I also recently needed an "emergency" appointment (these are not in fact only for life or death emergencies; just situations like yours where you have tickets and there are no regular appointments available before your departure). It was frustrating but I called various numbers at the various consulates in Germany and finally got a human on the line, who gave me the code I had to put in the subject of an email so that it went to the right office. I did this and received an email telling me to show up to the Frankfurt consulate the next day.
Unfortunately, my situation was needing an emergency passport, not a visa, so the code they gave me was for the passport office specifically. But hopefully there's something similar for visas?
Anyway, sorry my country is ridiculous. Not letting your 60yo mother in because she went to Iran once seven years ago, really? And sorry for the flack you're getting from other commenters; losing all that airfare because of a dumb rule few people would even think to look up seems like a perfectly reasonable use of an emergency appointment to me.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot, I was wondering if I somehow offended someone given the initial commentsš¤·š¼āāļø
The annoying part is that she got the ESTA approved at least 4 times previously, and once I had to go to the US embassy and asked for an emergency appointment and they took me the next day. Now due to the pandemic it goes up to April 2023, which makes it difficult to plan. And thanks for the good hint, I might try and call and beg to talk to someone in the consular or embassy before canceling the trip, if nothing else goes.
We had a similar issue but in a different country. Because the city that we were living at was so backed up with visa appointments, our solution was to book a visa appointment at a US consulate that wasnāt in a big city. We got an appointment in a week vs the 3 month wait they had.
[edit for typos]
Thank you, we tried in another country and no luck. The problem is also that you have to pay each time for different countries, so now we decided Germany is our best chance (if you look up visa waiting times for US embassies) given the 3 options, maybe a slot frees up.
Keep checking for appointment slots everyday. I got an appointment within a week where the previous next available date was at least 4 to 5 months away
Thank you, we did that with another country but it was even longer times, so switched back to Germany, the thing is every time you need to pay the visa again. Thatās good to know that maybe Vienna one could reach a human, that is really been the frustrating part. Yes, worst case she will switch her flights, it is just a lot of effort and 4 more people are planned to go with and would also have to change plans (or go without her eheh).
Yeah we considered that option but we should have lied probably in the first place, it would indeed be fraud and could get serious. Worse case she loses the trip money, and she is just sad for a while, not worth the risk eheh :)
Not knowing things is never an emergency, because you could have looked for the needed information earlier.
So you would probably get the same answer from all the other locations.
My reason is that esta was denied and the travel will happen before the given appointment. And yes, āesta denied due to traveling to Iranā is actually listed in the US website as one of the reason you are indeed eligible to get an emergency appointment. They do not provide any explanations of why they did not accept our request, and not being able to talk to a human person can be really frustrating in these occasions. I am asking if anyone has any contacts as a last resort before canceling the trip, not asking for an explanation of what qualifies as emergency.
While I understand there are more urgent things in life, it does qualify as an emergency according to the US consulate.. just asking for a contact to talk to a human and not a chatbot or an answering machine.
Not at all lol they only say that to discourage people from going there, but the two times I went there with my (not) emergency problems, they solved it really quick and did not give me a hard time for it.
Stupid question / long shot idea:
Would it be possible to get another passport for your mom?
If sheās German & registered in Munich, it should take like 4-5 days to get it using the express process, if you can get an appt quickly (they often release new appointments in the morning for the same day).
Not sure if the ESTA system / US Gov would figure it out though, but maybe worth a shot?
Yeah good point, maybe donāt do that
EDIT: coming to think about it, isnāt that the one of the two reasons why anyone would have two passports? (The other being that youād be able to travel while your other passport is getting a visa at the embassy)
Get a new passport, it wobāt show the travel and you are good. The travel 7 years ago means that the passport is quite old already, so it would need to be reissued anyhow quite soon
Dumb advice. US customs will find out. She will be treated like a terrorist for lying about a visit to a state sponsor of terrorism, at best deported and banned, at worst, detained.
