L Visa appointment waiting times in Paris

Hello,

So, here is my concern, i'm in the US under an L-1B with my family. I went to an appointment at the US Embassy back in March, to renew the visa stamp because of the 17 months uration reciprocity (which is a real pain). This went fine, i could book my appointment within the next two weeks, and everything went just fine.

Now, my wife and kids have to renew their visa stamp too, and they were planning to go to Paris US Embassy end of june. Around April 20, i kicked off the process, DS-160 for the whole family, paid the MRV fees, but when i got to the appointment planning page, it showed no slot until end of August !!!   Unfortunately it is way too late for us, since my kids are going back to school here in the US early september. So, because of this ma family is not able to go spend their planned vacations in France this year, to visit relatives. I'm afraid i have paid the MRV fees for nothing.

I sent out an expedite appointment request end of April but did not get any reply at all.

I would like to know if anybody in this forum is aware about a possible reason why there is currently more than 4 months waiting time to get an appointment in Paris for an L visa, while the official Consulate website mentions that the wait time for L visa is currently 22 calendar days .

Thank you.

Eric .