Sorry, you have been blocked

When applying for US Visa Stamping at a US Consulate or US Embassy, you must use the US Visa Appointment Online booking system. Depending on the country, you may use portal.ustraveldocs.com, USVisaScheduling.com, ais.usvisa-info.com, secure.cgifederal.force.com, or other similar websites that are part of the US Department of State.

Sometimes, some users, when trying to access the US Visa appointment booking website, may get the error “Sorry, you have been blocked, You are unable to access ustraveldocs.com.” You cannot even access the website and are fully stuck. In this article, we outline the reasons for the error and how you can get it fixed, and also common solutions that worked for other users in the community.

In the below sections, we will discuss the common reasons for getting the error: “Sorry, you have been blocked, You are unable to access ustraveldocs.com“. Details about why it occurs, the common solutions suggested by previous users who got the same error, and how you can avoid it.

When you try to access URLs such as portal.ustraveldocs.com or https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/, sometimes, you may get the error that says like below:

“Sorry, you have been blocked

You are unable to access ustraveldocs.com”

Below is the screenshot of the actual error appearing on portal.ustraveldocs.com or the CGI Federal website.

If you read closely on the page that throws this error, there are details on why you have been blocked and how to resolve it. It may sound cryptic if you are not a technical person. At the bottom of the page, you will see a footnote message that says “Performance & Security by Cloudflare.” The message’s key takeaway is that Cloudflare security systems are throwing this error.

If you are not aware, Cloudflare is a large company that is in the website security space and provides many solutions around website firewalls, preventing attacks on your website, etc. In this context, Cloudflare is the vendor that is providing the security system for the USTravelDocs website.

Based on the website security rules provided by CGI Federal/ USTravelDocs, the Cloudflare system is giving you the error “Sorry, you have been blocked, You are unable to access ustraveldocs.com“.

Below are some of the common reasons why you may get this error:

You may get this error if your computer or browser is on a VPN(Virtual Private Network). In general, you may be connecting to the internet using a VPN when you are working at a company that is using a VPN for extra security on their side. Or you may be using a VPN by yourself for extra privacy.

Due to the security rules in place by Cloudflare, they do not allow any VPN access. This is to prevent issues from bots, and spammy sites trying to access the website ustraveldocs.com from unknown locations.

The second most common reason for getting this error is that the website URL https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ is not valid to book a US Visa Appointment in a particular country. For instance, this URL is not valid for India as the appointment booking system has migrated from https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ to https://www.usvisascheduling.com/en-US/

When this happens, you may get this error, or if it allows you to login, it may keep logging you out every time you login. You may not directly see this error, but you may be stuck in a loop that indicates it is not working.

Another common reason for seeing this error is because there could be a browser cache issue or any Browser Extensions issues. Sometimes the extensions that you are using could also be causing this issue. It may be hard to troubleshoot when you have too many extensions and what they may be doing in the background.

Now that we understand the common reasons, let’s look at the solutions on how to fix the errors.

Below are some of the solutions to get out of the error that worked for users:

If you are browsing the internet on a VPN, you must get out of the VPN and then try to log in. You should disconnect from the VPN or disable the browser VPN extension and try to login. This should fix the error, and you should be able to log in.

If you are on a company’s corporate network, you should exit out of that company VPN network and try to go to the URL https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ from your personal home network or your mobile carrier network, this could also solve the issue.

This option only works in cases, where you were blocked for general cyber security rules placed by Cloudflare. If this does not work, try the below options.

Depending on the country, you must check if the US Visa appointment booking website has changed. For instance, the US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs changed the appointment booking system for India on July 29th, 2023, from the ustraveldocs.com portal to a new website, usvisascheduling.com.

If you want to apply for a US Visa appointment in India or already have an account in the old system, you must now use the new website at usvisascheduling.com going forward. You cannot use the old USTravelDocs portal anymore. Try using the new URL that is relevant for the country to book the appointment. For more details, you can read Guide to Create an Account at USVisaScheduling.com to book US Visa Appointment.

To find out the correct US Visa Appointment Booking website, you can follow the below instructions.

Step 1: Go to https://www.ustraveldocs.com/

Step 2: Select the first letter of the country, where you want to book US visa appointment. For instance, you would select ‘I’, if you want to book a US Visa appointment at a US Consulate in India. See the below screenshot for how it looks and where to click to choose the location.

Step 3: Click on the Country name, then go to the website that it redirects to and click on Login button on the actual USTravelDocs website. This may look different for different countries, but the idea is the country’s relevant website would have the correct US Visa Appointment URL.

Below is a screenshot of the steps to find the correct website for India. You can see from the below screenshot that first you click on India, then you click on the visa category either Nonimmigrant or immigrant visa and then finally on the website, you would click on the Login link. For India, this points to https://www.usvisascheduling.com/en-US/

Below is a screenshot of how to find the correct website for the Philippines. For Appointment booking in the Philippines, it points to https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/ . As you can see, it is different for different countries.

If both of the above do not work, the next option is to try clearing out cache and cookies. Sometimes, this can be an issue that could be blocking you as well. If you are using a work PC, then it may have some restrictions on the browser as well. So, it also can be an issue. Hence, try with your personal computer.

Also, if the issues are extensions, one other thing you can do is to open the browser in incognito mode and then try to access the correct URL, this also may work. Ensure that the incognito mode does not have any plugins loaded.

The final option is you should call USTravelDocs customer service or email them and ask about the issue. This email and phone number for support vary by country. For this you need to find the correct details by using the method outlined in Option 2, where we show how to find the right website.

For India, the support email is [email protected]. You can check Contact Info, Phone Number of US Consulates, USTravelDocs India for more info

What was your experience trying to solve the error? Share your experience in the comments below.

You can also check out details of other common errors like