My visa app went to the wrong office!

I just finished my fast track app for settlement visa, and it chose the Chicago office automatically when I was hoping to make an appointment in New York.

Just to back up for a second: I currently live in Minneapolis, but we're getting married in NYC and was hoping to make an appointment at the NY office for a few days after the wedding when I had the marriage certificate to finish my application.  I chose that I wanted to finish my app in person, and the next thing I know it says that I have to go to Chicago and that no other office can handle my app.  It chooses based on your current address, rather than letting you choose which office would be most convenient.  Hopefully I can change it, since one of the reasons we're getting married in NYC was to be near the consulate.

If any one knows about this sort of thing or has experience with it let me know.  Also is there a time limit after you make the fast trak application for you to complete it?  We're not getting married for a few months, but I just wanted to get this out of the way (and I had the money in my account).

As always, any help is greatly appreciated.

I THINK you can just let it lapse, because they only keep them active for a certain number of days.  If you didn't actually make an appointment and receive a confirmation then you're okay.  Not sure about the address situation though.  Someone on the board who is more informed might be able to help you there.  Besides that, you can only make appointments a couple of weeks ahead anyway.  Good luck!

I'm pretty sure you're only allowed to apply at the consulate that serves the area where you live- you can't pick and choose, unfortunately.

I guess it's a shame that I didn't look into this as carefully as I should have.  I would have listed my mum's address on the East Coast had I known that address was the deciding factor to which consulate the appication goes to.  I've never been to Chicago and don't plan on it.  I was going to move my things to Florida where my mum lives, then after the wedding in NYC I figured we could just nip into the consulate office there with the marriage certificate (which is the only piece of the puzzle we don't have right now, otherwise I'd just send it all in to Chicago).  Now I've got a major problem on my hands, where I may have to forfeit nearly $500.

Has anyone had to ask for a refund in a situation like this, or has anyone requested that their application be sent to a different consulate? 

Can't you just next-day the paperwork to the Chicago office after you get your marriage certificate?

Didn't Aeonix go through something similar?


Victoria

Didn't Aeonix go through something similar?

She paid the wrong consulate, but had all her paperwork and appointment in the right place.  Stuart, on the other hand, wants to jump catchments - which should be ok in a fast-track country, but I can't recall an instance of it for someone *based* in the US.  Only just overstayers coming back to NYC applying for a spousal. 

Just rang the Chicago Consulate General (the normal number, not the 1-900 one), pressed '6' which is the choice for emergencies, and the person there told me all I had to do was fax them a letter stating that I needed a refund.  I would just have to pay again once I booked an appointment for NY, so I'll be sure to use my mum's address in Florida so it definitley goes to the New York office.  She said they operate as seperate entities so they can't just transfer the application to a different location.  But sorted nontheless.  Thanks everyone for your input!