goldhex

7 minutes ago, In4theJourney said:

You got something official stating that? By something official, I mean the US government, not a immigration attorney. Who is misleading who now ? 

5 hours ago, goldhex said:

A positive update on the US Embassy London website 

https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

 

1 hour ago, goldhex said:

Routine visa processing isn't suspended due to an EO, it's due to the embassy being closed. 

 

From the US Embassy Website:

 

Is the U.S. Embassy in London closed/Has my visa interview appointment be cancelled?

In response to significant worldwide challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State has temporarily suspended routine visa services at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates.

18 minutes ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

Right they are significantly restricted in what they can process while routine services are suspended. 
 

The visas they stated in the email are defined as emergency or mission critical by the PP which is why they are able to be processed.
 

There are plenty of other types of visas, along with K1, that are also deemed as routine and are not being processed. 

This x1000.

IMO this thread should be locked as I think all that needs to be said about this has been said. All that will happen now is the potential for misinformation to spread from posts like the 2nd one above. 

Also, if a mod wants to change my title of the thread to "K1 Visa Issuance Not Affected by EO after all?" that would be useful I think  

31 minutes ago, sl1pstream said:

I mean, sort of? It kind of says that they're not processing because of the suspension order, not because of any local conditions. They're not allowed to process other visa, no matter what the local conditions are like.

Not how I interpreted it at all. Routine visa processing isn't suspended due to an EO, it's due to the embassy being closed. 

From the US Embassy Website:

Is the U.S. Embassy in London closed/Has my visa interview appointment be cancelled?

In response to significant worldwide challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State has temporarily suspended routine visa services at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates.

15 minutes ago, remotercharm said:

How is it positive?  Because they don't mention the PP?

Exactly, it's means that at the moment we're only relying on the impact of a global pandemic lessening rather than the whims of a certain politician (I know which one I'd rather rely on! Ha )

A positive update on the US Embassy London website for K1s

https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

A positive update on the US Embassy London website for K1s

https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

A positive update on the US Embassy London website 

https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

20 minutes ago, HRQX said:

The April 22 proclamation only applied to certain Immigrant Visas, so K-1 wasn't affected by that proclamation.

 

The "Implementation and Enforcement" section of Schengen Area, UK, Ireland, Iran, China, and Brazil PPs said: "The Secretary of State shall implement this proclamation as it applies to visas pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish.  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall implement this proclamation as it applies to the entry of aliens pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may establish." That affected both visa issuance and entry. Thus, that affected K-1 issuance in those countries as the vast majority of applicants don't meet the narrow exceptions.

If this is the case, it's incredibly frustrating that it hasn't been clearly communicated by the Embassy/DoS

38 minutes ago, Bear_and_Bunny said:

Thank you and sorry you've had cancellations.  I hope you get yours booked and attended soon. 

Thank you, its all good! I'm slowly learning to just accept everything and go with the flow  good luck to you also.

49 minutes ago, Rebecca95 said:

I'm honestly just worried about waiting too long and the whole thing becoming invalid, but am I right in saying all I'd need to take is a letter of intent to marry (still) to prove we want to go ahead with the process? (I'm sorry if this comment isn't very fitting for this thread)

10 minutes ago, Ah96 said:

As for your last question I believe London embassy renews your petition at the window during the interview and all you need to take is a new up to date letter on intent. (someone correct me if i'm wrong) 

Correct - please see 'Petition Affirmation Letter' here - https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/fiancee-2/required-documents/

4 hours ago, Bear_and_Bunny said:

Thank you.  Will take a look.  I am doing the IR1 visa. 

For reference, I've had 3 cancelled appointments and each time I've received 2 weeks notice.

13 minutes ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

Ugh yes agreed. It has been beyond frustrating trying to decipher what is actually going on with the K visas. No clear answers anywhere and just when you think you’ve figured it out, another wrench is thrown at you. 
 

We’re attempting to schedule the medical for July, since the website said it was still taking appointments so 🤞🏻We can at least get that done. We scheduled an interview for August 7th but I’m not going to hold my breath that it won’t get cancelled although 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Even more thats not the case. 

Absolutely, the communication has been shocking to be honest.

Good luck with the medical, for me it went great, absolutely nothing to worry about as long as you have all your documents in order. I was in and out in less than an hour. Be sure to post over on the United Kingdom forum afterwards with how it went.

2 hours ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

I’ve been following this and some other topics and I feel like that’s not what this email is saying. In my opinion, this is saying that they are ONLY processing the visas that are considered mission critical or emergency under the EO and K1 processing will resume when routine processing resumes because it is not considered emergency or mission critical. 
 

