US Tourist Visa Appointments for Arg Citizens Cancelled

[cholita]

I'm helping my partner get a US tourist visa so he'll be able to go to the US with me this year and finally meet my loved ones.

In November of 2020, we were finally able to get him visa appointments in Buenos Aires for mid April 2021 and were planning a road trip from our home in Jujuy and hoping stay in BA until the visa was issued and travel to the US from there, hopefully in May.

We just got a generic email from the appointment system saying the appointments were cancelled (with no reason stated), linking to a site with information on US COVID travel restrictions. We were able to reschedule the appointment... but the first available is now the last week of September 2021.

Does anyone have any insights on this? I assume there's no way around and he'll have to wait? We're considering getting married so that I can at least leave and potentially get back into the country...

 

[jaimito]

If by chance his visa has expired in the last 12 months they can now see you for a renovación, beyond that I believe you're in it for the long haul.

 

[cholita]

Unfortunately no, it's his first visa. I found this article that confirms they're only processing expired visas: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/socieda...egreso-de-la-renovacion-de-visas-nid02032021/

Given there's no guarantee his new appointments won't get cancelled, we're seriously considering marriage (mostly to help me return to Argentina rather than to help him get to the US since that process seems even more unwieldy).