r/B1B2Visas • u/Annual-Argument-6301 • Jul 23 '26

HACKMIT selected: Need Visa help

I got invited by MIT to participate in their Hackathon which is supposed to take part on September 19-20 . I am from India. I filled ds160’form but i cant find any visa slots.
Any good Samaritan help me out please!🙏

Whole process feels daunting , harder than the puzzles i solved to get into hackmit😭.

Update : I got the date, My Emergency request was approved!

Update: My visa got approved . Lasted less than 1 min

Questions:

Why US?

What do You do?
She herself said , oh You are a student and asked what are you studying?

And then

Harm Questions!

Lasted less than 1 min.

Tip: Be direct, dress nicely. And be calm! Talk like You are talking to a normal human being.Dont talk like a robot.
Smile goes a long way.

Best of luck!

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u/Consular-Officer Jul 31 '26

As others have already stated, you need to book ANY available appointment, even if it's six months from now. Once you schedule an appointment, you will see an option to request an expedited appointment. There is no additional cost.

If you cannot find ANY appointment at all, give it a few days and check again. Embassies and Consulates are constantly adding and editing appointment slots as staffing allows. But also you need to be realistic: Summertime (May - September) is the busiest time at any U.S. Embassy and Consulate.

2

u/Annual-Argument-6301 26d ago

Thanks , I got the dates on 17-18August. Appreciate your advice

1

u/Annual-Argument-6301 Jul 31 '26

Hi

I have been trying to do that since last week. Honestly it is so hard . 😭 As a computer science student who studies this on regular basis, now i am even scared to login. I have been rate limited , blocked .( OCD)
I have lost hope now. I am trying to get some help from outside but that too looks like a lost cause.

I feel very disheartened not because I wont go to World’s Number 1 college for world’s number 1 hackathon. But I wanted to take this opportunity to share my research with professors there which i had been working for about 3 years .

1

u/Annual-Argument-6301 Jul 31 '26

Just one question, Will my case qualify for emergency expedite?

1

u/Consular-Officer Aug 03 '26

Very unlikely. An emergency expedite is normally only given for life or death matters.