How to Apply

Visa Call Center - Making Appointments and Getting Information on Your Visa

About the Call Center

The Visa Information Call Center provides visa-related information to visa applicants and schedules nonimmigrant visa interview appointments for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang.

The Consular Section cannot interview visa applicants who have not scheduled appointments.  Visa appointments can be scheduled via telephone only via the China Call Center. The Visa Information Call Center can be reached from within China by dialing 4008-872-333 (toll free) or internationally by dialing 86-21-3881-4611 (local Shanghai number). Appointments may not be made in person at the Consulate nor via fax or e-mail. If the appointment line is busy, please call again. 

All applicants traveling to the United States for the first time and applicants who do not meet the requirements for the CITIC Prior Travel Program or other expedited travel programs must make an appointment for a visa interview.  To make the appointment, you must provide your name, date of birth, passport number, visa class, and prior refusal status.  Without this data, the China Call Center cannot schedule an appointment.
 
Information Services

You may also access information on all visa types and application procedures for both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas through the Call Center. The service is offered in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, the Fuzhou dialect and the Taishan dialect.

Call Center Hours

The Visa Information Call Center has pre-recorded visa information available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Live operators are available from 7 am to 7 pm, Monday through Friday and 8 am to 5 pm, Saturday.

Call Center Service Fees

The Call Center is a user-pays service. To access the Visa Information Call Center, you may pay 54 RMB and receive a PIN number which is good for 12 minutes or pay 36 RMB and receive a PIN number which is good for 8 minutes. Any unused minutes can be reused at a later time or transferred to another party. There are 2 methods of payment:

CITIC pre-paid PIN card:

All CITIC banks that collect the visa application fee also sell the pre-paid PIN card that can be used to access the Visa Information Call Center. For a listing of CITIC bank branches, you can access the CITIC website at http://www.ecitic.com/bank/personal/chuguo/3.htm or you may call 95558 to reach the Citic bank customer service line. 

Credit/Debit Cards via the Visa Information Call Center website:

Users can go to http://www.usavisainformation.com.cn/ to use Visa, Mastercard or China-issued credit or debit cards to pay for the call center service.