U.S. visa applicants were previously placed in a waiting room which just indicated that they need to wait before being let in. Last week, www.usvisascheduling.com has a new updated waiting room. The new page displays the average wait time before the URL is accessible. 

Some users are being placed in virtual queues with estimated wait times stretching beyond 4 hours depending on the traffic to the scheduling portal. While the estimated wait time is not accurate, the notification promises a better experience. We need to wait to see how this portal is working. Our officer tried to access this portal and after an hour’s wait, we were still in the waiting room with the wait time being refreshed to one minute every time the screen refreshes (the initial screen indicated that the wait time is 4 minutes). 

The notification reads as follows:

We are experiencing a high volume of traffic and using a virtual queue to limit the amount of users on the website at the same time. This will ensure you have the best possible online experience.

We will continue to monitor and update on this important topic.