U.S. Consulate at Chennai Overbooks January 2006 Appointments
Posted Jan 06, 2006
©MurthyDotCom
U.S. Consulate at Chennai Overbooks Appointments
©MurthyDotCom
The U.S. Consulate at Chennai, India, recently announced that there was an error in the nonimmigrant (temporary) visa appointment system. This error has resulted in the significant over-scheduling of appointments from December 30, 2005 through the month of January 2006. The Consulate does not have sufficient staff to process all the cases for scheduled visa appointments. Therefore, some January appointments must be moved to February 2006.
©MurthyDotCom
Consulate Rescheduling VFS System Appointments
©MurthyDotCom
The overbooking of appointments applies to those made through the VFS online system. Individuals being rescheduled will receive notification of the new date via eMail or telephone. Such persons will not be processed if they come to the Consulate on the original scheduled date. Those who are rescheduled should bring the eMail notifications with them to the new interview.
©MurthyDotCom
Consulate Open for Some Saturday Appointments
©MurthyDotCom
In an effort to address this problem, the Consulate is opening on two Saturdays in January 2006 (the 7^th and 21^st), and three Saturdays in February 2006 (the 4^th, 11^th, and 25^th). If an appointment is moved to an inconvenient date, the visa applicant is allowed to request an appointment in March, April, or later. Such requests can be made only after the date of the original appointment has passed, however.
©MurthyDotCom
Due to time constraints, no student visa appointments will be delayed, except for those that had been set for December 30, 2005. These have all been moved to January 7, 2006.
©MurthyDotCom
Emergency Appointments Not Available in Jan or Feb 2006
©MurthyDotCom
Because of the overbooking, the Consulate has indicated that people should not request emergency appointments in January or February 2006. If there is a surplus capacity, they will add it on the VFS WebSite, which is linked to the visa application instructions on the website for the Chennai Consulate.
©MurthyDotCom
Consulate Apologizes for Inconvenience
©MurthyDotCom
The U.S. Consulate in Chennai issued an apology for inconveniences resulting from overbooking. Obviously, such situations create problems for all involved, including consular staff. This is a high-travel time of year, with many nonimmigrant workers needing visas so that they may return to their jobs and to their lives in the United States. Travelers always need to expect the unexpected and, whenever possible, try to maintain some flexibility in their travel schedules.