Information for Iranian Non-Immigrant Visa Applicant

Appointment System for Non-immigrant Visas:  

Iranians seeking a nonimmigrant visa will require an appointment.  Our interviewing capacity for Iranian applicants is limited, so appointments are not always readily available.   The appointment book for Iranian applicants for a given month is opened on the first Monday one month prior.  For example, appointment slots for the month of April are made available by the Visa Information Service on the first Monday of March; appointment slots in May are opened up on the first Monday of April, and so forth.  Please be advised, appointments slots for each month fill very quickly, so plan accordingly.  You need to schedule your visa interview through the Visa Information Service (VIS). VIS is open  08:30 – 18:00 (local time), Monday through Friday, except for Turkish holidays.   If the first Monday of a given month coincides with a Turkish Holiday, you should call the Visa Information Service the following Monday to schedule an appointment.  Please see below for the appointment scheduling dates in 2012. Iranian applicants may contact the VIS at the U.S. number +1-703-439-2317 to schedule an appointment. This U.S. number will be available for use on designated Mondays until all appointment slots are filled, after which it will be closed. Farsi speaking service agents are available to schedule the appointments.  While scheduling your interview, the Visa Information Service Agent will ask you for a personal identification number (PIN).  You may either purchase a PIN from Turkiye Is Bankasi (click on this link to locate a branch)  before your call, or you may purchase the PIN through the Agent with a credit card over the phone.  The price of a PIN is $20.00.  You may use that PIN to schedule appointments for up to five (5) family members living in your household. The unused PIN will be valid for one year from the date of purchase. The PIN is valid for a second call to the VIS on the same day as the original call, but only to change or cancel an appointment. Additional calls with questions will require a new PIN number. 

For general nonimmigrant visa questions, you may reach the Visa Information Service at +90 212 340 4444 from 08:30 to 18:00 local time.  Iranian nonimmigrant Visa interviews are conducted in Ankara only.  Please do not forget to bring your ORIGINAL birth certificate /Shenas Nameh  and the National ID Card to the visa interview.  

Appointment Scheduling Days for 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012

The following link provides full details on how to make an application:
Guide to NIV  

Appointments for Iranian Student and Exchange Visitor Visa Applicants:  

Iranian academic students attending a university, college, or other academic institutions who already proficient in English, may  send an e-mail message with scanned copy of their I-20 or DS-2019 forms to CA-Ankara@state.gov.  Please make sure to write “NIV-Iran-Emergency” to the subject line of your e-mail message.  Please do not send repetitive e-mails.  We will consider your request and communicate with you shortly.  As our appointment numbers are very limited we can consider scheduling emergency appointment only for the principal  applicant.  Derivative family members for (F2) or (J2) visa should obtain appointments from the regular appointment system for Iranian nationals as indicated in the paragraph above. Further, if you have falsely obtained a student or exchange visitor appointment  for travel purposes other than studying in the U.S., your application will not be accepted when you appear for your interview.  Please note that students enrolled in English language programs are not eligible for emergency appointments and should apply for an appointment from the regular appointment system for Iranian nationals as indicated in the paragraph above.  

Administrative Processes: Some Iranian applicants may require additional administrative processing in order to complete the work on their cases. If this is the case, after your interview the consular officer will provide you with an instruction sheet on how to check the status of your case online. While we understand that you are eager to know the exact amount of time your administrative processing will take, the officer will not be able to provide you with that information.

Information for Iranian Immigrant Visa Applicants  

Ankara is the only Iranian immigrant processing post in Turkey. Other Iranian immigrant processing posts are Vienna, Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt and Naples. A petition must have been filed for the applicant in the U.S. and been assigned to Ankara by the National Visa Center before an appointment will be scheduled.

The information below is designed to help prevent some common problems faced by Iranian applicants. It is not a listing of visa requirements. Those requirements can be found elsewhere on this website.  

Time in Ankara: For an initial interview, an applicant needs to have a medical exam in Turkey and have visa photos taken prior to the interview. A visa is normally received two to three working days after the interview via UPS. If documents are missing or an administrative process is pending, the visa will take longer to process and it is normally recommended the applicant return to Iran to wait.  

Visas are only issued to applicants who are physically present in Turkey. Visas will not be sent to Iran or any other country. The only exception is for overcoming a missing administrative processing – one member of a family can return to Turkey on behalf of the entire family. The person returning to the Embassy must be one of the family members receiving a visa, not a US citizen or a friend.  

As of September 7, 2004, all applicants aged 14 and over must be finger scanned. If a child turns 14 years of age while waiting for a visa, the child must also return to the Embassy for finger scanning before receiving an immigrant visa.  

Administrative Processes: Some Iranian applicants may require administrative processing before traveling to the U.S. Every attempt is made to obtain the proper administrative process before the interview. By filling out Forms DS-230 Part I and II  accurately and completely, the process will be quicker. The applicant’s entire employment history is needed, not just the past ten years. Responses such as "retired" or "self-employed" without an explanation of where the applicant worked will lead to delays in visa issuance. In addition, dates of every trip (not just the year) to the United States must be provided, not just the last three trips. If the applicant has stayed more than six months in the U.S. on a tourist visa, the applicant must bring to the interview copies of letters from DHS granting a visa extension. Administrative processes are completed within six months or more and our office does not have any control over them.

Missing Documents: The National Visa Center collects documents for all files assigned to Ankara, conducts administrative processes, schedules appointments (for all files except K visas), and sends the files at the end of each month for the next month. Some files take an extended amount of time to process at NVC. Some of the applicant’s documents may have expired by the time of the immigrant visa interview. By keeping a copy of all documents sent to NVC, a quick look at them before the interview will show which ones may have expired.  Police certificates and documents related to military service are NOT required from Iran. 

Rescheduling Interviews: Rescheduling of interviews is possible by email. Family members who are not already part of one file are encouraged to come for their interviews at the same time. Every effort should be made to have children come for interviews before their 21st birthday. The Child Status Protection Act protects some children from "aging out," but does not apply in all cases. The best way to guarantee issuance for a child is to get it before the child turns 21.  

Iranian Family Law: Iranian family law, based on sharia, is very different from U.S. family law, and can lead to complications in the IV process.
The U.S. government does recognize proxy marriages, but only if the marriage can be proved to be consummated (i.e., the couple were at the same place at the same time).  

Revocable divorces are not recognized by the United States. If an applicant received a revocable divorce in Iran, it must be finalized, written as final on the divorce decree and registered in the birth certificate.

Applicants with multiple wives MUST divorce all but one before going to the U.S. If a visa is being issued for the purpose of marriage, all other marriages must have been terminated before the current marriage.
Adopting a child in Iran is a long, complicated process. Contact the Embassy via email before coming for an adoption visa.  

Children’s Issues: If a one-time-only exit stamp can be obtained for the child, contact the Embassy before the interview to make sure the file is complete before the interview in order to avoid a possibly lengthy wait in Turkey.

Reminder: IR-5 visas (parents of U.S. Citizens) are for individuals only. Separate files and documents are required for each parent. Children under 21 of the IR-5 applicants do not qualify as part of a parent’s file.