has been going on for some time it seems.

I'm just confused as to how they can't stop it. Are people just not showing up? Are the bots then selling the spots to legitimate people? I recognize this specific thread is about B1/B2, but this seems ridiculously unfair to the Belarusians/Poles who are going to have their immigrant apps sent their soon, only to have to deal with this mess... I would be interested in what the embassy's response would be if someone brings this up to them directly. It was my understanding Warsaw was fairly responsive.

 

Edit: It appears as if the website to the bot farmer comes up immediately upon searching Google. This is absolutely insane.

Edited February 6, 2022 by slavaskii

[millefleur 5,039]

15 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Yes, USTravelDocs is a ridiculously outdated website, but they did 'improve' it recently (though unsure if this was just aesthetic). I didn't think you could even get to the scheduler without the DS160 confirmation, though... how is Warsaw not wise to this, if none of their appointments are showing up?!

My guess is people are paying the fee and they hand over their login info and receipt numbers to these "bot" visa services, who then just punch it in and it auto logins and snatches up whatever is available? The CAPTCHA they use for the login seems super outdated (newer websites use those "click on each picture" or other security features), since they don't seem to care about updating that, seems like an open door for smart hacker types to jump right over. Once the "bot" people secure the appointment, they tell their clients "OK you need to go to Warsaw on this day, we got you an appointment and that is the only day you have" - I don't think they can book appointments en masse, it has to be linked to each person's login. This is just pure speculation of course but I wouldn't be shocked if it was happening given the lax security.

 

In terms of people not showing up, that's a good question. I don't know if they monitor or keep track of no shows. My guess is they probably don't care. They got their $160 and if you didn't bother showing up, oh well. It's just a shame that if this is happening it's taking away perfectly good slots for people who want them.

 

4 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Belarusians/Poles who are going to have their immigrant apps sent their soon

Pretty sure the immigrant slots and non-immigrant slots don't overlap, it would be a different calendar/schedule. K-1's would be under the immigrant calendar. Whether some people are using those "bot" services for those appointments would be interesting to know.

 

I wouldn't be surprized if the consulate workers didn't know this was happening. For all they know, they go on and open slots on the site and then see they get booked up. They probably just assume everyone and their brother wants a slot, so they fill up immediately. I'm not sure they really care. If you call them and say "Why can I never find an open appointment slot?" they'll probably just say "Well, we're adding them so I don't know, keep trying." It seems like it could be a blind spot for them unless someone did some investigative research into what was really going on.

[millefleur 5,039]

Looks like some people are having success getting appointments in Krakow: