Your appointment fee buys you a small, finite number of schedule changes. Peak season is exactly when people waste them. Here is how to spend yours like they matter — because they do.
Your reschedules are limited. The portal allows only a small number of changes against one fee payment, and your account shows how many you have left. Never reschedule speculatively — a change you cannot reverse, spent on a marginally better date, is how applicants end up worse off than where they started. Always check your remaining count on the portal before touching anything; the portal's number is the only one that counts.
OFC before interview — always. Your biometrics appointment must sit before your interview date. Rescheduling the interview can silently break that order; after any change, re-check both appointments and fix the OFC if it no longer lines up.
Reschedule before, never after. If you cannot attend, change the appointment ahead of time. Missing an appointment unannounced can cost you the date and complicate rebooking under the current rules.
Decide your threshold before you look — e.g., only move for a date at least a month earlier, or one that fixes a real conflict. Feelings make bad reschedules; thresholds make good ones.
Hold at least one change in reserve for genuine emergencies — illness, a document delay, an airline change. The last reschedule you own is worth more than the first.
When a genuinely better date appears via a confirmed alert, take it in one sitting, then immediately verify both appointments show the new, correctly ordered pair.
Only a limited number of times per fee payment, and the exact allowance is shown in your portal account — rules have changed over the years, so trust your account screen over any article, including this one.
The two appointments are managed in the portal and can be adjusted, but they must remain in the right order — biometrics first. If the portal will not let you fix the order, contact the official support channel rather than forcing it.
Rescheduling within your allowance does not require a new visa fee. If you exhaust your allowance or your fee receipt expires, a new fee may be required — check your account's status before assuming.