Will be out of the country on the interview date

[shah007]

I did my FP on June 5 and surprisingly I got my interview date letter today. My interview is scheduled for July 20. Unfortunately, I will be out of the country during that time.

Can I write a letter to USCIS and request them to issue a new date? Has anybody done this in the past? I hope the new date is not too away in the future.

[GC_TRAP]

From everything I have heard it's never a good idea to reschedule your interview date. It goes into the la la land and then you wonder what happened to your application. But with luck on your side, you just may be able to reschedule for a future date and be fine.

Good luck!

[shah007]

Thank you for your response.

I also have my wife's FP during that time and she is going to be out as well. Do you know if it is easy to reschedule the FP appointment date?

[Jackolantern]

For FP your wife can go for a walk-in before the appointment date.

[lk1508]

I did my FP on June 5 and surprisingly I got my interview date letter today. My interview is scheduled for July 20. Unfortunately, I will be out of the country during that time.

Can I write a letter to USCIS and request them to issue a new date? Has anybody done this in the past? I hope the new date is not too away in the future.

Here's my experience with interview rescheduling:
http://forums.immigration.com/showth...w-rescheduling

My interview was originally scheduled for 4/2/12. Since I was scheduled to be out of the country at that time, I sent a letter to USCIS District office explaining the situation and my interview was rescheduled to 4/19/12. I did not have any problems at all.
However my friend who was in a similar situation received a letter that she did not appear for the interview(though she had requested USCIS to reschedule) and was asked to submit an explanation. She took an Infopass appointment and submitted a letter with the explanation once again. The lady at the Infopass counter said that though the letter appears a little scary, it is not a big issue and that they will reschedule the interview. After a week, my friend contacted the local Congressman and asked for their help. They contacted the USCIS District Office and found out that it was in the process of getting rescheduled and may take more than a month. When my friend requested them to do it earlier because she may need to travel again because of her family situation(it was a genuine reason), the local District office was very accomodating and asked her to come two days later. They sent her an email with the interview information and the email printout served as an interview letter. They also scheduled the oath on the earliest available date which was 2 days after the interview.

Wishing you all the very best.

[shah007]

Jackolantern:

She already left before she got the FP date. So she was not able to go earlier.

[dcmetro22042]

For FP your wife can go for a walk-in before the appointment date.

I would like to walk-in early as well as I might be traveling when my FP is scheduled. Is that reason good enough? Any particular day/time is better?

[shah007]

Here's my experience with interview rescheduling:
http://forums.immigration.com/showth...w-rescheduling

My interview was originally scheduled for 4/2/12. Since I was scheduled to be out of the country at that time, I sent a letter to USCIS District office explaining the situation and my interview was rescheduled to 4/19/12. I did not have any problems at all.
However my friend who was in a similar situation received a letter that she did not appear for the interview(though she had requested USCIS to reschedule) and was asked to submit an explanation. She took an Infopass appointment and submitted a letter with the explanation once again. The lady at the Infopass counter said that though the letter appears a little scary, it is not a big issue and that they will reschedule the interview. After a week, my friend contacted the local Congressman and asked for their help. They contacted the USCIS District Office and found out that it was in the process of getting rescheduled and may take more than a month. When my friend requested them to do it earlier because she may need to travel again because of her family situation(it was a genuine reason), the local District office was very accomodating and asked her to come two days later. They sent her an email with the interview information and the email printout served as an interview letter. They also scheduled the oath on the earliest available date which was 2 days after the interview.

Wishing you all the very best.

lk1508:

I am glad that you got the letter. I have a couple of follow-up questions. Could you please answer them for me.

1. Why did your friend contact the local Congressman? Did he feel a need to do that?
2. Do you think it would be better if I called 1.800.375.5283 (number listed on the interview letter) and explain to them? Will that help more than writing a letter?
3. Third option is I can always change my date and come back earlier to be here in time for the interview. It would be extremely inconvenient but looking at all the trouble your friend went through, I might consider it.

Thank you!

[lk1508]

lk1508:

I am glad that you got the letter. I have a couple of follow-up questions. Could you please answer them for me.

1. Why did your friend contact the local Congressman? Did he feel a need to do that?
2. Do you think it would be better if I called 1.800.375.5283 (number listed on the interview letter) and explain to them? Will that help more than writing a letter?
3. Third option is I can always change my date and come back earlier to be here in time for the interview. It would be extremely inconvenient but looking at all the trouble your friend went through, I might consider it.

Thank you!

Hi Shah007,

1) My friend's had some family issues and so there was a possibility that she would need to go out of the country. So she contacted the local Congressman to expedite the rescheduling process since she did not get the interview letter even 2 weeks after the Infopass appointment.
2) Calling the 1-800 number does not help. The interview is scheduled by the local USCIS District Office. So if you wish to reschedule, just follow the instructions on the interview letter. It asks you to return the Interview letter along with a written explanation why you cannot attend the interview and requesting them to reschedule. In fact I called the 1-800 number just to confirm after I had sent the letter and they told me that they cannot help. They just asked me to wait for the Interview letter with the rescheduled date.
3) If you can change the dates of your trip, there are no issues at all. In my case, I was in no rush and was ready to wait for a month or two for the interview date to be rescheduled. Luckily, by the time I got back from my trip, the rescheduled interview letter was waiting for me

[shah007]

Hi Shah007,

1) My friend's had some family issues and so there was a possibility that she would need to go out of the country. So she contacted the local Congressman to expedite the rescheduling process since she did not get the interview letter even 2 weeks after the Infopass appointment.
2) Calling the 1-800 number does not help. The interview is scheduled by the local USCIS District Office. So if you wish to reschedule, just follow the instructions on the interview letter. It asks you to return the Interview letter along with a written explanation why you cannot attend the interview and requesting them to reschedule. In fact I called the 1-800 number just to confirm after I had sent the letter and they told me that they cannot help. They just asked me to wait for the Interview letter with the rescheduled date.
3) If you can change the dates of your trip, there are no issues at all. In my case, I was in no rush and was ready to wait for a month or two for the interview date to be rescheduled. Luckily, by the time I got back from my trip, the rescheduled interview letter was waiting for me

lk1508:

Thank you for responding.

My preferred option would be to reschedule the interview. However, I am just scared that if I send the request to reschedule my interview, then my application will go into a "no man's land" and nobody will give any appropriate answers and God knows how long it will take after that. I can wait a month or so but waiting beyond that with nobody giving you any answers would be pure torture. Your thoughts?

[lk1508]

lk1508:

Thank you for responding.

My preferred option would be to reschedule the interview. However, I am just scared that if I send the request to reschedule my interview, then my application will go into a "no man's land" and nobody will give any appropriate answers and God knows how long it will take after that. I can wait a month or so but waiting beyond that with nobody giving you any answers would be pure torture. Your thoughts?

The waiting time for the interview date to be rescheduled is dependent on your local District Office and your luck. Once you reschedule, it is possible that there may be no online updates and so you will need to be patient and just have faith that it will work out just fine. If it gets really delayed, you have the option of contacting your Congressman or Senator. In case there is a possibility that you will be tensed if it gets delayed, you may want to get done with the interview on the scheduled date.