I had applied for a Student Visa on March 28th.
I got the Visa approved on April 9th, with the Passport Submission Request letter getting shared with me then. Unfortunately, I only saw this update in my application today i.e. April 20th.
I immediately applied for a slot for In-person Passport Submission at VFS New Delhi, which I got for April 23rd.
Thus, I'm going to be submitting my passport on April 23rd for stamping, and it wil likely be received by IRCC only 3-4 days later, meaning it will reach IRCC only by April 28th at the earliest.
However, I also have a US Tourist Visa (B1/B2) biometrics and interview appointments coming up in May. On May 14th, I have my US Visa Biometrics appointment, and on May 19th I have my US Visa Consular Interview.
For both of these US Visa appointments, I need my original Indian passport. As per my read of other threads online, it seems that the visa stamping by IRCC, then sending back to VFS, etc. can take a long time upto a month or more.
Now, obviously my Canadian visa appointment is much more important, but bailing on / cancelling my US Visa appointment would also not be ideal since I had put a lot of effort last year into getting a slot for 2025.
The next earliest slots available for US Visa stuff are not before 2026 in Delhi, and December 2025 at other locations in India.
I got the Visa approved on April 9th, with the Passport Submission Request letter getting shared with me then. Unfortunately, I only saw this update in my application today i.e. April 20th.
I immediately applied for a slot for In-person Passport Submission at VFS New Delhi, which I got for April 23rd.
Thus, I'm going to be submitting my passport on April 23rd for stamping, and it wil likely be received by IRCC only 3-4 days later, meaning it will reach IRCC only by April 28th at the earliest.
However, I also have a US Tourist Visa (B1/B2) biometrics and interview appointments coming up in May. On May 14th, I have my US Visa Biometrics appointment, and on May 19th I have my US Visa Consular Interview.
For both of these US Visa appointments, I need my original Indian passport. As per my read of other threads online, it seems that the visa stamping by IRCC, then sending back to VFS, etc. can take a long time upto a month or more.
Now, obviously my Canadian visa appointment is much more important, but bailing on / cancelling my US Visa appointment would also not be ideal since I had put a lot of effort last year into getting a slot for 2025.
The next earliest slots available for US Visa stuff are not before 2026 in Delhi, and December 2025 at other locations in India.
- What do you recommend my course of action be?
- Is there any way I can expedite the CA Visa stamping and return? Perhaps by having VFS mail the returned passport back to me, or by preferring to pick it up myself to avoid delays?
- Should I keep my US Visa appointments as is for now and hope that I get my passport back by May 14th? Should I move it to 2026?