Hello, everybody. As we know, Proclamation 114, also known as the Family Ban, is now
lifted. But what does it mean for applicants that are currently stuck overseas, waiting
for the visas, or those that have their visas and are wondering if they can enter the United
States or not? The State Department issued a series of guidelines specifically for applicants
that are impacted by this Proclamation 114. So, we'll go over it in this video exactly
what you have to do, what are the steps that you have to take, and also, remember that
Proclamation 152 that bans the entry of certain workers is still on that has not been lifted.
So we'll talk about some of the National Interest Exceptions that are applicable for those applicants
that are subject to the Proclamation. So, let's dive right in. Hello, everybody, welcome
to our Immigration channel. This is a place where you get the most up-to-date immigration,
US immigration updates, and everything else that you need to know to make your immigration
journey stress-free. My name is Jacob Sapochnik, and I'm an immigration attorney located in
San Diego, California, I help clients in all 50 states. And if you’re here for the first
time, make sure to subscribe to our channel, click the notification bell so you don't miss
any of our videos. And also, give us a big like so YouTube will be able to recommend
this video to more people just like you. So, once again, as we know, Proclamation 114,
also known as the Family Ban, is now lifted. At the same time, Proclamation 152 that limits
the entry of certain work visas is still on. It is important for you to understand that
and remember what is the practical implication of the ban being lifted. It's great that it's
lifted. It's amazing news. But the State Department issued those specific guidelines. And I'm
going to go over them right now, step by step, specifically, the instructions that the State
Department provided referring to the following applicants. Those that have not yet had a
visa interview, meaning that they have no visas yet in their passports. Next are those
applicants that were previously refused visas. And finally, diversity visa lottery winners
of 2020 and 2021. Finally, they provided instructions for people that are subject to the Schengen
ban as to how they're going to be able to enter the United States once they get their
visa stamped. So, let's start with immigrants that are not yet interviewed. Those applicants
who are not yet interviewed will be scheduled according to the procedures of the individual
embassies as they're starting their phased resumption of visa interviews. So, once again,
my suggestion to applicants that have not received their visa interviews yet is to contact
your individual embassy and request an interview right away. Let's talk about applicants that
were previously refused. So, these are applicants that their petitions remain valid in 30 days
or whatever petition is pending. It's very important to understand that the petition
must be valid, then they were interviewed before but the embassy refused to issue a
visa, claiming that Proclamation 114 prohibits [inaudible] in visas. Those applicants must
wait for instructions from their respective embassies as to when they're going to be back
at the embassy to get their visas. The Department of State said that they're going to reconsider
cases that were previously refused because of the Proclamation, and they will send specific
instructions to the applicants as to what they have to do next. Moving next, diversity
visa lottery 2020 applicants. If you're holding visas that were issued in 2020, and they're
still valid, you can enter the United States immediately based on the State Department's
instructions. Even if you have an annotation on your passport that says entry subject to
Proclamation 114, you are still able to enter the United States immediately if your visa
is valid. The Department of State also states that the DV lottery winners that their visas
expire in 2020, at the moment, cannot be issued replacing the visas. The court also states
that those individuals that receive diversity visa orders in 2020, as a result of the government
versus Trump case, in that order that was made in September, are able to enter the United
States even with expired visas and the reason is, because the court order specifically said
that these individuals can enter the United States and the government should treat their
visas as if they expired on the date the proclamation was lifted. However, those individuals that
received diversity visas 2020 as a result of the government versus Trump court order
can enter the United States even with expired visas. Just like the court orders specifically
say the court should treat these visas as if they were issued on the date that Proclamation
114 was rescinded. One thing is that the court didn't really specify how long these visas
will remain valid though. It's really important to remember that this court order could be
modified at any time. So, if you're subject to that particular court order, and you qualify,
you need to make travel arrangements to the United States immediately. The only exception
is for applicants coming from the Schengen countries. Those people that are coming from
those countries cannot travel directly to the United States, even if the [inaudible]
of a court order they have to quarantine in a third country for two weeks before entering
the United States. Let's talk about diversity visa applicants 2021. Those applicants should
be waiting for their respective embassies to be notified when interviews are going to
be scheduled. Once again, my recommendation is to follow up with your individual embassy
to make sure that, now, they understand that they have to schedule your interview. And
finally, when are these embassies going to reopen and resume visa services as normal?
Well, according to that state department announcement, you can see it on the screen right now, we're
going to start reopening these embassies on a post-by-post basis. It’s very similar
to what I've reported in the previous videos about that. It is really important for you
to follow up with your individual embassy because they're opening, literally, individually,
posts by posts and their staffing, of course, and their abilities to conduct interviews.
And once again, it's not really specific exactly when they reopen. But we do know that many
of them are starting to schedule interviews already. Therefore, be very, very proactive.
Follow up with your individual embassy. And remember, all the embassies are doing expedited
appointments. If you need that, make sure that you consider doing that if you're really
waiting for too long. So, once again, this is the most up-to-date information about what
visa applicants need to do now that the Family Ban 114 is lifted, these specific instructions
that the State Department released literally a couple of days after this ban was lifted.
So, hopefully, this information was helpful. Once again, if you’re here for the first
time, don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Give us a like, and also drop your questions
in the comments. Let me know what you think. If you have any more questions, or if it's
confusing, I'm happy to answer and make more videos based on your requests. So, once again,
thanks for watching. And if you do want to talk to me and if you want to set up a consultation
with me, you can text the phone number right here, and you can schedule a paid consultation
with me to discuss your individual case. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next
video.