(INDIA) — US consulates and visa application centres in India showed no available B1/B2 visa interview slots in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, tightening access for travellers trying to book 2026 appointments.
Hyderabad displayed limited availability with 40 slots and an earliest date of April 29, 2026, while Chennai showed 4 slots with an earliest date of August 10, 2026.
Kolkata also showed a small pocket of availability for B2, listing 22 slots with an earliest date of June 17, 2026, even as other B1/B2 availability in the city showed 0 slots.
The snapshot across Indian consulates points to a common pattern for applicants: major cities show empty calendars, and the few openings that appear elsewhere come with long waits.
Mumbai’s consulate and VAC reported no B1/B2 slots, leaving applicants in one of India’s biggest travel hubs repeatedly refreshing the booking portal.
New Delhi’s consulate showed zero availability across categories, closing off one of the most sought-after locations for interview scheduling even as demand remains high.
Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata were the only locations in the latest availability showing any openings at all, and each reflected a constrained pipeline of interview slots rather than a broader release.
The shortage comes alongside a separate track for some travellers, after B1/B2 interview waivers (Dropbox) consolidated in New Delhi since March 2024.
Applicants can submit interview waiver documents free at VACs in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, or New Delhi, keeping those locations in play even when in-person interview calendars appear empty.
For applicants using drop-off centres in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Cochin, Jalandhar, or Pune, the process carries a 1200 rupees fee.
Waivers remained readily available in New Delhi, though some applicants may still need in-person interviews there, adding pressure to a system that already shows limited interview slots in multiple cities.
Wait-time data underscored the gap between demand and capacity, with average waits exceeding 6.5 months in New Delhi and 9.5 months in Mumbai for B1/B2 interviews, based on the latest data cited.
Applicants seeking expedited appointments faced even narrower odds, as expedited slots were described as extremely limited due to high demand.
The scarcity has shaped how travellers approach scheduling, with applicants often checking repeatedly for cancellations rather than waiting for large releases.
Bulk slot releases remained rare in 2026, leaving many applicants dependent on short-notice openings that can appear and vanish quickly.
A common tactic has been frequent checks on the scheduling portal, with applicants reporting that cancellations often show up around 3-4 AM IST.
Applicants were advised to check usvisascheduling.com daily, particularly during early-morning hours, as that window has been linked to brief bursts of availability.
Even when a booking appears to go through, applicants were advised to confirm the appointment via official email and to document everything, because portal glitches were reported to erase appointments.
For interview waivers, applicants were advised to use New Delhi and to submit DS-160 first, aligning paperwork before attempting the waiver track.
Across cities with empty calendars, the practical difference between “0 slots” and “some slots” can mean repeated travel-plan revisions, especially for those trying to align trips with family events, business travel, or holiday schedules.
New Delhi and Mumbai, two of the most heavily used nodes for US travel processing, both showed the kind of scarcity that forces applicants to look beyond their home city.
Hyderabad’s listing of 40 slots with an earliest date of April 29, 2026 offered the closest option in the data provided, but it still implies months of lead time for those who need an interview appointment.
Chennai’s 4 slots with an earliest date of August 10, 2026 reflected an even longer runway and a very small number of openings.
Kolkata’s B2 listing of 22 slots with an earliest date of June 17, 2026 provided another alternative, but the overall picture still showed widespread constraints.
The patterns also show how the interview and waiver tracks can coexist in a system where Indian consulates and their associated VACs face different pressures depending on category, city, and applicant eligibility.
By consolidating the waiver process in New Delhi since March 2024, the system created a single focal point for Dropbox processing, even while allowing document submission at several VAC locations without a fee.
At the same time, the 1200 rupees fee for specific drop-off centres adds a cost distinction tied to where applicants choose to submit documents.
The pressure on interview capacity has also made the timing of portal activity part of applicants’ routines, as people adjust daily schedules to match the hours when cancellations are more likely to appear.
Applicants using the cancellation approach can face uncertainty, because the availability depends on other people’s changes rather than on predictable releases.
With expedited slots described as extremely limited, even travellers with urgent needs may not be able to secure faster interview dates through that channel.
The latest wait times—exceeding 6.5 months in New Delhi and 9.5 months in Mumbai—reflect the kind of delays that can push travellers to attempt bookings at alternative Indian consulates, even if that complicates logistics.
Those alternative bookings still depend on what the portal shows on a given day, and the limited counts in Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata suggest that demand can quickly absorb any openings.
Applicants trying to avoid mistakes were advised to treat confirmation messages as essential records, saving emails and screenshots to guard against portal errors that can remove appointments.
That emphasis on documentation reflects a broader theme in the current cycle: applicants rely on consistency from the system, but also prepare for sudden changes in what they see online.
For waiver-eligible applicants, New Delhi’s role has expanded, because the waiver pathway depends on processing consolidated there even when a person submits documents at another VAC.
Some applicants using the waiver process may still be called for an in-person interview in New Delhi, linking the waiver track back to interview capacity in the same city.
The portal-check strategy, combined with long waits and limited expedited options, has made flexibility a central factor in travel planning, including a willingness to interview in a city other than the one closest to home.
The 2026 pattern described in the availability data suggests that persistence remains part of the process, as applicants repeatedly look for cancellations instead of expecting large new blocks of interview slots.
For applicants seeking help with scheduling issues, the support channel listed for inquiries was [email protected], with replies within 3 working days.
Phone support numbers listed were +91 20 69020000 for callers in India and +1 332 220 1866 for callers in the US.
The combination of zero interview slots in key locations, long waits where interviews do appear, and a waiver pathway centred on New Delhi has left applicants weighing multiple trade-offs at once.
With New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata showing 0 slots for B1/B2 interviews in the availability snapshot, and only limited openings elsewhere, the system described for 2026 places a premium on persistence, flexibility and careful tracking of appointments.
Indian Consulates Run Dry as B1/b2 Visa Interview Slots Vanish
US visa availability in India has reached a critical bottleneck, with major hubs reporting no open B1/B2 interview slots for 2026. Applicants face wait times of over six months, leading many to rely on the New Delhi-based interview waiver program. Persistent portal monitoring and flexibility regarding interview locations have become essential strategies for travelers navigating these extensive administrative delays and limited expedited options.
