Almost Approved Solidarity Thread

[TXorPDX 5]

 This is my first post,so hope it's appropriate for this topic - I was able to book a new IV appointment for 7 May 2020 at the U.S. Embassy London on  the "Offcial U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service" website today (26 March). I am an IR-1 (married 30 years to U.S. Citizen spouse!) and going through DCF London. My original IV appointment, scheduled for April 2020, was cancelled by the Embassy.

 

There are available appointments in the booking system for 4-7th May 2020. (Or were when I last looked.)

 

However...there are reasons why I'm being cautious about this:

- my booked interview seems to contradict the Visa Appointment Service website's message: "As of March 17, 2020, the United States Embassy in London and the U.S. Consulate in Belfast are cancelling routine Immigrant and Nonimmigrant visa appointments."

-  I have NOT had my medical exam and I do not know if Visa Medicals are even open. Their website says not to phone but to contact them by email. So, for others in the same situation: as far as I understand (and I may be wrong about this) I believe that if you cannot book a medical before your interview, you would need to cancel your IV interview

- the U.S. Embassy London says: "UPDATE: As of March 17, 2020, the United States Embassy in London is reducing immigrant and fiancé(e) visa appointments." So, apparently they're not cancelling all interviews, but "reducing". 

 

I wanted to pass this information along, in case of use to others. But please check all relevant websites etc carefully yourselves before getting your hopes up!

[goldhex 21]

Okay so I had my medical last Friday and was meant to be going for my K1 interview on Monday, received notification that the interview was cancelled last week.

 

After seeing the above post I was able to go and book an appointment for May 4th, obviously taking this with a large grain of salt given how quickly the ongoing situation has and seems to be escalating.

[ohcoffeeeyes 120]

On 3/26/2020 at 6:41 PM, goldhex said:

Okay so I had my medical last Friday and was meant to be going for my K1 interview on Monday, received notification that the interview was cancelled last week.

 

After seeing the above post I was able to go and book an appointment for May 4th, obviously taking this with a large grain of salt given how quickly the ongoing situation has and seems to be escalating.

At least they think by May it'll be ok sigh

 

We made it to NVC super quick and our i-130 was approved 5 months before estimated.

 

And now this!!!! Ugh!!

[goldhex 21]

53 minutes ago, ohcoffeeeyes said:

At least they think by May it'll be ok sigh

 

We made it to NVC super quick and our i-130 was approved 5 months before estimated.

 

And now this!!!! Ugh!!

I'm personally very skeptical that the interview I managed to book for May will actually go ahead, the situation only seems to be deteriorating quicker here.

[Wuozopo 4,285]

59 minutes ago, ohcoffeeeyes said:

At least they think by May it'll be ok sigh

It is not going to be OK by May. 
 

In the UK March 11 - 456 cases

in 17 days March 28 - 19,522 cases

And you are only testing those in hospital. Imagine how many are not showing symptoms and are spreading it. Read what the scientists are saying.

Update this page every day https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ae5dda8f86814ae99dde905d2a9070ae
 

And for some very sobering information, spend 30 minutes watching this doctor’s video all the way to the end. Informative and he keeps real. 

 

 

 

 

 

[ohcoffeeeyes 120]

21 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

It is not going to be OK by May. 
 

In the UK March 11 - 456 cases

in 17 days March 28 - 19,522 cases

And you are only testing those in hospital. Imagine how many are not showing symptoms and are spreading it. Read what the scientists are saying.

Update this page every day https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ae5dda8f86814ae99dde905d2a9070ae
 

And for some very sobering information, spend 30 minutes watching this doctor’s video all the way to the end. Informative and he keeps real. 

 

 

 

 

 

I know it probably won't be okay by May but I am trying to remain optimistic. These are very troubling times

[Wuozopo 4,285]

2 hours ago, ohcoffeeeyes said:

I know it probably won't be okay by May but I am trying to remain optimistic. These are very troubling times

 Very troubling in terms of disease and the impact on the economy that isn’t going to pop back suddenly in a few weeks. There are so many disregarding the mandates and aren’t taking it seriously. I spoke to my brother yesterday on his birthday. Today mum called and told me he woke with a high fever and is very ill. Overnight! BUT his son went off to work at Tesco. The spread scares me a lot.

[AshleyHope0618 81]

My partner originally had his medical scheduled for March 23rd, but that was cancelled.  It sucks to have to wait so much longer but I completely understand why it is necessary. Now it looks like it will be much longer before he is able to do either and the NOA2 is only valid until the 15th of May.  Have yall emailed the embassy to extend, or would that need to go through USCIS? Im not entirely sure who I need to contact in this kind of situation. 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

7 minutes ago, AshleyHope0618 said:

My partner originally had his medical scheduled for March 23rd, but that was cancelled.  It sucks to have to wait so much longer but I completely understand why it is necessary. Now it looks like it will be much longer before he is able to do either and the NOA2 is only valid until the 15th of May.  Have yall emailed the embassy to extend, or would that need to go through USCIS? Im not entirely sure who I need to contact in this kind of situation. 

