Short answer
At most US consular posts in the world, an interview inside three months is the default and requires nothing special. At about a dozen busy posts it is out of reach without a granted emergency request. In August 2026 the yes list included Abuja, Recife, Perth, Nogales and Kolkata. The no list included Toronto, Sydney, Vancouver, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bogota. Everything depends on which list you are on.
At a glance
- Routine inside 90 days
- Abuja, Lagos, Recife, Rio, Porto Alegre, Perth, Kolkata, Nogales, Tijuana, Matamoros
- Not achievable inside 90 days
- Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Hyderabad, Bogota, Mumbai, New Delhi, Guadalajara, Melbourne
- Free route if you qualify
- The expedited appointment request, on documented urgency
- Paid route
- $750, at Mission Mexico and Mission Canada only, until 31 December 2026
- The underused move
- A different post inside your own country
- Non-negotiable first step
- Book a date, any date. Nothing works without one
The two lists
The question "can I get an appointment within three months" has no general answer. It has a post-level answer, and the range between posts is extraordinary.
| Comfortably inside 90 days | Visitor wait | Not inside 90 days | Visitor wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abuja | About 15 days | Toronto | About 495 days |
| Recife | About 15 days | Sydney | About 435 days |
| Perth | About 15 days | Vancouver | About 435 days |
| Nogales | About 15 days | Hyderabad | About 315 days |
| Lagos | About 30 days | Bogota | About 270 days |
| Rio de Janeiro | About 30 days | Mumbai | About 255 days |
| Tijuana | About 45 days | New Delhi | About 255 days |
| Kolkata | About 60 days | Abu Dhabi | About 180 days |
| Sao Paulo | About 60 days | Guadalajara | About 180 days |
| Brasilia | About 75 days | Melbourne | About 165 days |
Interview-required B-1/B-2 waits as recorded from the State Department's wait time tool in August 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026. These are snapshots and they move week to week. Check the official tool for your own post.
Notice what the right-hand column has in common. Canada and Australia are wealthy countries whose own citizens mostly travel to the United States without a visa, so their queues are made up of foreign nationals living there. Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi carry the world's largest single applicant population. Bogota runs an entire country through one consular section. None of it is random, and none of it is about your case.
Why three months is the official dividing line
Three months is not an arbitrary number people picked. The State Department publishes average B-1/B-2 wait times only where the next available appointment is more than three months away.
That gives you a useful shortcut when reading the official table. If your post has no published B-1/B-2 average, it is offering something inside three months. A post that does have one has told you, in the act of publishing it, that it cannot.
If you are on the yes list
Then this article is short for you, and the advice is mostly about not creating problems that do not exist.
- Book the first available date and keep it. At a two to six week queue there is very little to gain by moving, and each change carries risk.
- Do not rush the DS-160 to reach the calendar faster. An error that forces a new form and a new confirmation number costs more than the queue does.
- Do not pay anybody. Not an alert plan, not a rescheduling service, not us. There is nothing meaningful for a paid option to improve.
- Leave margin after the interview. The published wait measures the distance to the interview only. Administrative processing afterwards is unpredictable and no amount of early booking shortens it.
If you are on the no list
Then three months through ordinary scheduling is not going to happen, and being told that clearly is more useful than being sold hope. There are four honest moves.
- Book the distant date immediately. This is not a concession, it is the prerequisite. You cannot reschedule what you do not hold, and you cannot request an expedite without an existing booking. Every other option on this list requires this step first.
- Check every post your account offers you. The largest free improvement available, and almost nobody uses it. Sydney to Perth was about 435 days to about 15. Hyderabad to Kolkata was about 315 to about 60. Whether your account offers the alternative is decided by the system, so look rather than assume.
- Make the expedite request if you genuinely qualify. Free, discretionary, decided on documented urgency: urgent medical care with two letters, the funeral of a mother, father, brother, sister or child in the United States, or a student within 60 days of a programme start with the original I-20 or DS-2019 and SEVIS fee evidence. Weddings, graduations and conferences are named as not qualifying.
- If you are in Mexico or Canada, price the $750 lane. It is the only fee that reliably produces an interview inside ten business days, it covers B-1 and B-2 only, it is per applicant and non-refundable, and the pilot is scheduled to close on 31 December 2026.
