You are approaching the maximum number of times: What causes this CGI error and how to avoid it?

The US visa appointments are very limited these days. Oftentimes, you don’t see any available appointments at all. Even if there are any, they are taken in a blink of an eye. 

Checking for availability 24/7 is very much necessary. But if you check for them too often, the system will prompt you with the following message. 

“You are approaching the maximum number of times you may view this page. Please complete your transaction at this time.”

It’s already frustrating with limited appointment availability. On top of that, this message can freak you out. 

***

When does this CGI error come up?

You are only allowed to perform a certain fixed number of actions on your appointment page. In my experience, the allowed number of actions in a given day is about 12. Performing more than 12 actions on your appointment page may block you from viewing or booking an appointment until 12am EST the next day. 

An “action” on the appointment page can be simply viewing the appointment page, refreshing the calendar page, changing the consulate, changing the date/time, etc.

You don’t really need 12 actions to view or book a US visa appointment. But if you pick a date, then change it, go back again and change the consulate, etc, then you will risk exhausting your allowed number of actions and getting blocked until the next day.

When you have almost exhausted your allowed number of actions for that day, you will be presented with this message.  

“You are approaching the maximum number of times you may view this page. Please complete your transaction at this time.”

When you see this message and the desired appointment is available, go ahead and finish booking your appointment. But if you continue to change things, you will exhaust your 12 allowed actions. 

Once you exhaust all your 12 allowed actions for that day, you will be presented with the below message. 

“You have exceeded the limit for viewing this page and your limit will be reset as of tomorrow.”

When you see the above message, you are blocked from viewing the appointments page until 12am EST the next day. At this time, it’s wise to log off and not go back into your account until 12am EST the next day. 

If you continue to click around in your account, you risk getting your CGI account frozen for 72 hours. 

If you have to log back in to update or make some changes to your information, wait at least 6 hours before logging back in. If you log back in without waiting at least 6 hours, you will risk your account freezing.

RELATED: CGI account frozen for 72 hours: What causes it and how to prevent it?

***

Why is there a limit on how many actions you can perform?

There are two reasons why actions on the appointment page are limited. 

Reason 1: Placeholder accounts

Visa agents usually have a large pool of placeholder accounts. The main purpose of these placeholder accounts is to look up and hold appointments and not actually attend one. This way, they can have a better grip on appointment availability and can get appointments quickly for their clients. 

If CGI Federal suspects that your account is being used only to view appointments but not to book one, then it will restrict the access by blocking your account until 12am EST the next day. 

Reason 2: Bots and automated software

There are visa agents that automate the task of finding the availability of appointments. This helps them get the earliest appointments possible for their clients. Since software and bots can monitor the systems 24/7, they can find appointments much more quickly than a human. 

This helps visa agents find appointments for their clients but it hurts people like you and me who are looking for appointments manually. Taking away all available appointments by agents can lead to appointment unavailability for applicants like us that are looking manually. 

CGI Inc, which built and maintains CGI Federal has measures to curb such bot actively. The system restricts the bot activity so genuine applicants can find appointments. But it’s difficult to differentiate who is a bot and who is a human. If the system suspects bot-like activity, it will restrict your activity until 12am EST the next day.

***

Scenarios that lead to exhausting your allowed number of actions

While booking your appointment, you may run into a few hurdles that would force you to go back and forth. This may lead to exhausting your allowed number of actions for that day.

Let’s look at a few scenarios that can lead to exhausting your allowed number of actions.

—

Scenario 1: There are no available appointments at this time

When you view the available appointments and if there are no appointments, the system will present you with the following message. 

“There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the consular section will open more appointments.”

That means, there are no available appointments across the board. You can just log off and try after a few hours. But if you log in quite often throughout the day to view the availability, then you may run into exhausting your allowed number of actions.

—

Scenario 2: OFC appointment is available but there are no consular appointments

In some countries, applying for a US tourist visa requires scheduling two appointments, one for biometrics called OFC (Offsite Facilitation Center) appointment and the other for your visa interview called consular appointment. These two appointments must be within 15 days apart.

If you are able to get an OFC appointment but there are no consular appointments available within 15 days of OFC, then you will be presented with the following message.

“There are currently no appointments available. Please press the Back button and choose a new OFC appointment Date.”

In cases like these, you will go back to change your OFC appointment date to see if there is a matching consular appointment. Going back and forth like this may quickly exhaust your allowed number of actions. 

—

Scenario 3: No OFC or consulate appointments available at your selected consulate

If there are no appointments available at your selected consulate, you will be presented with the following message. 

“There are no available appointments at the selected location. Please try again later.”

When this happens, you usually tend to change your consulate and try again. If there are quite a few consulates in your country, then you may be compelled to view appointments for each consulate. 

For example, India has 5 US consulates and embassies. If you go through all consulates a few times in a day, then you will exhaust your allowed number of actions for that day. 

—

Scenario 4: Not enough time slots for your family or party

If your family or party has quite a few people or you need an interview in a regional language, then you may be presented with the following message. 

“There are no time slots available for the total number of people selected. Please select a different date or location.”

In each consulate, there are only a limited number of visa officers that can handle large groups or interviews in regional language. Even though the appointments seem to be available, there may not be any available for your group size or the language you selected. 

When this happens, you are forced to select a different date or location. If you do this a few times in a day then again, you will exhaust your allowed number of actions. 

—

Scenario 5: System error

System errors are not uncommon either, especially when the system is overloaded. This usually happens when more appointments are made available and somehow the news gets out. You may see the following message.

“Error scheduling your appointment. Please try again later.”

In this situation, you can try again, but if this error comes up again and again, it’s wise to log off for a few hours. If you keep at it then you will run into exhausting your allowed number of actions. 

***

Conclusion

Visa appointments at the US consulates are limited these days. Continuous monitoring of appointments is necessary. But if you check for appointments too often, you will be presented with the following message. 

“You are approaching the maximum number of times you may view this page. Please complete your transaction at this time.”

When this message comes up, it’s necessary to complete your appointment booking or simply log off for a few hours.

To prevent visa agents from taking away all the appointments and curb any bot-like activity, CGI Federal has measures in place to block the user from viewing the appointments page too many times in a day. 

Have you ever run into this issue or been blocked from viewing the appointments? If so, let me know in the comments.