US Immigration from Singapore

I took time this weekend to pull together stats at several popular US Consulates for IR1, CR1, K1 (and in one case IR5) Visas. The data is revealing:

Philippines (Manila) [K1 Visas Struggle, IR1 Visas Recovering]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764181-philippines-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

China (Guangzhou) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Way Up]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764273-china-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

United Kingdom (London) [K1 Visas Slow to Ramp Up, IR1 Visas Recovering]

I took time this weekend to pull together stats at several popular US Consulates for IR1, CR1, K1 (and in one case IR5) Visas. The data is revealing:

Philippines (Manila) [K1 Visas Struggle, IR1 Visas Recovering]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764181-philippines-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

China (Guangzhou) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Way Up]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764273-china-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

United Kingdom (London) [K1 Visas Slow to Ramp Up, IR1 Visas Recovering]

We've had tons of questions on whether the Montreal US Consulate in Canada has been approving marriage based US Visas (and if so at what rate). To answer that, we dug into the official US State Department data and plotted visa approvals for K1, CR1 and IR1 visas over the last 2 years. Here is what we found:

• K1 Visa processing is down. In fact it's down by more than 2x from pre-Covid levels (~100 a month pre-Covid to ~40 month now). There is likely to be a significant backlog after the Consulate stopped processing K1s for 6 months.
• IR1 Visa processing is WAY up. In fact it's up by 4x pre-Covid levels. It appears the Consulate is trying to clear the IR1 backlog, at the expense of not processing K1s.
• CR1 Visa processing (couples married less than 2 years) is roughly 2x higher than pre-Covid (~50 a month pre-Covid to more than ~100 a month now). Could folks be preferring the CR-1 route over a K1 visa? Could this simply be similar to the IR1 surge to clear the backlog (again, at the expense of K1 Visas).

What do you think of the data (below)? Do you think the US consulate in Montreal is artificially slowing don K1 Visa processing to prioritize other work or for other reasons?

After a rough year of Covid, several busy US Consulates are struggling to restore processing of important family Visas (K1, C/IR1 and IR5s). VisaJourney did a deep dive into the numbers and the results are surprising (and frustrating).

Philippines (Manila) [K1 Visas Struggle, IR1 Visas Recovering]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764181-philippines-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

China (Guangzhou) [K1 Visas Down, IR1 Visas Way Up]

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/764273-china-us-marriage-visa-approvals-by-month-k1-visas-way-down-cr1-visas-up/

United Kingdom (London) [K1 Visas Slow to Ramp Up, IR1 Visas Recovering]

We've had tons of questions on whether the London US Consulate in the United Kingdom has been approving marriage based US Visas (and if so at what rate). To answer that, we dug into the official US State Department data and plotted visa approvals for K1, CR1 and IR1 visas over the last 2 years. Here is what we found:

• K1 Visa processing is WAY down. In fact it's down by more than 3x from pre-Covid levels (~40 a month pre-Covid to ~120 a month now). There is likely to be a significant backlog after not approving cases for 9 months! Clearing the backlog could take 18 months at this rate.
• IR1 Visa processing is back to pre-Covid rates. Maybe slightly ahead. There is likely a backlog that will take several months to clear given the slow down last year.
• CR1 Visa processing (couples married less than 2 years) is mirroring IR1 Visa trends.

What do you think of the data (below)? Do you think the US consulate in London is artificially slowing don K1 Visa processing for other reasons? It certainly makes no sense that IR-1's can be back to (roughy) normal but not K1s. Both are family based... Perhaps resources are being applied elsewhere despite US policy to prioritize reunification of families. VisaJourney supports shining a bright light on this. How can we help?