NMHayek

11 hours ago, SETETA said:

Yes, it seems they are running on a skeleton staff and maybe they will return by end of September.

11 hours ago, Jody and Misho said:

Well, somebody needs to know what's going on, rather than giving the wrong information!

Regarding the date, its not a reopening date but that interviews are canceled till then, hopefully they will start to reschedule them after Sept 30 but they are not being transparent at all. So frustrating. My husbands medical exam expires in October so at this point looks like we will have to pay the money to redo it. 

I am hoping this date is correlating with the 3 step phased reopening that is outlined by the State Department but since they are not transparent we wont know till we know. 

I am very upset with all this as I am sure you all are too. As a US Citizen its ridiculous that I cannot get my husband his interview, he is not a criminal I should not have to beg for this. You could try emailing/calling the State Congressman/woman to raise awareness, I don't know if it will do much but hey doesn't cost anything to do it. 

Hello All, an update has been published on the Embassy Facebook and Website. Not exactly positive news but least there is some sort of communication I guess. Hope everyone is well. : https://eg.usembassy.gov/consular-services-update/

"The U.S. Embassy in Egypt has canceled all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments – including diversity visas – through September 30, 2020.   The Consular section may provide emergency and mission-critical visa services as resources and local conditions allow.  If you have emergency travel, please contact us through www.ustraveldocs.com and we will make a determination on your case. We continue to review safe operating procedures and are assessing when we may reopen on a regular basis.  We will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time. If you are a visa applicant for any of the visa categories included in recent Presidential Proclamations about coronavirus-related measures on immigration, travel, or U.S. employment visas, please be sure to review that information on the White House website. (http://www.whitehouse.gov)."

This is normal, I had the same thing happen and I was so confused. For us the embassy contacted us after they received the paperwork from the NVC. I think it took about 2-3 weeks... This was preCOVID (March). Unfortunately our interview was canceled because it was schedule for May 2020 and the embassy closed in April and we still siting waiting for them to reschedule....

Wait maybe 2 weeks or so and try emailing the embassy. They may say that it still with the NVC, just try again the following week. 

I have expedited appointment from the NVC and the Consulate has not  approved us for any emergency appointment, they said life or death only. Maybe now it will change with the embassy closure order being lifted. Who knows! Welcome to the Consular process! Just dont get ur hopes up too much, predict about 50/50 percent chance of anything going well and you should be able to keep your sanity  

PS this also depends on which consulate. 

The US Embassy in Egypt announced this:  "The U.S. Embassy in Egypt has canceled all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments – including diversity visas – through September 30, 2020."

Guess we have a date at least of possible resumption... See link for the announcement. 

https://eg.usembassy.gov/consular-services-update/

The US Embassy in Egypt announced this:  "The U.S. Embassy in Egypt has canceled all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments – including diversity visas – through September 30, 2020."

Guess we have a date at least of possible resumption... See link for the announcement. 

https://eg.usembassy.gov/consular-services-update/

5 hours ago, MariaR323 said:

$250 just to assist in obtaining tax transcripts is crazy! How many years worth of transcripts did you need?

 

The only problem I see is that you mention she won't do anything digitally... and right now with the COVID situation I doubt there is any tax pro offering in-person service. The virtual method would be something like this: She would have to provide her personal info including photo identification by submitting a copy via, for example, uploading to a secure client portal. The tax pro would then prepare the authorization form and send digitally to her for her signature. That signed form then gets sent back to the tax pro to start the process to obtain the transcripts.

 

As you can see, there's no way to avoid the digital process.

 

There is one option to avoid the digital process... I believe some IRS taxpayer assistance centers (TAC) are open now and she can call to get an appointment to go in person to one of their offices. At the office, she would obviously take photo identification, and they can print transcripts for her. I don't see any info in your profile so know what state your mom is in to check but here's the link to the webpage so you can check if a TAC is open near her: https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office

 

Hope this helps.

Ah yes good point about the digital... I think she is going to have to eventually do it like you said.

But good point on the IRS Tax Payer Assistance centers!! She lives in Illinois and I checked and they are not open yet but Ill look/keep an eye out. Do you have any idea if can she drive to another state if the offices are open there? I wonder if they will help people from a different state.  I just checked and it seems there are Indiana offices open, but nothing in IL. We will call and ask. 

 Thanks so much for the suggestion!

12 hours ago, MariaR323 said:

Any tax pro can obtain the tax transcripts for a client. The client just needs to sign an authorization form. With this COVID situation, not sure if IRS is still accepting the authorization forms live on the phone. If not, the tax pro just faxes it in and waits approx. 2 weeks before they can access the transcripts online.

 

As for a fee... It all depends on the tax pro and their fee structure but I would probably say it's in the range of +/- $50.

 

Thank you for the info! I definitely need to do a little more looking because we asked one accountant and he quoted us $250 to get them, which seemed really high. If you have any recommendation for a Tax Professional, please do share. 

Thank you so much!

