tris&kris

15 hours ago, dpnce said:

Hey there! 

 

I have been putting this off and I am sorry for that! I received my letter for BIO appointment about 3 weeks ago (Feb. 27) and it is scheduled for next week, March 17th. A little update of my timeline: 

 

Package sent: 09/15/2020 (I-944 included)

Package received by USCIS: 09/16/2020
Check cashed: 09/30/2020
Text notifications: 10/01/2020
NOA1 received: 10/05/2020 

Biometrics appointment: 03/17/2021
 

I am looking forward to receiving further updates. Good luck everyone!

(PS: If there's anyone in the Miami region, please let me know! It would be great to discuss/share this experience together. Just a thought!)

Quick question, do you just get the mail notice for the biometrics appointment? Or does your case status also update online to let you know it’s been scheduled?

4 hours ago, Joser4415 said:

Yeah, unfortunately... I did a little bit more digging regarding wait times at the TAMPA FO and it looks like they are extremely backed up. Wait times in the 8-9 months just to get your BIO!!

 

How did you manage to find wait times for a specific ASC? I’ve been looking for biometric wait times for Charlotte NC without any luck

@pooj97 Great job getting involved. Ask the involved Senator’s office to contact State Department leadership in DC and their Congressional Liaison Office to convey the concern that K1s should be mission critical and exempt from travel restrictions. Keep at it!

Interesting 🧐. At least they are saying routine visa services will resume. The “phased” part makes me thinks they’ll probably try to do the students first since they literally have like 1 month to get them out before school starts. Hopefully we’re somewhere on the agenda

There’s going to be drama with any Facebook group. Take what you want from it, if anything, and stay engaged in whatever way suits you best

Great job!

Consider joining the Couples Separated By Travel Bans FB group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/314772869924351/?ref=share

They are very active with online activism. I recently signed up for Twitter so I could tweet with them. Inclusive community who are actually getting a lot of political leaders to respond to them (so far just EU not US politicians). Let’s keep at it!

2 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

Add to that that USCIS is about to furlough 13000 workers and since embassies are not open to interview ,  i would suspect the CO's who interview and process AP's for security checks (in countries other than the USA) would be the 1st to go.  If so,  a skeleton staff of only the most important people are left (the ones paid under the budget of the Federal embassy  and  not paid by  USCIS fees). So, who's going to reinterview those already stuck with a visa? and who's going to interview  the new cases?  

 

Embassies are not part of USCIS. Funding is separate 

12 minutes ago, Jody and Misho said:

I agree!

Great job! Don’t forget to ask your rep to contact the State Department Congressional Liaison and relay your concerns that 1) K1 visas should be mission critical 2) K1 holders should be exempt from travel bans  

@Aly123

Great job! 
 

Don’t be discouraged if you hit a brick wall with the embassy. Encourage your senator to reach out to Department of State and Department of Homeland Security about providing exceptions for the travel ban and deeming K1s mission critical. 

5 minutes ago, Sarahbmalvin said:

It literally says on their website in the section about K1 to do the 14 day quarantine in order to travel with one. This is so weird. I wonder if they were told this via email or phone. The people answering the phones are just switchboard operators and I feel like have given a few people false info.  

It was by email by the Chief of the “Consular Information Unit.” Scary that they are so uninformed of the consequences of their advice

@NanRob

Dont be too discouraged that is a pretty typical initial response. Great job taking the time to get involved and fight back!

Most reps initial reaction will be to contact the embassy and forward the response because it’s easy and quick. Thank them for their efforts but state you would like them to forward your concerns about K1 fiancé visas not being mission critical or exempt from travel bans to leadership at the State Department and Department of Homeland Security. This takes a little more effort on their part so don’t be afraid to follow-up or ask for a confirmation email once it has been done.

keep up the great work!

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. 

Attention Non-US Citizen Fiances 

You can email your elected officials too!  Encourage them to contact the diplomatic leadership in your home country who negotiates with the State Department. 

For example, several UK Citizens have recently contacted their MPs and asked them to write to Dominic Raab (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) about their concerns regarding K1 visas and the US-UK travel restrictions.  They have received prompt and personalized responses from their MPs. If Mr. Raab is aware of the issue, he is more likely to bring it up during his negotiations with the US State Department when negotiating future travel between our countries. 

Template for American Citizens to Send to Their Senators and House Representatives

(Use Links on Page 1 of this thread to find your Senators/Reps)

Dear {INSERT REPRESENTATIVE NAME},

I am writing to you today about an issue personal to me that I would like forwarded to the State Department Congressional Liaison.  

I am one of your constituents living in {CITY/STATE}. I have been separated from my fiancé {FIANCE NAME} of {FIANCE COUNTRY} due to delays at the Department of State in processing K1 visas.  {INSERT TWO-THREE SENTENCES ABOUT HOW YOU MET YOUR FIANCE, OCCUPATIONS, MEMORABLE DETAILS}.