You don’t need to contact anybody. Positive about that.

 

See the K1 pages on the embassy website https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/fiancee-2/applying-for-the-visa/

 

In the Required Documents you will find

Petition Affirmation Letter (if applicable)

If your petition expires before the visa interview takes place, you are required to bring to your interview a signed letter from your petitioner confirming that you both remain legally free to marry and that you will marry within 90 days of your arrival in the United States

 

If you start reading through the FAQ pages linked on the right, you will find

I am applying for a K-1 visa, I have heard that I need a letter from my fiancé(e) to reaffirm the petition, what is this?

If the visa interview is scheduled more than 4 months from the date the petition is approved, the applicant is required to provide an original letter from the petitioner, confirming that they both remain legally free to marry and that they intend to do so within 90 days of the applicant’s entry to the United States.  There is no requirement that the letter be notarized.

 

 

[AshleyHope0618 81]

Perfect! Thank you so much! I haven't had too much time to read into how to do that because Im an essential worker. It sucks to have been this close to finally having him here then we get with a pandemic.  But we are both currently healthy, so I cant complain too much  

[Wuozopo 4,285]

Update—-

Known cases in the UK 

March 11 - 456 cases

in 17 days March 28 - 19,522 cases

in 21 days April 1 - 33,718 cases 

[DesiJase 52]

On 3/30/2020 at 6:00 PM, Wuozopo said:

 Very troubling in terms of disease and the impact on the economy that isn’t going to pop back suddenly in a few weeks. There are so many disregarding the mandates and aren’t taking it seriously. I spoke to my brother yesterday on his birthday. Today mum called and told me he woke with a high fever and is very ill. Overnight! BUT his son went off to work at Tesco. The spread scares me a lot.

How is your brother?

[TXorPDX 5]

Noticed that no one has posted on this thread for a while - but just wanted to ask:

 

Does anyone else still have an immigrant visa appointment scheduled at  the U.S. Embassy London for May 2020? 

If you do: have use you used the "Immigrant Visa Contact" form on the Embassy website to ask about your May interview status? And did you get a reply?

I posted a while ago that I'm an IR-1 spouse of an American citizen and have a visa interview appointment for 7 May 2020.  I'm really surprised that my account on the Visa Appointment Service websites continues to shows: "Current Status - Attend appointment".

 

And am totally confused, as this contradicts every U.S. government website I've read: all say that immigrant appointments are cancelled, i.e.:

 

The "Information for non-U.S. citizens following the Coronavirus / COVID-19 Outbreak" page on https://uk.usembassy.gov/  says: 

"As of March 17, 2020, the United States Embassy in London has... cancelled immigrant and fiancé(e) visa appointments...We will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time." 

 

And the U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE — BUREAU of CONSULAR AFFAIR site says:

"In response to significant worldwide challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State is temporarily suspending routine visa services at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates. Embassies and consulates will cancel all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments as of March 20, 2020.  Our overseas missions will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time."

 

But my immigrant visa appointments has not been cancelled - this just doesn't make sense!

 

As you can't phone the IV Unit at the London Embassy (I think?), I called the Visa Appointment Service. They said this about my May 2020 appointment: 

• the  "Current Status - Attend Appointment" on their system is probably wrong and due to a "software error".
• but also: only the Embassy can verify the status of my appointment - they could not do this.

Thought it rather odd that they can't confirm my appointment status, as they're the visa appointment booking service! And the U.S. Embassy London website says about cancelled appointments: "If you have scheduled a visa interview appointment, the Visa Appointment Service will contact you." 

 

So, the Visa Appointment Service says to contact the Embassy for appointment status updates... and the Embassy says "the Visa Appointment Service will contact you"!  Curiouer and curiouser...

I've concluded  -  but this is only my opinion and about my my case only - that my May 7 2020 appointment was booked by mistake (software error?) and will be cancelled...eventually.

If anyone else with a May 2020 appointment hears from the Embassy that their appointment is cancelled (or not) and wants to share this, could be "interesting" for others to know.  And If I hear anything about my May appointment, I'll post it here. 

 

But I'm keeping in mind that everyone's case is different...just because one person's appointment is cancelled, doesn't mean all are.

 

[Tesco 52]

I see that Visa Medicals are closed

[Wuozopo 4,285]

3 hours ago, TXorPDX said:

posted a while ago that I'm an IR-1 spouse of an American citizen and have a visa interview appointment for 7 May 2020.  I'm really surprised that my account on the Visa Appointment Service websites continues to shows: "Current Status - Attend appointment"

The strict lockdown in the UK was first announced for three weeks, ending this week. A week earlier the first mitigation steps were taken and schools were still open.  Four weeks ago there were 55 deaths. Now there are more than 12;000 deaths. 
 

They may have allowed your appointment thinking it would be over by May 7. The government will meet this week and decide whether the UK will remain locked down. Once that is established, the consulate may contact you to cancel.

 

March 11 - 456 cases

March 28 - 19,522 cases

April 1 - 33,718 cases 

April 14 - 94,845 cases

Edited April 14, 2020 by Wuozopo