We've had tons of questions on whether the Santo Domingo US Consulate in the Dominican Republic 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 by 33% or more from pre-Covid levels, with an 8-10 month backlog of cases.
IR1 Visa processing is back to pre-Covid rates. It appears the consulate focused here to reduce backlogs.
CR1 Visa processing (couples married less than 2 years) is down by 70% from pre-Covid levels, with a 3-4 month backlog of cases. the priority appears to either be IR-1 Visas or simply the fact that the huge processing delay is moving more couples past the 2 years mark from the time they were married to the approved visa. Not good, either way.
What do you think of the data (below)? Do you think the US consulate in Santo Domingo is artificially slowing don K1 Visa processing to prioritize other work or for other reasons?
