Can I interview here as a third-country national?

Many nonimmigrant visas (including O-1) can be applied for as a TCN - a third-country national - but booking and slot availability depend on the post and current policy. This is a common community scenario; always verify on ustraveldocs and travel.state.gov.

They said "approved" but CEAC shows Refused - is that a denial?

No. Refused in CEAC after the interview means the case is in processing: the status changes once the check completes and the visa is printed. There is no need to panic or refile at this stage.

What is the difference between the O-1 and EB-1 interview?

O-1 is a nonimmigrant visa: you file DS-160 and attend a consular-section interview. EB-1 is immigrant: after the I-140 is approved the case goes to the NVC, you file DS-260 and attend an immigrant-visa interview (or adjust status inside the US via I-485, without a consulate).

Bishkek: the O-1 / EB-1 talent-visa interview

US mission, Bishkek

Kyrgyzstan O-1 (DS-160) · EB-1 (DS-260 / I-485)

The US Embassy in Bishkek is the home post for Kyrgyz citizens and one of the third-country options for Russian-speaking applicants.

Who uses this consulate

from Kyrgyzstan from Russia

How the consular process works

O-1 is a nonimmigrant visa: after the I-129 petition is approved you file DS-160, pay the fee and book a consular-section interview. EB-1 is the immigrant path: after the I-140 is approved the case either goes through the NVC to an immigrant-visa interview (DS-260), or you adjust status inside the US (I-485) with no consulate at all. Some applicants file as third-country nationals (TCN) - outside their country of citizenship.

Prepare for the interview

What the community reports

A distinctive detail from member reports: they may say "approved" at the interview while the CEAC status stays Refused until the check completes. That is a normal interim status, not a denial.

This is community-chat experience, not official data. Verify booking availability and post status on travel.state.gov and ustraveldocs.com.

This embassy's official visas page: kg.usembassy.gov/visas/ - interview booking follows your own post's instructions.

Current appointment wait times for every post are in the official State Department table: Global Visa Wait Times.

Procedures that are the same at every post (CEAC statuses, the passport during the check, officers’ manner): the consulates reference.

Official State Department numbers for this post

Next available interview appointment, by table update

Table of	B1/B2	F, M, J	H, L, O, P, Q
Sep 17, 2026	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Jun 18, 2026*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
May 18, 2026*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Apr 15, 2026*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Mar 27, 2026*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Jan 14, 2026*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Dec 12, 2025*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Nov 20, 2025*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Oct 22, 2025*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Sep 17, 2025*	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo	< 0.5 mo
Aug 18, 2025*	1 mo	1 mo	1 mo
May 25, 2025*	1 mo	1 mo	1 mo
Apr 25, 2025*	3.5 mo	0.5 mo	0.5 mo

Source: Global Visa Wait Times (travel.state.gov), "next available appointment" as printed at each monthly update; until mid-2025 the table gave calendar days, later months. * - read from a Wayback Machine (web.archive.org) copy of the same page. We re-read the table every month; next check about Oct 20, 2026.

Mar 2025 - Feb 2026: the post issued 6,781 nonimmigrant and 1,348 immigrant visas.

Nonimmigrant visas issued, by month
Month	Total	B1/B2	F-1	J-1	H-1B	L-1	O-1
Feb 2026	56	29	1	4	0	0	1
Jan 2026	111	79	16	1	1	0	0
Dec 2025	259	180	42	1	1	1	0
Nov 2025	142	112	7	1	1	1	1
Oct 2025	281	203	3	2	1	1	2
Sep 2025	413	293	27	11	2	0	0
Aug 2025	630	297	198	31	7	1	3
Jul 2025	980	596	221	37	14	1	1
Jun 2025	876	610	136	13	14	1	2
May 2025	807	651	63	38	3	0	0
Apr 2025	1,336	1,075	64	56	3	2	0
Mar 2025	890	811	22	3	1	1	0

Immigrant visas issued, by month
Month	Total	Family	EB-1	EB-2	EB-3	DV
Feb 2026	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jan 2026	12	12	0	0	0	0
Dec 2025	94	20	3	0	0	71
Nov 2025	161	16	4	0	0	140
Oct 2025	143	22	4	0	0	115
Sep 2025	121	21	7	0	0	93
Aug 2025	205	31	6	0	0	168
Jul 2025	141	13	0	13	0	114
Jun 2025	121	21	1	0	0	99
May 2025	37	12	3	0	0	22
Apr 2025	209	11	5	0	0	193
Mar 2025	104	11	4	0	5	84

Columns: the main classes; "Total" includes all others (dependants, crew, diplomatic and other classes). Immigrant: Family = IR, CR and F categories, EB-1/2/3 = employment preferences (EB-3 incl. EW), DV = diversity lottery. Each month links to its State Department report (Excel). Sources: Monthly Nonimmigrant Visa Issuance Statistics, Monthly Immigrant Visa Issuance Statistics (travel.state.gov).

FAQ

Can I interview here as a third-country national?: Many nonimmigrant visas (including O-1) can be applied for as a TCN - a third-country national - but booking and slot availability depend on the post and current policy. This is a common community scenario; always verify on ustraveldocs and travel.state.gov.
They said "approved" but CEAC shows Refused - is that a denial?: No. Refused in CEAC after the interview means the case is in processing: the status changes once the check completes and the visa is printed. There is no need to panic or refile at this stage.
What is the difference between the O-1 and EB-1 interview?: O-1 is a nonimmigrant visa: you file DS-160 and attend a consular-section interview. EB-1 is immigrant: after the I-140 is approved the case goes to the NVC, you file DS-260 and attend an immigrant-visa interview (or adjust status inside the US via I-485, without a consulate).

From community practice

A strong petition usually meets more than the required minimum of three criteria, with a margin on each - common advice in chats to reduce RFE risk.
What determines the strength of evidence is not the fact itself but its context: scale, selectivity and independent confirmation. This runs through almost every community case review.
Support letters are stronger when written by independent experts familiar with your work who cite concrete results rather than general praise.

Distilled from public community chats - observations, not legal advice.

From community discussions

«I'm not arguing here that he apparently checked it poorly, but when you buy a package service and not just a lawyer, you expect more. And why was he told to go for EB-2 NIW when he already came with a pretty good package for EB-1 (over 20 years working as a research scientist with a bunch of patents, awards) - he only needed to add media.»
Kate · from public community chats
«Everything will be fine. Everyone has their PhDs and candidates of science thrown out and simplified. You need to close three criteria: academic articles - one, patents - two, judging - three. A PhD 100% has a critical or lead role. I think you also have media articles about you. There won't even be an RFE.»
Alexander · from public community chats
«I received recommendation letters from my former managers, who are no longer with the same company. They confirmed in their letters that we had worked together at Company X. The logo on the letterhead, though, represented Company Y, which is their current place of employment.»
community member · from public community chats

Personal opinions of community members from public discussions, not legal advice.