B1 B2 Visa Family Appointment for Family Visiting Friends in USA

Four relatives, one trip, one person in the U.S. trying to hold it together from 8,000 miles away. If that's you, you've probably already noticed that every page you land on explains what a B-1/B-2 visa is and skips the only thing you actually need to know: how do you get several family members interviewed so they can travel together?

Here's the whole sequence, in order, with the dependent-or-separate-appointment question settled instead of dodged.

One DS-160 per person, even when the whole family is applying together

The DS-160 is the online visa application form. Every single person who wants a visa fills out their own. Not one form with your parents' names on it. Not a "family form."

In one real case that shows up in the forums, a person in the U.S. filled out two separate DS-160s for their two parents — one form each — and then went looking for a way to merge them. That instinct is normal, and the two-forms part was right.

Each DS-160 gets its own barcode and its own confirmation page, and the interview, the decision, and the visa all attach to one person. If your dad's form has a typo in his passport number, your mom's approval does nothing for him. So do it the boring way: one folder per person, one confirmation page per folder.

Can you add a parent, spouse, or child as a 'dependent' on the visa scheduling portal?

This is the question people ask over and over and never get a straight answer to. So here it is.

For a visitor visa, no. The "dependent" option on the scheduling portal is built for cases where a family member genuinely rides on someone else's application — a spouse or a child coming along on a work or student visa, where one person is the main applicant and the others are attached to that same case.

A B-1/B-2 doesn't work like that. There's no main applicant. Every visitor applicant is their own case, standing on their own reasons: I have a job, a home, a family, and a life I'm going back to. Your parents can't be dependents of each other, and they can't be dependents of you.

What you can often do is different, and it's what you actually want: add family members to your account on the scheduling system so you can manage everyone's booking from one login. In many countries that's allowed, and it makes life easier. But managing four people from one account is not the same as four people sharing one appointment. Each person still needs their own slot.

What the group appointment request is actually for — and the family exception that rules you out

A group appointment request is for organized groups: a school trip, a sports team, a cultural exchange, a business delegation. It's a batch tool for an organizer bringing a roster of people who are all applying for the same reason. It was not built for a family.

And this is the rule that gets softened in too many explanations, so here it is without the padding: family members of a group applicant who want to schedule their interviews together are not eligible for group appointment requests. If the entire point is to get your family interviewed on the same day, the group route doesn't cover you. Don't spend a week chasing it.

Every family member books an individual appointment. You can sometimes land slots at the same time or on the same morning, and some officers will see a family together at one window when they've got back-to-back times. But that's the officer's call on the day, not a booking option you can pick. Plan for individual slots and treat anything better as a bonus.

You schedule at the embassy or consulate in the country where the applicant lives

Not in the United States. This is where U.S.-based family members waste real time.

Your relatives book their interviews at the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country where they live. Living in the U.S. yourself doesn't change that. You can't bring your parents over and have them interview here.

Most visitors apply for a B-2 visitor visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and the appointment has to happen in their country. That also means your family might not be booking in one place. If your parents are in India and an aunt is somewhere else, you're dealing with two different scheduling systems and two different sets of wait times.

Interview waiver vs. in-person interview: who still has to show up

Interviews are now required for visa applicants, so plan on everyone appearing in person. Posts can waive the interview in narrow situations — usually renewals, where the person was already interviewed before and their visa recently expired. That's the post's decision, not yours to assume.

For a family visiting friends, most applicants are first-timers and will be at the window themselves. Nobody sends a spouse with the documents. Nobody sends you. Children need to appear too, though posts have their own rules for very young kids, so check what yours says.

Why appointment wait times run many months at many posts — and how to plan a trip around that

B-1/B-2 appointment waits are running many months at many consular locations right now. Not weeks. Months. Some posts are worse than others, and the picture shifts from month to month, so any single number you read somewhere is probably already stale.

What that changes is the order you do things in:

• Pick the post first. Check its current wait before anything else.
• Book the appointment before you book anything else. Flights and hotels come after, not before.
• Work backwards from your target trip. If you want everyone here in June, you may need to start this process close to a year ahead.
• Don't confuse the appointment wait with the approval time. There's no fixed number of days for the visa decision. The appointment itself is the long part, and after that it depends on the post and the case.

Documents each family member brings on interview day

One set per person. Not one shared folder that goes up with mom.

• Passport, valid well beyond the planned trip
• DS-160 confirmation page with the barcode
• Appointment confirmation
• Visa fee payment confirmation
• A compliant photo, if the post asks for a printed one
• Proof of ties at home: employment letter, business papers, property documents, bank statements, evidence of family responsibilities
• Trip details: who they're visiting, where they'll stay, rough dates
• An invitation letter from your friend, if they're sending one

That invitation letter is worth bringing, but be clear on what it does. It gives the officer context. It does not get anyone a visa. The officer is looking at the applicant's own life and whether the trip makes sense for them.

Can one person fill out and manage the paperwork for the whole family?

Yes, and this is the part that actually saves you. One person — you, or whichever relative is most comfortable doing it online — can sit down and complete every DS-160, one at a time, using each person's own details. Keep every confirmation page in one folder.

Two guardrails. First, each person should read their own form before it's submitted, because a mistyped name or passport number becomes a real problem later. Second, do it yourself on the official site. If a comment section or a random page hands you a phone number offering "help with your appointment," ignore it. Nobody needs to be paid to click buttons on a government website you can use for free.

When the slots you need aren't available: what to check and when to check it

Two versions of this problem: no slots at all, or no slots anywhere near each other. Both have the same fix — check often instead of checking once.

Slots appear when other people cancel, and posts release fresh batches. A quick check a couple of times a day, at consistent times, beats a single disappointed look. If the country has more than one consular post, look at the others too — as long as the post serves your family's area and the local rules allow it, a shorter wait somewhere else is worth the travel.

Take near-miss slots rather than chasing perfect ones. Appointments two days apart beat waiting six more months for a matching pair. And if the timing just won't come together, split the trip. Two relatives now, two later is still a visit. Nobody coming is not.

Common questions, straight answers

How do I invite a family member to visit the USA?

The relative applies for a visitor visa at the U.S. embassy or consulate in their own country. You can't apply on their behalf from here. If you're in the U.S. on an F-1 or J-1 visa, note that parents and siblings aren't covered by your status — they apply on their own.

What's the current B-1/B-2 appointment wait time?

It's running many months at many consular locations, and it varies a lot by post. Check the specific embassy or consulate your family will use.

How many days until a family visit visa is approved?

There's no fixed number of days. The appointment itself can take months to get, and the decision time after that depends on the post.

Can one person submit an application for a family member?

One person can fill out and manage all the forms — that's normal and usually smart. But each family member still needs their own DS-160 and their own appointment. That dependent question is a dead end for visitor visas.

Before you touch a single form, pull up the official consulate scheduling page for your family's country and check that specific post's current wait time. That one number tells you when to start, and it's the only figure worth trusting.