4 minutes ago, ElenaAnthony said:

She can use tax returns +W2. She does not have to physically send the forms anywhere, just scan them. At the interview print the scanned document and bring it with you. 

4 minutes ago, ElenaAnthony said:

She can use tax returns +W2. She does not have to physically send the forms anywhere, just scan them. At the interview print the scanned document and bring it with you. 

Thank you for your response. I addressed this in the original post so these options are not possible for us. Thanks tho for your help

15 minutes ago, qwer123we said:

If you click the time 12:22 PM · Jul 11, 2020 it will link you to the post.

 

 

Thank you!

5 hours ago, Reconnecting Reco said:

The State Dept Twitter just tweeted a hour ago about embassies starting to reopen on the 15th. So far this is the first time any of us have heard any news on this

 

 

Thanks u! This looks like they will lift the State Department’s order to close the Embassies work wide. That is at least a big step forward 

This happened to us when we were approved for Expediting. Your case will now be transferred and the embassy will contact you. Wait two weeks and the email or call Them if u didn’t hear anything . It takes about that long for them to get the paperwork.... or at lest pre-COVID it did

1 hour ago, Robyn-n-Kris said:

We are looking at the site ehealthinsurance.com for the short term policies. My guess is they will be fine with quotes, as you can't start a policy without knowing a date of entry. I'm not expecting to actually have to buy one of the policies, as I hope to have secured a job before going back over. I just don't want to try and get in with my old employer until we have hubby's approval. 

Thank you! 

1 hour ago, SETETA said:

Here you go. This is from a person who asks about their K1 visa appt in August.  As you can see, it doesn't seem that there is any clear info. Have you contacted them lately?

 

 

Thanks! Ya that’s what I’m wondering. Obviously the writer is giving outdated info since the calendar is closed (at least last I looked)  I’m also wondering if you made a appointment for the CR1 visa on the system if it’s valid and if not why would they make it an option to schedule the CR1 visa. It’s a mystery 
 

No I haven’t sent them an email since June 1 Bc they said contact them in July. 

https://www.novacredit.com/resources/proof-of-domicile/

15 hours ago, SETETA said:

Hi Everyone. Has anyone gotten any news this past week? No idea when they will open it appears. Whoever answers the FB page comments mentioned that those August dates were not cancelled as they hope to be open by then. Then when asked about those that were cancelled instructed them to book new dates. As far as I can see, no dates open so I don't think this person is at all related to the Consular staff. Good news, night curfew ended today and int flights back open on July 1st. 

15 hours ago, SETETA said:

Hi Everyone. Has anyone gotten any news this past week? No idea when they will open it appears. Whoever answers the FB page comments mentioned that those August dates were not cancelled as they hope to be open by then. Then when asked about those that were cancelled instructed them to book new dates. As far as I can see, no dates open so I don't think this person is at all related to the Consular staff. Good news, night curfew ended today and int flights back open on July 1st. 

Nothing, not a word. Where did you see the post about August dates not being canceled and to book new dates? Can you post the link or better yet post screen shots with link? I would like to see it.

I have seen people asking the US Embassy in Cairo on their Facebook page when they are going to reopen and they answer the same to everyone. "All routine consular services remain suspended. That includes all visa interviews. We don't have any estimate as to when we will be able to resume services. When we are able to resume routine services, we will announce that on our website and social media."  Which is pretty generic and not much different than what people are receiving via email. I don't know how well we can rely on the fb page honestly, we dont know who is answering. Intern? Officer? Social Media Manager? I feel the same about the email. I wish there was somewhere we can get information we know we can rely on. 

What bothers me the most is not that the embassy is closed (because its not surprising that embassies are closed here given COVID numbers in Egypt) but that there is zero communication and zero transparency. Even just a Facebook post once in a while saying they are monitoring the situation and etc etc etc. Im in Egypt  so this lack of communication by my embassy is even more keenly felt. 

Congrats and WOW! We are STILL waiting here in Egypt for the embassy to reopen or make any announcements. Im glad things are starting to move at least somewhere! Congrats!

2 hours ago, SETETA said:

@NMHayek Yes, this is what the US embassy in Jamaica said yesterday. These categories are now mission critical and are not considered part of the routine visa services that are suspended. Good news!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Fingers Crossed!

1 hour ago, SETETA said:

DOS updated their website yesterday:

 

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

 

IR1/2s are mentioned in final paragraphs as mission critical.

 

It is a very new development. I doubt the embassies have had time to adjust yet. So patience, patience.

Yes! But they leave it loose by saying "may include...", they are so unclear. We just need the embassy to open and then we can see! Soon, let's hope

8 hours ago, Anna Hernandez said:

our interview has been cancelled 2 times

one for 04/29/2020 and the second interivew date was for 07/07/2020 and they called and cancelled that too.

We were told to wait for a call back or email w/ a new date.

In regards to the second interview date, did you make it on the Visa Portal website or did they actually give you a new date. 
 

When they canceled ours in April they just said we will call u back to reschedule, and then hung up the phone without opportunity to ask any questions. (I was questioning if it was a fake call until I saw other people with canceled interviews.)

