When to book a dummy ticket before your visa appointment

When to book a dummy ticket comes down to one date: the day someone will read it. Have the reservation arrive the day before that date, whether it is a VFS biometrics appointment, an online upload or an interview, and check the PNR on the airline's website as soon as it lands. You can place the order earlier. The booking form asks "When do you want to receive it?", and Dummy Tickets Visa (DTV) issues the reservation on the date you choose.

The timing matters because a reservation is a temporary hold. How long it stays live is set by the airline, and DTV does not publish a fixed validity period. A reservation issued weeks ahead of your appointment can lapse before anyone looks at it.

When to book a dummy ticket, by scenario

For each situation below, the date that matters is the day the document will be read, not your travel date and not the day you order.

Why the day before rather than the same morning: delivery is typically 10 to 20 minutes after payment is confirmed, but our terms say it can take longer at weekends, on holidays and in busy periods. A day's margin covers that, and it leaves time to print and to run a second PNR check that evening.

Why booking too early causes problems

A reservation issued weeks ahead can lapse before anyone reads it. A dummy ticket is an unpaid hold, and the airline sets a deadline for ticketing it under the fare rules in force when it was made. If no ticket is issued by then, the airline can cancel the booking. That deadline differs by airline and fare, which is why DTV does not promise a fixed number of days.

Even where a law sets a minimum, it is short. A US rule for airlines selling flights in the United States says a reservation made a week or more before departure must be "held at the quoted fare without payment, or cancelled without penalty, for at least twenty-four hours" (14 CFR 259.5). The airline chooses which of the two it offers, and it is a US rule, so do not count on it for a trip that does not touch the United States.

A worked example. Say your VFS appointment is on 14 November and you order on 20 October with the reservation issued that day. If the airline's hold ends before 14 November, you are back on WhatsApp in the week of your appointment. Order on 20 October with 13 November as the receiving date, and the reservation is issued the day before you need it.

Timing for a VFS, BLS or TLScontact appointment

Set the receiving date to the day before your appointment. Check the PNR on the airline's website when the PDF arrives, print it, and look it up again on the morning of the appointment; how to verify your PNR has the steps. If the appointment is tomorrow and you have not ordered, the urgent dummy ticket page covers a same-day order.

The visa centre collects your file and biometrics for the consulate. It does not decide your application; what visa centres do explains the split. After the appointment, a Schengen consulate normally decides within 15 days, and up to 45 days when it needs a detailed examination, according to the European Commission (as of September 2026). An unpaid hold may lapse during that time. That is how a hold works, and we cannot tell you how a particular consulate treats it; dummy ticket validity covers what is known.

Timing for an online visa upload

Have the reservation arrive the day before you plan to upload, and check the PNR before you attach the PDF. Online visitor-visa applications for Canada, the UK and Australia do not require a flight booking at all, so first decide whether you are including one. If you are, time it to the day you upload, not to the day you started the form.

The travel dates printed on the reservation are a separate choice. They should be the dates you really plan to travel; choosing dates for a flight itinerary explains how to pick them.

Timing for a visa interview

If you decide to carry a reservation to an interview, have it arrive the day before. For a US B1/B2 interview it is optional. The State Department does not list a flight booking among the required documents, and it tells applicants not to make final travel plans or buy tickets until the visa is issued. A reservation will not improve your chances there. US visa interview documents lists what the consular officer does look at.

Timing at the airport: a separate reservation

Time an onward-travel reservation to the flight, not to the visa: have it arrive the day before you fly. A reservation made for a visa appointment weeks earlier can easily have lapsed by departure day. It also cannot be used to board, because no ticket has been issued.

Some destinations ask for a paid ticket, and a reservation does not meet that wording. Immigration New Zealand tells visa-waiver visitors that "Your onward tickets must be paid for before your travel" (Immigration New Zealand), and the US Visa Waiver Program regulation asks for a round trip ticket (8 CFR 217.2). For those trips, a refundable fare is the honest option. Proof of onward travel sets out who asks and what they accept.

Using the "When do you want to receive it?" date

This question on the order form does the timing for you. Enter the date you need the PDF in hand, and DTV issues the reservation on that date rather than on the day you placed the order.

1. Work out the date that matters

   The day before a visa centre visit, an upload or an interview. Not your travel date, and not today.

2. Enter it on the order form

   On the booking form, enter passenger names exactly as in the passport, then choose that date under "When do you want to receive it?".

3. Check the PNR when it arrives

   Look the booking up on the airline's website the same day, and again on the morning you use it.

If your appointment date changes

Message us on WhatsApp with your order ID and the new date before you rely on the old PDF. A common situation: the visa centre moves your appointment by a week, and the reservation you received for the old date may not last until the new one. The desk will tell you the quickest way to get a reservation for the new date. Date changes, reissues and expiry covers how that works.

• Confirm your visa needs a flight reservation at all
• Note the date someone will read it: the appointment, upload or interview
• Set the receiving date to the day before that
• Check the PNR when it arrives and again on the day you use it
• If the date moves, message us with your order ID
• Book any airport onward-travel proof separately, timed to the flight

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Visa rules change and consulates apply them differently, so confirm the current requirements with the embassy, consulate or official visa application centre before you apply.