Emergency Visa Appointments

Applicants for Nonimmigrant Visas who wish to obtain emergency appointments must  make their request for an emergency appointment via email.  The Embassy does not process emergency appointment requests via fax, letter mail, telephone or personal appearance.  The Embassy’s guidelines are very specific regarding the  circumstances under which emergency appointments will be approved.  These include:

• Illness or death of an immediate family member (immediate family members are the applicant’s mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, and/or daughter).

• Emergency medical treatment which includes any persons needing to travel for support (such as a parent caring for an ill child).

• Emergent business travel (such as D crewmembers needing to embark immediately).

All applicants requesting an emergency appointment must first fill out an electronic visa application form and pay the required visa application fee at the Bank of Abyssinia.  Applicants who believe they qualify for an emergency appointment must then e-mail the Visa Unit at: addisvisas@state.gov.  The email must contain the following information:

• Applicant’s name

• Applicant’s date of birth

• Applicant’s phone number

• Applicant’s reason for requesting an emergency appointment

• Applicant’s Bank of Abyssinia receipt number

• Date applicant needs to travel

All applications for an emergency appointment will be reviewed within 2 working days from the day they are received and the applicant will be informed whether they have been given an emergency appointment.  If you do not receive a response after 5 working days, your request has not been granted.

If you are granted an emergency appointment under the above guidelines, you will be given additional information regarding what to bring to your interview and the date and time of your emergency appointment.  The addisvisas@state.gov e-mail is for emergency appointment requests only.  Inquiries about other issues will not be answered, and should be directed to ConsAddis@state.gov.