CarenT

The consul lady said she could not grant me the visa because I was ineligible until my ban was lifted. Then, she gave me an A4 paper that had text in Portuguese with some information, including: "The immigrant visa for this applicant has been refused under the section(s) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) indicated below: 9B1 (§212(a)(9)(B)(I)) - The applicant was unlawfully present in the U.S. for a period between 181 and 365 days. This three-year ineligibility will expire after: (the date that she wrote in ink)" And then: "For the violation(s) mentioned above, the Immigration and Nationality Act may provide the following waiver, depending on the applicant’s visa category: I-601 Waiver – (9B1 circle between the other options) - eligibility for a waiver is determined by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For more information, visit: uscis.com"

My IR1 visa was denied two weeks ago during my interview at the consulate in Rio. The reason: I’m ineligible due to overstaying my tourist visa for more than 180 days, which means I’m currently under a 3 year ban. The ban ends in March 2026. If you’re wondering why my husband and I applied despite the ban, the thing I can say in my defense is that dealing with medical and financial hardships while also grieving the loss of a close family member really takes a toll on your mind and can lead to such thoughtless decisions. My question is: where is my application at now? Did the consulate discard the case, or did they send it back to the NVC or USCIS? If we want to apply again after the ban is lifted, will we need to go through the entire process from the beginning: starting with submitting a new I-130 to USCIS and opening a new account? Or would we be able to resume the process through CEAC? Currently, there are no updates on either website. I’ve read that we might be able to request an interview to be scheduled once the ban is over, as long as our DQ date is less than a year old (which would be June 9, 2026). But who do we contact for that? I can’t find that information. We were also given the option of filing a I-601 waiver but that's taking an average of 34.5 months to be processed. We also don't have children together or any extreme hardship to prove. Thank you for any tips!