Stupid online H-visa system for Mumbai Consulate

[sultanat.m]

I had applied for an H1B visa interview at the mumbai consulate website.
I completed all the 3 forms required for the visa and had saved the forms.
But I wanted a date for the 17th Dec 2006 which was not available at that time. Only 11th Dec had opened up yet.
After a week my application vanished and I couldnt log in to retrive my saved
forms. I called the consulate and they said it was automatically cancelled.
Now I want to apply again, but i dont know if in the next 7 days, Dec 17th
will open up or not. And if it doesnt my application will be cancelled yet again.
How many times does one have to do this?
The confusion is because the "Estimated" days (using the "Click here for an estimate of current availability of visa interview appointments") differ than the actual dates people are seeing AFTER the application forms are filled (last step to choose the date of interview). (Estimated days show Nov ending open but infact in my application i could view half of december being opened up) Hence the actual dates are further than the estimated days.
Why this descrepency in the dates??! Beats me. Why cant they show the actual dates?
Because of this we are unsure what are the exact days opened up and when to reapply and refill ALL the forms again, since we have to time the online application in such a way as to concide with a opening of a date (which we cannot really estimate) and the automatic cancellation of the application
in 7 days!
The consulate said after 2 attempts (not selecting an interview date and
automatically being kicked out) we cannot apply for the next 60 days?!
Is this true? If yes, how can we know for SURE a particular date is opened up so that we can reapply?
Anyone in the same soup?
Also when the app is cancelled and we cannot reapply, can we make a new HDFC receipt and reapply fresh? anyone tried any stunts here...
Thanks, sultanat.

 

[tusharvk]

it is strange system;
just keep checking the availability; when you find availability, go ahead ahd fill out the forms and book your date; if you don't see a date you prefer, just exit without saving the application forms.
their rules change every day, so best to talk to VFS in this respect.

I had applied for an H1B visa interview at the mumbai consulate website.
I completed all the 3 forms required for the visa and had saved the forms.
But I wanted a date for the 17th Dec 2006 which was not available at that time. Only 11th Dec had opened up yet.
After a week my application vanished and I couldnt log in to retrive my saved
forms. I called the consulate and they said it was automatically cancelled.
Now I want to apply again, but i dont know if in the next 7 days, Dec 17th
will open up or not. And if it doesnt my application will be cancelled yet again.
How many times does one have to do this?
The confusion is because the "Estimated" days (using the "Click here for an estimate of current availability of visa interview appointments") differ than the actual dates people are seeing AFTER the application forms are filled (last step to choose the date of interview). (Estimated days show Nov ending open but infact in my application i could view half of december being opened up) Hence the actual dates are further than the estimated days.
Why this descrepency in the dates??! Beats me. Why cant they show the actual dates?
Because of this we are unsure what are the exact days opened up and when to reapply and refill ALL the forms again, since we have to time the online application in such a way as to concide with a opening of a date (which we cannot really estimate) and the automatic cancellation of the application
in 7 days!
The consulate said after 2 attempts (not selecting an interview date and
automatically being kicked out) we cannot apply for the next 60 days?!
Is this true? If yes, how can we know for SURE a particular date is opened up so that we can reapply?
Anyone in the same soup?
Also when the app is cancelled and we cannot reapply, can we make a new HDFC receipt and reapply fresh? anyone tried any stunts here...
Thanks, sultanat.

 

[dhm2002]

I had applied for an H1B visa interview at the mumbai consulate website.
I completed all the 3 forms required for the visa and had saved the forms.
But I wanted a date for the 17th Dec 2006 which was not available at that time. Only 11th Dec had opened up yet.
After a week my application vanished and I couldnt log in to retrive my saved
forms. I called the consulate and they said it was automatically cancelled.
Now I want to apply again, but i dont know if in the next 7 days, Dec 17th
will open up or not. And if it doesnt my application will be cancelled yet again.
How many times does one have to do this?
The confusion is because the "Estimated" days (using the "Click here for an estimate of current availability of visa interview appointments") differ than the actual dates people are seeing AFTER the application forms are filled (last step to choose the date of interview). (Estimated days show Nov ending open but infact in my application i could view half of december being opened up) Hence the actual dates are further than the estimated days.
Why this descrepency in the dates??! Beats me. Why cant they show the actual dates?
Because of this we are unsure what are the exact days opened up and when to reapply and refill ALL the forms again, since we have to time the online application in such a way as to concide with a opening of a date (which we cannot really estimate) and the automatic cancellation of the application
in 7 days!
The consulate said after 2 attempts (not selecting an interview date and
automatically being kicked out) we cannot apply for the next 60 days?!
Is this true? If yes, how can we know for SURE a particular date is opened up so that we can reapply?
Anyone in the same soup?
Also when the app is cancelled and we cannot reapply, can we make a new HDFC receipt and reapply fresh? anyone tried any stunts here...
Thanks, sultanat.

Hi

Once you save the forms your records are saved for only 7 days and if you do nothing in 7 days they get deleted thats the rule. I realised how we can extend this period by mistake. I was rechecking the filled forms after about 4-5 days of filling them. Realised I had made some mistake so corrected the mistake and it saved again for next 7 days starting on the day I made changes. As long as you don't take appt. you can keep modifying the forms and extending the period. Once you take the appt though you cannot modify anything. I would not suggest the above route unless you genuinely want to make changes. I think they want you to take appt asap hence by having this rule eventually you will get tired and take the appt.

just like you we want to take appt in dec. any time after 17th (it coincides with kids' holidays) but got tired of waiting after filling the forms and hence took it in nov. Once you take an appt you can reschedule it once only for a later date. For any further changes I think you have to wait for 60 days. I did not know this rule after 2 attempts (not selecting an interview date and
automatically being kicked out) we cannot apply for the next 60 days?!
Never heard of that one. I thought this applied only after you take the appt and change it twice.

You are right they do show later months once you reach all the way in to the actual dates. that was mild shock when we took the appt. The estimate that they show is for the latest dates thats why they probably don't show you later months at that point which is insane.

Taking new HDFC receipt means paying the money again. Are you sure you want to do that? Ofcourse I do not know if that works nobody has posted anything of the sort. You can post that query again in Mumbai Consulate forum.
In short there is no way to save the application forms for longer time.


dhm2002