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Long story short, my flight is due 20th Sep (11 days from today); but my interview appointment with the USA consulate is next Monday, 12th Sep. Given that it will take them 5~7 days to process my visa, it is very likely for me to miss my flight given it will take a further 2~3 more days to post my passport back to me (I live in a different city than where USA consulate is located).

Is it possible to plea during my interview so that they can speed up processing my transit visa?

Has anyone had a similar experience before?

In case, you are wondering how I managed to get myself into a difficult situation like this:

  • I am travelling to Spain, but have to go to Los Angeles first (transit)
  • I needed to apply for my tourist visa to Spain first before I could apply for my USA transit visa
  • One key piece of supporting document I needed to apply for my tourist visa to Spain arrived three weeks ago
  • I submitted my application, had my interview and finally got my tourist visa 10 days ago
  • I filled in a DS-160 application form and submitted it online this Monday, 5th Sep, but I did not create an online account to schedule an appointment. (I assumed once my DS-160 was submitted, USA consulate would contact me to arrange an appointment.)
  • The whole week has almost gone by, I realized today that I needed to open an account online, pay for my interview and arrange a time with USA consulate myself.
  • Panic.

Many thanks

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  • Good idea, I will see if I can go there and pick it up.
    – Yu Zhang
    Sep 8, 2016 at 22:37
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    You can always ask, but there are of course no guarantees. If you explain your situation in a friendly, courteous, and polite way, in my experience people tend to be friendly, courteous, and accommodating in return in most companies and government agencies around the world (of course there are always exceptions). The 5-7 days furthermore takes into account busy times and problems with the application, if all goes smoothly it can be much faster (my dad had a visa application granted within a day more than once for example).
    – jwenting
    Sep 9, 2016 at 6:11
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    @pnuts, i did not get to plea, but they gave me 5 years transit visa in time.
    – Yu Zhang
    Sep 27, 2016 at 6:19

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There is a question of similar nature which I answered in part with the less time they are given, the less time they need, though the summary of my answer to How can I speed up the processing of my Romanian short-stay visa at the Romanian consulate in New York? was "You can't".

In that post here was no specific time expectation mentioned, though it did include It has been 3 weeks. The OP kindly provided feedback which included I had to call the Visa Center in Romania and a few hours after speaking with them, I get a call from the NY consulate that my visa was approved and I can pickup my passport later that day and After I arrived, the lady knew who I was, since she gave me some kinda stinkeye...I approach the window at my turn and the lady asks me "What do you want?". Said I arrived for my passport and she brought it, then threatens me in front of all these other people that she will call the FBI and tell them that I am threatening/harassing her.

So it may be that the call to Romania made all the difference, though it also seems to have been risky. In my answer I admit I had advised "Don't go over their heads".

Another Q of similar nature is here. There there was some reason to expect 34 days or so for turnaround. Unfortunately this time we have no feedback from OP. However, reading a LOT into what little information is available (see my A) my best guess was it actually took about 10 days, presumably without any expediting.

In your case we have your feedback (thank you, as you may gather, it helps!) and it seems your in time result was without progress chasing – or even the expediting measures that were considered.

So to 'answer' your question Is it possible to plea for a speed up during a transit visa application? I repeat the summary of my earlier answer "You can't" with the addition as before of 'but that is not reason to despair'.

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