Is it correct to write 'I am almost late to do something'

[kwfine]

Dear teachers,

When the class commenced at 8:00am, and Tom came to school after 8:00am, he was late for school,
so he may say to the teacher
'I am sorry that I am late for school'

The above daily life example reminded me one thing that happened on me:
I was applying for a VISA card through an online Bank system. The deadline for the application of the VISA card was 2nd April, 2014.
When I noticed the deadline, I was so nervous that I picked up the phone and dialed the number to connect to the Bank Service Assistant.
(I was nervous because the gift for applying for a VISA card is a limited beautiful Kimono style dress.)
During the conversation on the phone, I spoke to the Bank Service Assistant,
'I am very sorry that I am almost late to apply for a VISA card. The time now is 23:56pm, there are 4 minutes left before the deadline arrives. Could you grant me one more hour please?'

Is it grammatical correct to write 'I am almost late to do something' if the deadline is very close as in the above case?

Please help teachers.

Kitty

 

[BobK]

You are 'late in doing something' or 'it is too late [for you] to do something. In this case I would say 'I'm applying just in time to/for....'. You could also say 'It's almost too late for me to apply...', but I think it's probably best to say 'I'm just in time' rather than 'I'm almost too late'.

b

 

[kwfine]

You are 'late in doing something' or 'it is too late [for you] to do something. In this case I would say 'I'm applying just in time to/for....'. You could also say 'It's almost too late for me to apply...', but I think it's probably best to say 'I'm just in time' rather than 'I'm almost too late'.

b

Thanks Bobk.

How about this:
I am very sorry that I applied for a VISA card almost close to the deadline.

 

[BobK]

:down: You can't be 'almost close to' something. You're either close to it or not. ;-) You could say '... I applied for a VISA card just before the deadline'.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks Bobk.

How about this:
I am very sorry that I applied for a VISA card almost close to the deadline.

I can't imagine apologising for applying for a credit card but if you must, then you could use "... so close to the deadline".