Over the years I’ve seen firsthand as an immigrant and immigration attorney how the consular process has changed and evolved at US Embassies/Consulates around the world. There was a time when, for example, the only way visa applicants could schedule a consular appointment at the US Embassy in London was to call a number. You know, use a landline. Talk to a human. Online scheduling was not possible. Those days are long gone.
Although call centers to schedule visa appointments still exist to some extent, US Embassies/Consulates have fully embraced online portals as their primary method for applicants to schedule visa appointments. Surely this is a good thing, right? Hasn’t the Internet and innovative technology made everything super easy and convenient? Ummm…brace yourselves.
Unfortunately, we cannot exactly use the words “easy” and “convenient” to describe all four of the consular scheduling portals currently in use by various US Embassies/Consulates around the world. That’s right, four appointment portals. Ya’ll couldn’t agree on one, State Department?
Okay, so why four? Each US Embassy/Consulate has always done things slightly differently—which is why visa applicants should carefully check instructions on the relevant consular website—and now each US Embassy/Consulate, depending on their geographic location, uses one of four scheduling portals for visa appointments. The scheduling portals include the following:
The worst part? The four different appointment scheduling portals are not created equal. In this post we will discuss each scheduling portal and their advantages and disadvantages as well as some navigational tips for each one.
AIS
AIS is the cloud-based scheduling portal created by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a global technology company. AIS, also sometimes referred to as Yatri, calls itself the “official U.S. visa service for non-citizens traveling to the United States.” US Embassies and Consulates that use AIS do so for both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa appointments, although our main experience with AIS is with nonimmigrant visa appointments.
Visa applicants who are applying at a US Embassy/Consulate in Canada, Mexico, South America, and some parts of Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, will use the AIS portal to schedule their visa appointment. This is a very good thing. In our experience, out of the four portals, the AIS portal is the easiest to navigate, most flexible, and most user friendly. Visa applicants who are applying in a country using AIS should feel relieved.
One of the best things about the AIS portal is that it doesn’t restrict the daily number of logins—in other words, it does not lockout users if they login “too many” times in a twenty-four-hour period. When a visa applicant, for example, has scheduled an appointment but wants to keep looking for an earlier date (or in some cases, a later date), the AIS system lets users easily login repeatedly to look for and schedule another appointment. Not being locked out of the appointment scheduling portal sounds like it should be a pretty basic feature, but when we talk about the other portals, we’ll see how simple things like this should not be taken for granted.
Advantages: In addition to no login restrictions in a twenty-four-hour period, users can also login on using multiple devices without issue—say, if a user wants to login on a mobile phone or tablet to check for an earlier appointment. Another advantage is that users can easily change the email address registered with the AIS portal—which again seems like a pretty basic feature until you read about the other portals (oh boy.)
Disadvantages: AIS has few if any issues in our experience. One might be when requesting an expedited appointment in the portal users cannot attach any supporting documentation and are limited to five hundred words for their request. Additionally, visa applicants only have one shot to ask for an expedited appointment—if denied another cannot be made even if there is new evidence.
Tips: Those who have the option (and not everyone does) between applying for a visa at a US Embassy/Consulate using AIS and one using another one of the portals (see below) should strongly consider the country that uses AIS.
“Old” CGI (US Travel Docs)
“Old” CGI, also called US Travel Docs (which is probably a better name), is the scheduling portal created by CGI, a global IT and business consulting company that partners with organizations around the world including US defense, civilian, and intelligence agencies.
While not the worst of the four, in our experience US Travel Docs is often a difficult portal to schedule appointments, especially when compared to AIS. The biggest problem is that if users log into US Travel Docs “too many” times—and their definition of “too many” is not known—the system will lock out users for up to seventy-two hours. For immigration practitioners helping clients schedule appointments and prepare for the interview, they must coordinate closely with the visa applicant to ensure that no one logs in “too many” times. These types of so-called anti-fraud measures make us want to scream. (Aaaaaaaaaaah! Do we feel better? Not really.)
Another annoying feature. If visa applicants try to switch from one US Embassy/Consulate to another in a different country that also uses the US Travel Docs portal they must first contact the US Travel Docs portal administrator. In other words, if a visa applicant obtained their first visa in one country where they used US Travel Docs and they are renewing the visa in a different country where the US Embassy/Consulate there also uses US Travel Docs, the visa applicant must contact the portal administrator online to request that their account be transferred from one location to another. This transfer can take twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Again, not ideal when time is a concern.
Additionally, US Travel Docs does not typically allow for the easy online payment of the MRV fee. Instead, some US Embassies/Consulates that use US Travel Docs require visa applicants to pay the MRV fee at a local bank within the country where they wish to apply. If visa applicants are residing in or frequently visiting the country where they will apply for the visa, this normally isn’t a problem—but if the visa applicant is in the US and applying for a visa renewal in a country abroad, unless they have colleagues, friends, or family based in that country and willing to help, they cannot start the visa appointment process until someone makes the payment at the local bank.
