Visa Appointment Fee Question

[Bfloyd 0]

Hello,

 

My Fiancé and I had our case sent to the embassy back around Feb 28th 2022. She set her up medical appointment (March 1 2022) and her embassy appointment (March 10th 2022). Upon going to her medical, she was flagged for sputum and she had to do the two month culture. She just went back for her results yesterday and was medically cleared (yay!). I called the USEM call center and they were able to see we had already paid and setup an appointment in March so they said we would not have to pay again. The call center worker set our case to (Operations Unit K1-No Show tagging) and put our case status to ("Escalated").  I received an email saying they would be in contact within 1-2 business days to start the reschedule process.

 

I've heard it is just easier to eat the cost, repay and reschedule your visa interview via the website. I was wondering if you all think I should wait 3-4 business days to see if they reach out before I do this. We have been waiting (like many since early 2020 due to Covid) and I'm just ready to finalize everything as quick as possible because I will be starting a new job locally June 1st. So getting everything done before then would be perfect in an ideal situation.  I don't mind waiting a few days but I don't have a lot of trust in USEM to handle the situation in a timely manner.

 

I appreciate your thoughts and perspectives.

 

Brad

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bfloyd

[Hank_ 9,174]

Everything is tied to your case file number (MNL), there is no benefit to paying a second time.

 

Where ever you heard that .. I would fine a new place  

[JeanneAdil 6,554]

Did u cancel the interview for the 10th?

if not,  attend it 

 

and no one has to pay the fee twice unless they cancel a visa and have to reapply

 

embassies do get fussy when an interview is rescheduled 2 times 

[jan22 3,056]

11 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

Did u cancel the interview for the 10th?

if not,  attend it 

 

and no one has to pay the fee twice unless they cancel a visa and have to reapply

 

embassies do get fussy when an interview is rescheduled 2 times 

It will be really hard to attend a March 10th appointment in May!  (Sorry -- couldn't help myself.)

[JeanneAdil 6,554]

15 minutes ago, jan22 said:

It will be really hard to attend a March 10th appointment in May!  (Sorry -- couldn't help myself.)

sorry,   my error 

i have been off a month since this year started 

happens when u retire and don't need to keep track of times and dates

i no longer have to get up,  dress out or go to bed at a certain  time

and honestly ,  i mess up

why didn't she attend the 10th interview and just go into AP ?

 

[Bfloyd 0]

10 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

sorry,   my error 

i have been off a month since this year started 

happens when u retire and don't need to keep track of times and dates

i no longer have to get up,  dress out or go to bed at a certain  time

and honestly ,  i mess up

why didn't she attend the 10th interview and just go into AP ?

 

Hey, I honestly thought you were not able to attend the visa interview until after your medical was cleared. That's why she tried to reschedule the appointment via the website after she found out about the sputum but we did not see a reschedule option. We did email the embassy (like a 7 day notice) and they told us just to reach back out to the Embassy after the medical was cleared.

 

Another girl in the K1 Support group she is on Facebook said they had a similar issue with the sputum and ended up just repaying the visa interview fee (which allows you to schedule an interview via the website) so they could schedule a new appointment easier than going through the Embassy call centers/email. I hope I'm explaining it well, it's confusing for me too lol.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bfloyd

[JeanneAdil 6,554]

2 minutes ago, Bfloyd said:

Hey, I honestly thought you were not able to attend the visa interview until after your medical was cleared. That's why she tried to reschedule the appointment via the website after she found out about the sputum but we did not see a reschedule option. We did email the embassy (like a 7 day notice) and they told us just to reach back out to the Embassy after the medical was cleared.

 

Another girl in the K1 Support group she is on Facebook said they had a similar issue with the sputum and ended up just repaying the visa interview fee (which allows you to schedule an interview via the website) so they could schedule a new appointment easier than going through the Embassy call centers/email. I hope I'm explaining it well, it's confusing for me too lol.

no, u do not repay the fee /  if she paid the fee twice -to who?

many pay directly to embassy at interview and sounds like someone ripped her off

 

because of covid the fee was even extended /  not sure when that will end or did end as K1 's are still backed up from covid

 

i may not know the month but i do know u don't have to pay this fee a 2nd time unless its a new petition

 

[Bfloyd 0]

Just now, JeanneAdil said:

no, u do not repay the fee /  if she paid the fee twice -to who?

many pay directly to embassy at interview and sounds like someone ripped her off

 

because of covid the fee was even extended /  not sure when that will end or did end as K1 's are still backed up from covid

 

i may not know the month but i do know u don't have to pay this fee a 2nd time unless its a new petition

 

If you use the USEM website to schedule the interview, it requires you to pay before you can schedule the visa interview. You do this buy going to a bank and they give you a receipt number which you then use on the website. This was how we were able to schedule the initial March 10th interview. The problem is, when we try to re-use the same receipt number it shows it as being used. By paying again, the other couple received a new receipt number which allowed them to schedule another appointment.

[JeanneAdil 6,554]

21 minutes ago, Bfloyd said:

If you use the USEM website to schedule the interview, it requires you to pay before you can schedule the visa interview. You do this buy going to a bank and they give you a receipt number which you then use on the website. This was how we were able to schedule the initial March 10th interview. The problem is, when we try to re-use the same receipt number it shows it as being used. By paying again, the other couple received a new receipt number which allowed them to schedule another appointment.

email the embasssy and they will schedule the interview

usually the case when one is cancelled

 

and our tourist visa works that way-pay the bank and get a receipt

 

[Chancy 6,241]

9 minutes ago, Bfloyd said:

I honestly thought you were not able to attend the visa interview until after your medical was cleared.

 

That's correct.  Applicants in the Philippines are not allowed to proceed with the interview until after their visa medical is cleared.  Your fiancee would've been turned away at pre-screening at the embassy, if she even tried to attend before being cleared by SLEC.

 

I was also flagged for sputum testing at SLEC and had to cancel my original interview schedule.  My category is IR1 though, so the re-scheduling process I went through may not apply to your fiancee's case.  In my experience, the embassy staff resolved emailed requests within 1 to 2 weeks.  I thought that was already timely, as it was within or sooner than the response times reported by other members here in the PH sub-forum.

 

[Bfloyd 0]

2 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

That's correct.  Applicants in the Philippines are not allowed to proceed with the interview until after their visa medical is cleared.  Your fiancee would've been turned away at pre-screening at the embassy, if she even tried to attend before being cleared by SLEC.

 

I was also flagged for sputum testing at SLEC and had to cancel my original interview schedule.  My category is IR1 though, so the re-scheduling process I went through may not apply to your fiancee's case.  In my experience, the embassy staff resolved emailed requests within 1 to 2 weeks.  I thought that was already timely, as it was within or sooner than the response times reported by other members here in the PH sub-forum.

 

Thanks for the info

[RO_AH 1,659]

@Chancy is correct on all. You may be in a hurry but it will be on their time schedule. Just be patient. Trying to pay again will do nothing.