I have one for scheduled for the end of August that I scheduled on their visa portal back in May. But let’s see, I have no expectations.

We did the medical Before they canceled our appointment, I’m sure we will have to redo it if this keeps going on. Doesn’t the visa expire the same time the medical expires? (Medical is good for 6 month) still not clear on that either. 
 

13 hours ago, SETETA said:

 

Check the FB live video for Us Embassy in Jamaica. The immigrant visa officer says that although worldwide routine visa services still have not resumed, they have been given new guidance from DOS that IR1/IR2 and CR1/CR2 are now considered mission critical. So they are scheduling interviews! Please let this be for all embassies..Fingers crossed!

 

https://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyJamaica/

That would be nice!. I know every embassy has its own criteria and are independent from the others, but let’s hope this will be an example. First  Egypt has to open up borders and reduce COVID numbers. They are pretty confident about August 1 for opening borders and airports.  

8 hours ago, Anna Hernandez said:

Mine took about 5 months to get the interview date.  But since Covid-19 we have had our interview date cancelled 2 times.

Same 

20 minutes ago, SETETA said:

Yesterday, and it was end of July. Wish I had better news for us all.

After my appointment was canceled back in April, I made an appointment on the embassy visa website (where you do the confirmation for Armax delivery etc)for August 25th. I just went on the website now to confirm some information and out of curiosity I looked at the calendar (had to click reschedule) and the calendar is now closed with no options. 

38 minutes ago, os306 said:

 

One thing to bear in mind is that a tax professional would need to have Power of Attorney (using form 2848) before being authorized to access a client's tax transcripts using IRS e-Services/

 

 

It also seems to vary depending on Embassy and Consular Officer. For example, pre-COVID, for people going through DCF (who are required to bring their supporting documents with them to their interview rather than submit them to NVC beforehand) the US Embassy in London was specifically asking for tax transcripts rather than returns. This is despite the fact that the I-864 instructions state that a return is also acceptable. However, in the current climate, I find it hard to believe that they would still be insistent on tax transcripts when there are not being mailed out.

Ok on the power of attorney, good to know. I wonder if this form is even being processed now in the IRS due to it's closure/limited staff. 

Hopefully there will be some level of understanding in this situation. US Embassy in Egypt isnt even open so if the IRS opens before they open, my mom will order transcripts by mail.

I am actually surprised the IRS is not open yet. I thought things were supposed to start opening early June. Im not in the USA so I don't fully understand what the situation is. 

Thanks for your help!

Just now, Punisher said:

The instructions are very clear on what documents need to be presented.

 

I think I read it on IRS website that around 30% can not open online account because they will not pass verification process.

 

the other option of getting tax transcripts is throgh tax proffesionals as they have their own accounts set up with IRS and could pull the files for you. Of course it will cost you.

Ya we already got a quote: $250 dollars. Wow so expensive. 

We will use the Tax Returns will all W2 etc as stated on the instructions for Aff of Support. If the IRS opens before the interview, we will order them. Our lawyer is the one who said it had to be tax transcripts, but I see now that Tax Returns with evidence is acceptable. 

Thanks for your help!

For anyones reference, this is from the instructions of the I-864 Affidavit of Support Form:

"Item Numbers 23.a. - 25. Federal Income Tax Return Information. You must provide either an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) transcript or a photocopy from your own records of your Federal individual income tax return for the most recent tax year. If you believe additional returns may help you to establish your ability to maintain sufficient income, you may submit transcripts or photocopies of your Federal individual income tax returns for the three most recent years.

You are not required to have the IRS certify the transcript or photocopy unless specifically instructed to do so by a Government official; a plain transcript or photocopy is acceptable.

Do not submit copies of your state income tax returns. Do not submit any tax returns that you filed with any foreign government unless you claim that you were not required to file a Federal individual income tax return with the United States Government and you wish to rely on the foreign return solely to establish the amount of your income that is not subject to tax in the United States.

If you provide a photocopy of your Federal individual income tax returns, you must include a copy of each and every Form W-2 and Form 1099 that relates to your returns. Do not include copies of these forms if you provide an IRS transcript of your Federal individual income tax returns rather than a photocopy unless you filed a joint income tax return with your spouse and are qualifying using only your income.

If you selected Part 6., Item Number 2. that you are self-employed, you should have completed one of the following forms with your Federal income tax return: Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business), Schedule D (Capital Gains), Schedule E (Supplemental Income or Loss), or Schedule F (Profit or Loss from Farming). You must include each and every Form 1040 Schedule, if any, that you filed with your Federal income tax return"

7 hours ago, SETETA said:

Has anyone tried to contact the embassy since the July cancellations went through? Last thing I was told was that I should contact again at the end of July.

7 hours ago, SETETA said:

Has anyone tried to contact the embassy since the July cancellations went through? Last thing I was told was that I should contact again at the end of July.

What date did you receive the response about contacting them at the end of July? I was told on June 1st to contact them in July. But looks like that will be pointless if they are canceling interviews for July.