How to Request an Expedited Interview

The Embassy provides expedited visa services to business travelers, educational/exchange travelers as well as travelers with medical, family, or other emergencies, on a case-by-case basis. 

Educational/exchange (F, J, and M visas) applicants requesting expedited appointments must show that they would otherwise miss the beginning of their courses/programs if not allowed to expedite the visa process. Such applicants should already be in possession of an I-20 or DS-2019 form.

Business travelers with expedite requests should follow the instructions above. For questions about E-2 visas, you may contact our business e-mail address, bangkokbusinesstravel@state.gov. (Information about the Department of State’s Business Visa Center)

For medical emergencies involving a sick parent, sibling, or child, or applicants who wish to travel to seek urgent medical treatment in the U.S., please also obtain a letter from the patient’s physician describing the patient’s medical condition. For emergency medical cases, applicants may also come to the U.S. Embassy during working hours and request an appointment.   In order to request an expedited appointment, please send an email in English to visasbkk@state.gov. The email subject line should read “Request to Expedite a Non-Immigrant Visa Appointment.” Please include appointment confirmation number (or Personal Identification Number), appointment date (if available), full name of each person requesting an earlier appointment, and the reason each applicant requires an earlier appointment. Each applicant must have an urgent purpose of travel and travel plans that cannot be changed. We cannot expedite appointments for travelers’ convenience, advance booking of airplane tickets, etc. Applicants are welcome to provide information about any additional scheduling constraints, but should not request a specific interview date or time.

The visa unit will contact you by return email if an early appointment can be given. If you don’t receive a response within five working days, you should assume your request for an earlier appointment was denied. PLEASE DO NOT RESEND YOUR REQUEST. Should the visa section be unable to grant an expedited appointment, please check back frequently with the Visa Information Services website and Visa Call Center as interview appointment dates and times sometimes appear at earlier times due to last-minute cancellations. Applicants can reschedule their own appointments up to two times using our automated system. Applicants can also speed up receipt of their visas, if their applications are approved, by making arrangements to pick up their passports in person at Rong Muang post office.

EXCEPTION: APEC Business Travel Card holders may come on a non-appointment basis on any weekday morning between 7:30 am – 10:00 am (except Thai and American holidays). No email request or prior appointment is necessary. The spouses and minor children of the APEC cardholders can also interview with them on a non-appointment basis. However, all other requirements for visa applications must be met, and applicants must bring both the visa application fee receipt and the DS-160 application confirmation page, to take advantage of this special channel for APEC cardholders.