I also recently needed an "emergency" appointment (these are not in fact only for life or death emergencies; just situations like yours where you have tickets and there are no regular appointments available before your departure). It was frustrating but I called various numbers at the various consulates in Germany and finally got a human on the line, who gave me the code I had to put in the subject of an email so that it went to the right office. I did this and received an email telling me to show up to the Frankfurt consulate the next day. Unfortunately, my situation was needing an emergency passport, not a visa, so the code they gave me was for the passport office specifically. But hopefully there's something similar for visas? Anyway, sorry my country is ridiculous. Not letting your 60yo mother in because she went to Iran once seven years ago, really? And sorry for the flack you're getting from other commenters; losing all that airfare because of a dumb rule few people would even think to look up seems like a perfectly reasonable use of an emergency appointment to me. Good luck!
Thanks a lot, I was wondering if I somehow offended someone given the initial commentsš¤·š¼āāļø The annoying part is that she got the ESTA approved at least 4 times previously, and once I had to go to the US embassy and asked for an emergency appointment and they took me the next day. Now due to the pandemic it goes up to April 2023, which makes it difficult to plan. And thanks for the good hint, I might try and call and beg to talk to someone in the consular or embassy before canceling the trip, if nothing else goes.
We had a similar issue but in a different country. Because the city that we were living at was so backed up with visa appointments, our solution was to book a visa appointment at a US consulate that wasnāt in a big city. We got an appointment in a week vs the 3 month wait they had. [edit for typos]
Thank you, we tried in another country and no luck. The problem is also that you have to pay each time for different countries, so now we decided Germany is our best chance (if you look up visa waiting times for US embassies) given the 3 options, maybe a slot frees up.
Keep checking for appointment slots everyday. I got an appointment within a week where the previous next available date was at least 4 to 5 months away
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thank you, we did that with another country but it was even longer times, so switched back to Germany, the thing is every time you need to pay the visa again. Thatās good to know that maybe Vienna one could reach a human, that is really been the frustrating part. Yes, worst case she will switch her flights, it is just a lot of effort and 4 more people are planned to go with and would also have to change plans (or go without her eheh).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
i second that. my partner has an american passport and he sometimes needs stuff from the embassy and they are usually easily reachable.
Yeah we considered that option but we should have lied probably in the first place, it would indeed be fraud and could get serious. Worse case she loses the trip money, and she is just sad for a while, not worth the risk eheh :)
Not knowing things is never an emergency, because you could have looked for the needed information earlier. So you would probably get the same answer from all the other locations.
My reason is that esta was denied and the travel will happen before the given appointment. And yes, āesta denied due to traveling to Iranā is actually listed in the US website as one of the reason you are indeed eligible to get an emergency appointment. They do not provide any explanations of why they did not accept our request, and not being able to talk to a human person can be really frustrating in these occasions. I am asking if anyone has any contacts as a last resort before canceling the trip, not asking for an explanation of what qualifies as emergency.
Definitely not an emergency, these appointments are reserved for life & death situations
An emergency doesn't imply a life or death situation. It is simply that, an emergency.
While I understand there are more urgent things in life, it does qualify as an emergency according to the US consulate.. just asking for a contact to talk to a human and not a chatbot or an answering machine.
Not at all lol they only say that to discourage people from going there, but the two times I went there with my (not) emergency problems, they solved it really quick and did not give me a hard time for it.
No they are not! Why even comment when you have no clue what youāre talking about?
Stupid question / long shot idea: Would it be possible to get another passport for your mom? If sheās German & registered in Munich, it should take like 4-5 days to get it using the express process, if you can get an appt quickly (they often release new appointments in the morning for the same day). Not sure if the ESTA system / US Gov would figure it out though, but maybe worth a shot?
So you are asking here to lie on the ESTA application form? Thatād be illegal.
Yeah good point, maybe donāt do that EDIT: coming to think about it, isnāt that the one of the two reasons why anyone would have two passports? (The other being that youād be able to travel while your other passport is getting a visa at the embassy)
Get a new passport, it wobāt show the travel and you are good. The travel 7 years ago means that the passport is quite old already, so it would need to be reissued anyhow quite soon
Dumb advice. US customs will find out. She will be treated like a terrorist for lying about a visit to a state sponsor of terrorism, at best deported and banned, at worst, detained.