Jason and May

That's accurate. It seems last Friday, July 5th, CR/IR DQs up through August 22, 2023, received interview letters. I was just coming here to complain because my wife's DQ date is 08/24/23, and USEM has been issuing ILs for August DQs at a painstakingly (ridiculously) slow rate over the course of 3 months (June was skipped altogether, with no ILs sent out at all). I'm typically not optimistic in this process, but I do think based on historical IL issuance trends, next Friday another round of ILs should go out, covering at least the remainder of August. Hopefully, anyway. Anything is possible. Including another 5 months of radio silence. So, we'll see.

Hey, hey! How about USEM, eh? Milking August 2023 DQs for 3 months now. Tease a few more letters out but not quite all of August. The Department of State's dedication to making this process as lengthy as possible is incredibly impressive. Infuriating when you're in the process. But impressive, nonetheless.

The announcement is on their webpage; though, there is lots of speculation as to why the increase. Everyone, it seems, is hoping for a new X-ray machine, but no one seems to be holding their breath, except for all the people who are now talking about rushing for advanced medical to try to avoid the increase. 😕

I don't know, man. I don't think any of us will make any guesses, educated or otherwise, that are the answer. What I do see, though, is a massive disparity between immigrant and nonimmigrant issuance numbers. In 2023, USEM issued 249, 644 nonimmigrant visas compared to 173,371 issued in 2022, and also compared to the 30,491 immigrant visas issued in 2023. Nonimmigrant visas issuances went up 44% from 2022. Immigrant visa issuances also went up 43.14%. But, then, nonimmigrant visas have always been a priority, despite the Department of State's words of: "The guiding principle on which we have based immigrant visa prioritization is that family reunification is a clear priority of the U.S. Government’s immigration policy, a priority is expressed in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Specifically, the Department’s prioritization relied on clear direction from Congress that the Department must adopt a policy of prioritizing immediate relative visa applicants and K-1 fiancées of U.S. citizens, followed by family preference immigrant visa applicants." It's difficult to see prioritization here. It's also difficult to believe in any backlog talk. If there is a backlog, then USEM probably shouldn't be back to cranking out the same number of immigrant visas they always have but pumping out 12,000 and 14,000 tourist visas monthly.

Question regarding documents for interview, specifically CENOMAR and PSA Advisory on Marriage. The PHILS USEM pre-interview checklist is a bit confusing. It states, in part, “if you are single” to bring a CENOMAR, but then also says the CENOMAR is needed for CR1/IR1 interviews. It also says “if you are married” to bring an advisory on marriage. It appears a CENOMAR will detail past marriages and annulments, but the PSA help page says if you are married and request a CENOMAR, PSA will send you an advisory on marriage. What are the actual documents needed? TIA

We received the email today notifying us of the NVC case creation. I've been trying off and on over the course of the day to check the case status and see if we can set up the CEAC account and pay the bills. I continually get an error notice stating the server dropped the connection. In checking the VJ forums, it looks like this is a pretty routine issue, or at least CEAC being down/not working properly has been an ongoing and routine issue? I've attached a screenshot of the error message. (I get the same message via Safari and Chrome.) I'm using the URL https://ceac.state.gov/iv.

Hi all, I just have a question I thought I'd see if someone might have had experience with and can answer. My wife and I are in the process of her CR1 visa. She is from the Philippines and is residing there currently, while we await her visa. She was an overseas filipino worker, and she lived and worked in several countries over the years. So, we have started the process of gathering her PCCs so we are prepared when she ultimately gets to her interview. The one PCC we've run into some issues with is Qatar. We checked with the Qatar embassy in Manila, and we received from them instructions on how to apply for her PCC from Qatar. Qatar, however, requires as part of the application process a sundry fingerprint card. When my wife went to the Manila DFA to obtain her fingerprint card, she was told by staff she has to get an "endorsement letter" from the US Embassy in order to get her fingerprint card. OR wait for her "NVC" because her "visa hasn't been approved yet." The NVC thing doesn't make sense to me. I believe what they meant was she has her NOA 1--and she took that with her to the DFA--but her case is still processing and has not yet been transferred to the National Visa Center...? I've googled the endorsement letter issue. I've tried to reach the Philippine embassy in Chicago to ask about it and was unable to get an answer. If you've had any experience with this, could you please share with me how she should go about obtaining the endorsement letter from the US embassy or what the Manila DFA staff meant by her "NVC?" Thanks, all. Warmly, Jason