Advantages: When users request an expedite inside the portal they can attach supporting documentation (which users can’t do in AIS).
Disadvantages: Where to start? The US Travel Docs portal has numerous technical issues. It’s difficult to pay the visa fee, difficult to look for earlier appointments without getting locked out, difficult to make a group appointment, difficult to change the registered email address, and difficult to make corrections when there is an error code.
Tips: Immigration attorney James Hollis, who authors Consular Intelligence and Consular Update, weekly emails about the consular process (which we highly recommend subscribing to), is not a fan of “Old” CGI. He writes in his April 17, 2024 Consular Update email (archived behind a paywall): “After fighting with a number of other countries’ CGI portals, I once booked a client based in Korea for an appointment in London to avoid all of the issues with this scheduling portal.”
In short, maybe consider a lovely holiday to another country with a better scheduling portal? Yep, it’s that frustrating to use. We will work on coming up with something more helpful!
“New” CGI
Released late summer 2023, “New” CGI is the latest scheduling portal created by CGI. “New” CGI is primarily used in India but some US Embassies/Consulates in Asia and the Pacific have started to use it.
One might think that since it’s called “New” CGI, this portal kept any good stuff from the “Old” CGI (aka US Travel Docs), fixed all the problems, and, oh we don’t know, made it even better. (Ha, ha, ha--excuse us while we go laugh hysterically for an uncomfortable amount of time…okay, we’re back.)
With all due respect to the project managers, designers, and programmers, “New” CGI is, to put it simply, a nightmare. Built on “Old” CGI, they’ve taken everything wrong with “Old” CGI and made it worse somehow. It’s so error-plagued and temperamental that when we recently tried to make an appointment in Japan with the “New” CGI portal, we couldn’t even get past the log-in page.
While nearly impossible to use, we will concede that “New” CGI is trying to remedy a serious problem. In certain countries, primarily in India but it’s also happened in Canada and Nigeria, bots and third-party services have taken available appointments and illegally re-sold them to visa applicants looking for an appointment. These bots make it extremely difficult for legitimate appointment seekers to find available slots. Unfortunately, “New” CGI not only shuts out bots but also legitimate visa applicants and immigration practitioners making appointments for their clients.
Here are some major problems that we—as well as fellow practitioners including the aforementioned attorney James Hollis—have experienced with “New” CGI:
Severe restrictions on who can login to the user’s account. Only the person who initially creates the account can re-login. For example, we had a client in Tokyo who securely sent us his info so we could login to his account to assist with his appointment, but the account was restricted to the device of the user who first created the account. No amount of VPN usage or other technical fixes could change this.
When users initially go to the “New” CGI website, it often puts visitors in a waiting room.
General log-in difficulties as well as a CAPTCHA so difficult to use that login attempts take an absurd amount of time.
Cloudflare anti-bot checks when users change pages or spend “too much” time on a page.
Cloudflare anti-bot checks that deletes typed information or prevents expedite requests.
Uploaded files rejected with no explanation.
Advantages: None, really. If it stops bots from taking all available appointments, we suppose that is a win. But if it’s impossible for legitimate visa applicants to get an appointment, the fix is not actually a fix.
Disadvantages: Too many to list. From the login page to almost every step of the process, “New” CGI is nearly impossible to use.
Tips: Well, readers probably know what we’re going to say. Yep, if visa applicants can avoid a US Embassy/Consulate that uses “New” CGI, they should most certainly do so. We’ve said it already, but how about a lovely holiday to a country with an easier scheduling portal?
E Visa Forms
“E Visa Forms” is an old scheduling portal that is used in mostly African countries. Visa applicants do not need to pay the MRV fee to schedule an appointment. They need to fill out the DS-160, enter the DS-160’s 10-digit barcode number, and pass through the CAPTCHA to schedule.
Advantages: Although an older system, in many ways it’s simpler to use than both CGI iterations.
Disadvantages: The interface is a bit clunky and outdated, but there are no major disadvantages that we have experienced or heard about from fellow immigration practitioners.
Tips: One fellow practitioner had their client attend a visa appointment at a US Embassy/Consulate that used the E Visa Forms portal to avoid one using CGI. While that is unlikely to be convenient or an option for most, visa applicants might consider it in certain situations.
What Now?
Over the years we’ve seen technological changes to the consular process at US Embassies and Consulates around the world. Unfortunately, not all of these “advancements” have been user friendly and beneficial to visa applicants. While the AIS portal has overall been mostly great, we can’t say the same for “Old” and “New” CGI. Our only hope is that US Embassies/Consulates currently using “New” and “Old” CGI will urge dramatic improvements to these systems or else make the switch to AIS. Or, you know what, maybe we can have a new scheduling portal, bringing the total to five. Wouldn’t that be fun?