The US embassy in Accra is rolling out a new system to improve its immigrant visa application and interview booking system.
Applicants with bookings from September 16, 2024, and beyond will be required to attend a prescreening appointment 3-4 weeks before their scheduled visa interview.
The categories of visas that are affected are: family-based, fiancé visa, employment-based, diversity visa (Visa Lottery), maintaining permanent resident status, lost or stolen green card, abandoning lawful permanent resident status and returning resident visa.
Immigrant visa applicants for these types will undergo a prescreening and documents checklist before attending the visa interviews. This is to check for and rectify if there are any errors or missing documents.
Attending the prescreening appointment is crucial to the main visa interview session as the consular officer must verify if the applicant had attended that session. Failure to do so may result in an applicant being required to reschedule another interview.
In addition to improving the process, the new system is to reduce immigrant visa processing times while giving applicants enough time and opportunity to be well-prepared for the visa interview and have a clearer understanding of the required documents and processes. All documents will be reviewed by the US consular team
Applicants who however have their interview dates before September 16 are exempted from the new process.
This process does not apply to visitors’ visas, conferences, business etc (B1/B2, F, J visas etc)
Writer: Andy Pratt
Source : Us embassy Ghana