Also, unrelated to that but not really, my fiancé was able to schedule an interview for August 7th yesterday. 

From whats been said in this thread and elsewhere, it appears you're correct. I wish they would've worded that email better though and made it abundantly clear, too much recently has relied on reading between the lines and inflection. 

With regards to the medical and interviews, I had my medical March 20th, and have subsequently had 3 cancelled interviews with another one scheduled for August 4th.

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

One lone outlier visa processed during the whole month of May is not significant enough to draw such a conclusion.

Why not? Surely a ban is a ban, no? There should be no outliers in a situation like this.

1 hour ago, MattyUKtoUS said:

Looking at May 2020 - the UK embassy processed the following NIV visa types. ( It does not look at though any K1's were processed in the UK ) See pic. 

 

Take a look at the stats to gauge what your country was processing last month: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyNIVIssuances/MAY 2020 - NIV Issuances by Post and Visa Class.pdf

 

 

 

Massive thanks for this mate.

So London didn't process any K1s, but 22 embassies did. 

Interestingly, 1 of those 22 embassies is Vienna (Austria) which is in the Schengen area. In my opinion, this debunks the theory that the *travel* restrictions impact K1 issuance/processing.

6 minutes ago, SETETA said:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/Proclamation-Suspending-Entry-of-Immigrants-Who-Present-Risk-to-the-US-labor-market.html  

 

 

Ah thank you for that. That would make more sense.

Tagging for visibility @Ah96 @tris&kris @remotercharm

1 hour ago, Ah96 said:

Yep same here, although I went back on the appointment booking system about an hour ago and a date for july 6th and 13th were available to book ! Mega head spin.

Yeah few dates for July showing now.. What is happening today lol

1 hour ago, tris&kris said:

@goldhex was your new interview appointment in August cancelled when they sent out that confusing email?

No it wasn't which I find strange. Seems that those like @Ah96 who rescheduled for the end of July were cancelled immediately, but July wasn't.

28 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

 

Good that somebody from the Dept of State clarified. I never thought K1 visas were going to be included as exceptions when the presidential proclamation was issued, even though the VJ discussions seemed to think so.

If you look at the thread I created on the K1 board, an Australian lady was recently approved for a K1.

21 minutes ago, Ah96 said:

After calling the IV unit twice today both times was like speaking to a robot reading a script. Every question being referred to the embassy website which then was referring me to call them for answers ! Can't win 🤣

Ha! I appreciate you taking one for the team  I tried emailing them a month back and had a similar experience

8 minutes ago, payxibka said:

The IV unit interviews k1s and the NIV unit issues the visas worldwide

Gotcha, thanks. The perplexity persists..

7 minutes ago, arae said:

I think we would all appreciate some overall clarity on the status of K1s and the EO. It's obvious the embassies did not receive uniform guidance or any guidance at all since London is saying K1 is impacted, Sweden says K1s are not impacted, and Australia has moved forward with issuing a K1.

 

Amen. Do we know if the Immigrant Visa unit handles K1s in Australia/Everywhere but London? I'm wondering if thats perhaps the difference here?

Just now, James120383 said:

she has an emergency appointment not regular 

Yeah I understand that... It was more the fact that someone was actually approved recently, which seems to go against the email I and many other received today.

57 minutes ago, arae said:

Definitely perplexing. We've seen embassies give very inconsistent guidance on K1s - some have said K1s are impacted by the EO, and other have said K1s are not impacted.

 

Anecdotally, we have seen a recent K1 approval and visa issuance out of Australia (though this was for an expedited case). I have to imagine, expedited or not, they wouldn't move forward with issuing the visa for a K1 if the applicant would only be denied entry under the EO.

Perplexing is certainly the word I'd use...

Do you have a link to where you saw about the Australian K1 approval?

EDIT: Found it, for those curious its this user https://www.visajourney.com/profile/325129-cilllah/ 

17 minutes ago, remotercharm said:

 

I was pretty suspicious this would be the case considering they mention the presidential proclamation under "Will my immigrant or fiancé(e) visa case expire?/Can I continue with the application process?"

https://uk.usembassy.gov/information-for-nonimmigrant-visa-applicants-following-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

I've created a separate thread for it over on the K1 board, lets see what the wider community thinks:

Those of us that had K1 visa appointments scheduled for July at the US Embassy in London have received cancellation notices today. In addition to this, the below email has also been received:

The text of this email suggests that as K1 visas are issued by the Immigrant Visa unit they are unable to process them at this time. Has anyone being processed by other embassies received similar correspondence?