After that, what is left is persistence on the calendar with the widest date range your plans allow. That is unglamorous and it is what most earlier dates at busy posts are actually made of.
Three months at Toronto is not a service problem
We get asked for it, and the honest answer is that at a queue near 495 days, nobody can reliably deliver an interview inside three months, us included. Persistence improves a date, often substantially, but the size of that improvement is set by what the consulate releases and by how flexible you can be, not by who is watching. If someone promises you three months at a post like that, the promise is the product and it is not a real one.
Check your visa category before you panic
Almost every frightening number in this article is a visitor visa number, and visitor visas are the worst-served category at nearly every busy post.
In the same August 2026 snapshot: student and exchange categories were inside a month at every Australian post while Sydney's visitor queue ran past a year. At Mumbai and New Delhi, student waits were around 75 days and petition-based waits around 45, against 255 for visitors. At Bogota, petition-based cases were around 15 days against 270 for visitors.
So if you are a student, an exchange visitor or a sponsored worker, look up your own category before you make any plans on the basis of a headline figure. Three months is very often not your problem at all.
Do you qualify for the free expedite? It is the only thing on this page that reliably beats a long queue, and the criteria are narrower than most people expect. Read US visa emergency appointments: what qualifies and the proof you need.
What actually closes the gap
Getting inside three months at a slow post
Costs exclude the US government fees everybody pays: the MRV application fee, and the $250 visa integrity fee where your post is collecting it. Third-party pricing changes, so verify with each provider directly.
| Option | Cost | Realistic effect | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| A different post in your own country | Free, plus domestic travel | Can be decisive. Sydney to Perth was about 420 days of difference | Anyone in a country with more than one post |
| Expedite request to the consulate | Free | The only reliable route inside three months at a slow post, if you qualify | Medical emergencies, funerals, student start dates |
| Do it yourself | Free | Real improvement over weeks, rarely a jump from 495 days to 90 | Flexible dates and time to check |
| $750 government paid expedite | $750 per applicant, up front and non-refundable | An interview within 10 business days, but only at Mission Mexico or Mission Canada and only for B-1/B-2 | A hard deadline, at one of those posts |
| Easy Visa Booking us | From $100, paid only on success | Our team takes on the rescheduling work and keeps working it until an earlier date opens. How much earlier depends on the post and on your flexibility. | Long waits, a fixed deadline, and no time to watch a portal |
The categories above are the alternatives you are already comparing, not endorsements. We have no commercial relationship with any provider in them, and pricing models change, so verify current terms directly.
What our row gives you that the ones above it do not
- You pay only if the date actually moves. From $100, charged when an earlier interview is secured. Ours is the only paid row where a result you did not get costs you nothing, which matters most at exactly the posts where nobody can promise a specific window.
- An honest read before you commit. If you tell us Toronto and three months, we will tell you that is not a realistic target rather than take the case. The first row of this table is free advice we give constantly.
- The watching stops being your problem. At a queue of several hundred days, the free route means weeks of checking at hours set by a consulate.
- A wide date range is the biggest lever you control. If you can accept any date inside a broad window rather than one specific morning, the odds of moving your interview go up sharply. Tell us the widest range your travel plans allow and we will tell you honestly how it looks before you commit to anything.
- Nothing is asked on trust. A named founder, real support channels, published terms and refund policy, and a written statement that nobody can promise you a date.
If your post is on the yes list, do it yourself and pay nobody. Most posts in the world are on that list, which means most readers of this page should close it and go and book an appointment.
The reader who should not pay anybody, us included, is anyone who has not yet checked their own post and their own visa category. Those two lookups answer this question completely, they take two minutes, and they are free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a US visa appointment within 3 months?
At most consular posts in the world, yes, and without doing anything special. In August 2026 that included Abuja, Lagos, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Perth, Kolkata, Nogales, Tijuana and Matamoros, all of which were booking inside 45 days. At about a dozen busy posts, including Toronto, Sydney, Hyderabad and Bogota, three months was not achievable through ordinary scheduling.
Which posts cannot offer an interview inside three months?
In August 2026 the visitor visa queues that ruled it out included Toronto at about 495 days, Sydney at about 435, Vancouver at about 435, Hyderabad at about 315, Bogota at about 270, Mumbai and New Delhi at about 255, Guadalajara at about 180 and Melbourne at about 165. Those figures move, so check the official wait time tool for your own post rather than relying on this list.
