January 2, 2017
Although most applicants apply for visas to enjoy time with family or see tourist attractions, we understand that sometimes applicants need to travel to attend to family or business emergencies. There are a limited number of immediate emergency visa appointments available for applicants who prove that they have an urgent reason to travel.
If you want to request an emergency appointment, you must first schedule a regular interview appointment. Once the regular appointment is scheduled, you can request an emergency appointment online in your www.ustraveldocs.com profile. Make sure that you know the username and password for that profile if you use a visa facilitator or the call center to make the appointment.
Approval of an emergency appointment is not approval of the visa. You will still be expected to show that you qualify for the visa during your interview with a consular officer.
What are some potential emergency travel situations?
- You or an immediate family member (mother, father, spouse, brother, sister, or child) require urgent medical care in the United States;
- You need to attend to an immediate family member who lives in the United States who has a serious medical condition and requires your presence immediately;
- You need to attend the funeral of an immediate family member;
- You need to attend an urgent and late breaking business matter, where the need to travel to the United States could not have been foreseen.
Proof of Emergency Travel
You should provide with your emergency request scanned copies of letters or other records that substantiate the emergency need to travel. For medical emergencies, this might include letters from your local doctor or the doctor in the United States detailing your condition and planned dates of your treatment or appointment in the United States.
Keep in mind that failing to plan properly is not an emergency – applying for your visa early (preferably as soon as you know you’ll need to travel) can ensure that you don’t have to worry about last-minute requests for an earlier appointment. Misrepresentation of your reason for travel to the United States may adversely influence the outcome of your current and any future visa application.
For more information please call 829-956-5144 from the Dominican Republic or 703-988-3410 from the United States. You can also obtain information on how to obtain an emergency appointment via the Embassy website: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/do/do-niv-expeditedappointment.asp. If you have additional questions, email us at support-dominicanrepublic@ustraveldocs.com.
