I need a US B2 visa for an event I want to attend next year, but the wait time at my local consulate has been too long (which would cause me to miss the event), therefore I plan to apply for the visa in my home country or a third country where the wait time is shorter. However, the local wait time has improved substantially over the past month, so I'd like to also apply here to save a trip to my home country/third country if the wait time eventually works out in the next couple of months. But I wonder if this is allowed or advisable, especially if there would be any adverse effect in the future for cancelling one of the applications.
5
-
1This sounds like a bad idea. I can't find an official source for this, but AFAIK you cannot have two valid US visas for the same purpose of travel at the same time, meaning that at least one of your applications is more or less guaranteed to be rejected.– lambshaanxyCommented Nov 11 at 3:24
-
2You should also consider you need a good reason to apply to a third country, else application may be seen as visa shopping (consular offices that have less rejections, and also they may not be able to properly evaluate your documents). Also consider it may seems you are desperate to immigrate (B2 is for holidays)– Giacomo CatenazziCommented Nov 11 at 7:54
-
@lambshaanxy I'm under the impression that I'd be able to withdraw/cancel one of the applications once I secure an interview date, so it would not result in a rejection. Is that not accurate?– EEQCommented Nov 11 at 9:21
-
@GiacomoCatenazzi Yeah I am concerned as well which is why I am inclined to do so in my home country, even though I have a pretty good travel record/social background that should show minimal immigration risk. My reason for going to the third country is that I have a trip there in mind already, but I don't know if that would be a good reason for the authority.– EEQCommented Nov 11 at 9:25
-
What do you mean by apply? You can schedule as many appointments as you like in almost any consulate anywhere in the world. But once your visa is approved in at least one of them the next processing will null your previous visa.– DmitryCommented Nov 11 at 22:37
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Most likely you can't - although it depends a little on the exact countries involved (which you've failed to mention).
Processing of US visas in most countries is outsourced to one of two companies - with most countries using CGI Federal.
CGI Federal will not let one person (specifically, one Passport) have an account in multiple countries. You can see details of the process for moving your account with them between countries in this answer.
So if both countries you're looking to apply in are using CGI Federal, then you definitely can't do what you're suggesting. If one of the countries is using a different company for visa processing, then you might be able to achieve what you're suggesting.
