Strange Advice from London Embassy

[tris&kris 132]

Hi All,

 

Hoping for some expertise in this matter because the advice from the London Embassy seems bizarre. Recently, I had my request for an emergency K1 interview denied.  Won't go into the details but it was a reasonable request as there were medical and job related reasons. The reason for the denial was the travel restrictions between the US and UK.  I then pointed out that if that's the only reason why it's denied, they should still process it and my fiance could travel to another country for 14 days prior to entering the US.  They then replied that if he plans on doing that, he should have the case transferred to the embassy in the country he plans to quarantine in and receive the visa there.  They said make sure that embassy is able to process K1 visas and that it could take 8+ weeks to transfer.

 

Am I crazy or does this seem like bad advice?  Can you just transfer to a country you plan on traveling to but don't actually live in?  I thought you actually had to live there before transferring. It seems like you would waste 2+ months transferring with no guarantees the other embassy would follow through with the processing. Plus you would have to do whatever their Packet 3 requirements are which who knows how long it would take for that to be issues and gathered.

 

Overall, seems like bad advice to me but maybe I am missing something. 

[Duke & Marie 1,389]

I think bad advise, you can only have your interview in your country of legal residence to my knowledge, that is unless your countries embassy has been shut down for other reasons (Non Covid related) e.g. Iraq 

[payxibka 10,044]

1 minute ago, Duke & Marie said:

I think bad advise, you can only have your interview in your country of legal residence to my knowledge

You can also have it done in country of nationality 

[JBF 116]

Hi, I’m answering because I was told the same, which honestly doesn’t make sense. They could issue the visa and then we could quarantine as many people have done already. 
However I tried to contact some embassies in the European area that are not part of the Schengen zone, and explained the situation as I would need to request an expedite. They asked about my citizenship and residency, and after hearing I had nothing to do with their specific country, they told me that unfortunately they cannot accept my case for processing. They also said that if I received the visa from my Consulate, I could easily quarantine and then travel to the US.

As you can see, it’s a never ending cycle ...

Edited July 2, 2020 by JBF

[payxibka 10,044]

14 hours ago, tris&kris said:

Hi All,

 

Hoping for some expertise in this matter because the advice from the London Embassy seems bizarre. Recently, I had my request for an emergency K1 interview denied.  Won't go into the details but it was a reasonable request as there were medical and job related reasons. The reason for the denial was the travel restrictions between the US and UK.  I then pointed out that if that's the only reason why it's denied, they should still process it and my fiance could travel to another country for 14 days prior to entering the US.  They then replied that if he plans on doing that, he should have the case transferred to the embassy in the country he plans to quarantine in and receive the visa there.  They said make sure that embassy is able to process K1 visas and that it could take 8+ weeks to transfer.

 

Am I crazy or does this seem like bad advice?  Can you just transfer to a country you plan on traveling to but don't actually live in?  I thought you actually had to live there before transferring. It seems like you would waste 2+ months transferring with no guarantees the other embassy would follow through with the processing. Plus you would have to do whatever their Packet 3 requirements are which who knows how long it would take for that to be issues and gathered.

 

Overall, seems like bad advice to me but maybe I am missing something. 

Not only bad advice but completely wrong advice