You have planned a trip to the USA and are now trying to figure out: in which country is it best for you to get a visa? This is not an easy question. The solution will be individual in each case and depends on many factors:
the number of slots available for non-residents;
urgency of obtaining a visa;
number of approvals/rejections;
interview language;
convenience of traveling to the country where the interview takes place, including travel and accommodation expenses, as well as the need to obtain a visa to enter the country.
There are the most popular countries among Russian citizens, including Kazakhstan, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Turkey, UAE. In these countries, the US Embassy opens a sufficient number of slots and visa officers, who receive a large number of Russians, are well familiar with the specifics of Russian documents, which positively affects the approval statistics. In Kazakhstan, Poland, as well as in Serbia, you can have an interview in Russian. At the same time, entry into Kazakhstan, Serbia, Israel, Turkey, and the UAE is carried out either simply by a foreign passport or with a simplified visa issued at the airport upon arrival.
However, the most pressing questions remain open:
In what timeframe can you get a visa?
How to understand where more slots are available?
Interactive Visa Cat widget
Our Telegram bot views the calendar with open US Embassy dates every few minutes and saves all dates from the calendar to the database. Currently, the bot is viewing calendars in 14 countries, with personal accounts set up for non-residents and residents from 1 to 5 applicants in the account. We have displayed all this data in an interactive widget that is convenient for viewing and analyzing the statistics of slot allocation.
The top chart displays information on the number of unique slots that the bot saw on a particular day - when you hover the cursor over the column, the exact number of unique dates is displayed. You can find out which dates were available on that day in the calendar below the chart. The brighter the cell, the more often a slot was available for booking on that date. If you hover the cursor over a cell in the calendar, the dates when the bot saw the selected date are highlighted in orange.
What is the benefit of the widget with statistics?
Here are some of the main advantages you get, thanks to the statistical data:
The ability to view statistics on the issuance of slots in different countries according to your specific parameters (for example, 2 applicants are non-residents) - compare the number and frequency of slot issuance;
The ability to view the history from the calendar data before paying the consular fee and make a decision on obtaining a visa in a particular country based on objective data;
The ability to set/edit the date range in the Telegram bot for booking or notifications not randomly, but based on the data on slot issuance on previous days. This will speed up the booking process.
Paid and free versions of the widget
All statistical data in the past (up to and including today) is open and free.
Data on the history of slot issuance in the future - viewing the future dates available at the US Embassy in the calendar - is paid. The cost of viewing statistics for 1 country for 1 month is 1500 rubles. During the subscription period, you can order for an additional fee:
notifications for 1 month for 1 applicant (+1500 rubles)
or
bot registration of one applicant (+4500 rubles) - valid for 1 year.
Bonus for all new users - 3 days of viewing statistics for all countries for free!
During this time, view statistics on all possible countries for yourself, analyze the number and timing of the places issued, and determine the preferred country for the interview;
Go to the US Embassy website in the selected country and check the specifics of submitting documents;
Create a DS-160 questionnaire on the website ceac.state.gov;
Register a personal account in the US consulate or embassy recording system. The recording system depends on the country in which you plan to have an interview. A complete list of countries for each of the systems is presented in our posts on each of the recording systems: US Travel Docs, AIS or EVisaForms;
Pay the consular fee;
Connect to the Telegram bot a subscription to notifications about opening windows for 3000 rubles/month from 1 applicant or recording through a bot — 6000 rubles/month from 1 applicant. When ordering these services, statistics for 1 month are already included in the cost. Viewing statistics allows you to predict the dates of window openings and correctly set the date range in the bot settings, which will allow you to sign up in the shortest possible time.