My fiancé is awaiting a K1 visa, which is a non-immigrant visa awarded to fiancés of US Citizens and is not affected by the recent Presidential Proclamation 10014.  It is, however, affected by the various coronavirus travel bans to the United States and by the suspension of routine visas services by the State Department.  Recently, the State Department has deemed spousal visas “mission critical” for processing and spouses are exempt from the coronavirus travel bans to the United States.  However, K1 visas have been overlooked and have not been given the same treatment even though they serve a similar purpose to spousal IR1/CR1 visas.

I strongly believe the State Department should designate fiancé visas “mission critical” as they have for IR1/CR1 spousal visas.  I also believe a valid K1 holder should be considered an immediate family member for the purposes of the various travel restrictions related to coronavirus.  These K1 visas are often forgotten due to the small program size; however, these visas are critically important to Americans and their future partners. The United States has a national interest in reuniting American citizens with their loved ones who serve as their support systems, especially during a pandemic.  

I would greatly appreciate a letter of confirmation.

Sincerely,

{INSERT NAME}

@MaxKM No harm in contacting your representative early about your concerns that K1s are not currently mission critical.

@SETETA I will post a template you can send your rep by the end of the day. Currently at work. If you’re wanting to do it sooner, you could modify the friends/family template I posted above.

TEMPLATE TO SEND TO FRIENDS/FAMILY/SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACTS OF THE US CITIZEN 

Send this to any and all friends and family of the US Citizen for them to quickly send to their Congressional Representatives for maximum impact.  The more the State Department Congressional Liaison hears about K1s, the more likely they are to be brought up to Pompeo.  Use the links on the first page to look up their representatives for them or include the links in your request so it is easier for them. 

Dear {INSERT REPRESENTATIVE NAME},

I am writing to you today about an issue personal to me that I would like forwarded to the State Department Congressional Liaison.  

I am one of your constituents living in {CITY/STATE}. My {INSERT RELATION} {INSERT NAME OF US CITIZEN} has been separated from their fiancé {FIANCE NAME} of {FIANCE COUNTRY}.  Their fiancé is awaiting a K1 visa, which is a non-immigrant visa awarded to fiancés of US Citizens and is not affected by the recent Presidential Proclamation 10014.  It is, however, affected by the various coronavirus travel bans to the United States and by the suspension of routine visas services by the State Department.  Recently, the State Department has deemed spousal visas mission critical and spouses are exempt from the coronavirus travel bans to the United States. 

I strongly believe the State Department should designate fiancé visas “mission critical” as they have for IR1/CR1 spousal visas.  I also believe a valid K1 holder should be considered an immediate family member for the purposes of the various travel restrictions related to coronavirus.  These K1 visas are often overlooked due to the small program size but serve a similar purpose to spousal visas and should be treated as such.   The United States has a national interest in reuniting American citizens with their loved ones who serve as their support systems, especially during a pandemic.  

I would greatly appreciate a letter of confirmation.

Sincerely,

{INSERT NAME}

I am sorry I know this is very frustrating. I am not sure if it will make a difference unless he knows someone in the State Department who is able to assist. 

5 minutes ago, LibbyG99 said:

Ok! I wrote to my Senators and Representative and got the following response (which was great of them to actually respond!): 

 

"Thanks so much for reaching out to Senator Whitehouse regarding your questions about K1 visas in light of the Administration’s recent proclamation.  Are you in need of case-specific information on the pending application?  If so, please include the beneficiary’s name and the assigned case number.  I can then use such to reach out to the Embassy/State Department on your behalf.

In addition, we can also reach out to the State Department for guidance on interpretation."

I don't need specific information on my case- I'm awaiting my NOA2 now, so what should I ask them to ask of the State Dept? Any suggestions? Our embassy (Addis Ababa) is still closed so I can't even find out from them if they're planning on still processing k-1s in light of the new proclamation.

Thanks!

Libby

 

Great job!!

Talking points could include:

Yes please contact the State Department Congressional on my behalf and relay my concerns that.

1) Some Embassies do not seem to be aware that K1 visas are not affected by the recent EO focused on the labor market. Please ask them to publish guidance to the Embassies that K1s are not affected.

2) Please ask the State Department to consider K1 as mission critical visas along with spouse visas as they serve the same purpose

3) Please ask the State Department to exempt K1 visas from travel restrictions as they negotiate the easing of travel bans with the EU and other countries 

Just some talking points and you are welcome to say however much or little you would like!

Please stay on topic guys. There are plenty of threads to debate the applicability of EOs to various visas including K1!

Very proud of all the activism going on! Keep posting your results and any new ideas you have on who and how to contact those those in charge!

5 minutes ago, Fabercham said:

Can you explain the difference to a dumb brit? I know we have done both senators and the one congresswoman I found, I guess she’s the same as yours? 

US Congress has 2 parts the House and the Senate. There are 2 Senators for every state. You also have 1 House Representative based on the district within the state that you live in. 
 

So yes, contacting 2 Senators and 1 House Representative would mean you’ve contacted all of the members of Congress that specifically represent where you live.

State Department is part of the Executive Branch (White House) so you would need to contact them separately (seem to be most accessible of FB/Twitter).

3 minutes ago, EricLT said:

Does everyone contact both your house and senate? Trying to figure out who to contact. 

I’ve contacted both but gotten more traction with my House Rep. I’d try them all. Can send the same letter to each and just change name at top.