Transferring interview embassy

[AEMG23 4]

This question is to get information about our CR-1.  

We had our DQ on 11/14/25 and our embassy is in Cairo.  I understand that it takes about a year or more to get an interview date there.  I saw on Reddit that someone transferred their place of interview from Cairo to another country (I believe it was Oman, another one in Rhiyad).  She did not mention about them or the beneficiary actually moving to the new country.  

My question is…. I’m originally from the Philippines and I wonder if we can transfer my husband’s interview from Cairo to Manila?  I still have a house there and my work here in the US allows me to be able to stay in the Philippines with my husband for an extended period of time, if needed.  Will this be a good idea?  Or will it actually do harm with our application?  Also, I checked the travel.state.gov website for DQ priority date for interview in Manila, there is no date?  Does it it mean that it’s current?

Thank you for the reply in advance!

[TBoneTX 48,551]

Thread is shifted from the CR-1 Case Progress subforum to the CR-1 Process forum.

[Boiler 48,261]

Manilla is not quick, I assume if he got residency they would interview him

[JD2 212]

5 hours ago, AEMG23 said:

Or will it actually do harm with our application?

I don't know much about transferring cases.  According to this  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/iv-wait-times.html. Cairo is scheduling DQ Nov. 2024.  Meanwhile, it says Manila is on Aug. 2025. But, that is contrary to everything I've heard about Manila which is notoriously one of the slowest.

[appleblossom 5,391]

5 hours ago, AEMG23 said:

This question is to get information about our CR-1.  

We had our DQ on 11/14/25 and our embassy is in Cairo.  I understand that it takes about a year or more to get an interview date there.  I saw on Reddit that someone transferred their place of interview from Cairo to another country (I believe it was Oman, another one in Rhiyad).  She did not mention about them or the beneficiary actually moving to the new country.  

My question is…. I’m originally from the Philippines and I wonder if we can transfer my husband’s interview from Cairo to Manila?  I still have a house there and my work here in the US allows me to be able to stay in the Philippines with my husband for an extended period of time, if needed.  Will this be a good idea?  Or will it actually do harm with our application?  Also, I checked the travel.state.gov website for DQ priority date for interview in Manila, there is no date?  Does it it mean that it’s current?

Thank you for the reply in advance!

 

Manila will be much quicker than Cairo (not sure why you couldn't see a date, but as said above, it's showing August 2025 for immediate relatives), but your citizenship isn't relevant, only your husbands. He would either need to be a Filipino or have residency in the Philippines to interview there, just visiting wouldn't make him eligible. 

[pushbrk 14,112]

You can only interview in your country of citizenship or in a country where you are authorized to officially reside.  There is no "embassy shopping".

[spicynujac 100]

The main problem I see is that your spouse, who is *not* Filipino, probably needs to complete the process of becoming a legal resident of the Philippines *before* you request this change.  I don't know how long that would take.  If you thought of this earlier, I would say it's a great idea, tho it still might be a good one now.  

 

As far as Manila turn times, I did a LOT of research on this a couple of years ago and there was no significant shorter time in the dozen or two countries I compared it to.  So I don't think Manila is significantly slower than anywhere else (and much faster than a few countries), though things change.  You can search the visajourney data to confirm.  I think Manila is one of, if not the highest volume, embassy for issuing marriage visas and once our waiting for USCIS processing was done, the embassy itself took care of things promptly within a few months.

 

But you want to be sure this is your final decision and your spouse will stay there until processing is done.  Changing countries again will only result in long delays, and could raise questions.

[pushbrk 14,112]

5 minutes ago, spicynujac said:

The main problem I see is that your spouse, who is *not* Filipino, probably needs to complete the process of becoming a legal resident of the Philippines *before* you request this change.  I don't know how long that would take.  If you thought of this earlier, I would say it's a great idea, tho it still might be a good one now.  

 

As far as Manila turn times, I did a LOT of research on this a couple of years ago and there was no significant shorter time in the dozen or two countries I compared it to.  So I don't think Manila is significantly slower than anywhere else (and much faster than a few countries), though things change.  You can search the visajourney data to confirm.  I think Manila is one of, if not the highest volume, embassy for issuing marriage visas and once our waiting for USCIS processing was done, the embassy itself took care of things promptly within a few months.

 

But you want to be sure this is your final decision and your spouse will stay there until processing is done.  Changing countries again will only result in long delays, and could raise questions.

She cannot even get in the queue for a Manila interview until the Immigrant visa unit there accepts the case.  Becoming a permenent resident of the Philippines is not easy or fast.  She may not even have a path to do so.  The same would be true for pretty much any country.