Is there a reliable way to get inside three months at a slow post?
Two, and both are narrow. A granted expedited appointment request, which is free but decided on documented urgency: medical emergency, funeral of an immediate family member, or a student within 60 days of a programme start. And the $750 paid expedite, which is available only at Mission Mexico and Mission Canada, only for B-1 and B-2 applicants, and only until 31 December 2026.
Why does the State Department use three months as a threshold?
Because it publishes average B-1/B-2 wait times only where the next available appointment is more than three months away. That makes three months an implicit dividing line in the official data: a post with no published average is, by definition, offering something inside that window. It is a useful shortcut when you are looking at the published table.
Does a different post in my own country help?
Frequently, and it is the most underused move available. In August 2026 an applicant in Sydney facing about 435 days could look at Perth at about 15, and an applicant in Hyderabad facing about 315 could look at Kolkata at about 60. Which posts your account offers is decided by the system rather than by preference, so check what is actually available to you before planning travel.
Should I book a distant appointment or wait for a better one?
Book. Always. An appointment you hold is the asset that everything else depends on: you cannot reschedule what you do not have, and you cannot request an expedite without an existing booking. Taking a date fourteen months out and improving on it is the standard path to an earlier interview, and refusing to book while you wait for something better is the most common self-inflicted delay in this process.
Do student and work visas also take three months?
Usually much less, even at the worst posts. In August 2026 student and petition-based categories were inside a month at every Australian post while Sydney's visitor queue ran past a year, and around 45 to 75 days at Mumbai and New Delhi against 255 for visitors. If you are in one of those categories, look up your own category rather than the headline visitor figure.
The bottom line
Three months is easy almost everywhere and impossible in about a dozen places. Look up your post before you do anything else, because the answer for Abuja and the answer for Toronto have nothing in common.
If you are on the fast list, book, keep it, and stop reading. If you are on the slow list, book anyway, then check every other post your account will offer you, then make the free expedite request if your circumstances genuinely meet the criteria. If you are in Mexico or Canada with a real deadline, the $750 lane is the one paid option that reliably works.
And check your visa category. The numbers that frighten people are visitor visa numbers, and students and sponsored workers are usually looking at a completely different queue.
What nobody can promise you
Nobody outside the US government can guarantee an interview slot, a timeframe, or a visa decision. We cannot either, and at a post with a queue near 495 days we will tell you plainly that three months is not a target anyone can commit to. What we offer is that the work gets done properly and that you pay only if it produces a result.
Sources
- US Department of State, Visa Appointment Wait Times. The official interview wait by post, and the only figure that answers this question for your own case. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- BAL Immigration News, Global visa wait times as of July 21. The department's practice of publishing average B-1/B-2 wait times only where the next available appointment is more than three months away, which makes three months the implicit threshold in the official data. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- Afno Visa Guide, US visa appointment wait times by country. August 2026 record of the State Department wait time tool used for the post-level figures in this article. A secondary record of an official figure, so check the official tool as well. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- US Travel Docs, How to request an expedited interview. The free route inside three months where you qualify, its criteria and documentary requirements. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- US Department of State, Nonimmigrant Visa Expedited Appointment Pilot Program. The paid route inside ten business days, its $750 fee, and the two participating missions. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
Published 5 September 2026. Wait times move week to week. Every post-level figure here is a snapshot from August 2026 and the official tool is the authority. This article is general information and is not legal or immigration advice.
If your post is on the wrong list
Three months at Toronto, Sydney or Hyderabad is not something ordinary scheduling delivers, and we would rather tell you that than sell you optimism. What can close the gap is persistence on the calendar plus the widest date range your plans allow, and that is the work we take on. Tell us your post, your current date and your deadline, and we will tell you honestly whether three months is realistic for you before you commit to anything.
- From $100, and you pay only if we secure you an earlier date
- The wider the date range you can accept, the more often we can move it
- No guarantee of a date, stated plainly before you decide anything
Easy Visa Booking is an independent scheduling assistance service, not affiliated with the US Department of State, any US Embassy or Consulate, CGI Federal or the AIS portal. All appointments are made through the official portal.