- Hi everyone, how's it going?
This is immigration attorney Moumita
and I am the immigration attorney here
to help you navigate this complex world of immigration.
For those of you who are watching me
for the very first time today,
my name is Moumita and I am a lawyer
in New York and I focus exclusively on immigration law.
I have been serving clients for almost 10 years
and it is my pleasure
to practice immigration law, although I think
it really is the most complicated area of law.
So thank you for tuning in
and for watching the videos that I make.
I'm trying to bring you as much news
and information that I can.
And it would really make me very happy
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So today what I would like to talk to you about
is I'd like to actually bring you some good news.
The Department of State has announced
that consulates will be resuming a kind
of phased reopening on a post-by-post basis.
And what this means is that depending
on the consular post, and the country that they're in,
they will start resuming some routine services
if they have not already.
So if you watched my video last week,
I did discuss that some consulates
have resumed holding immigrant visa interviews,
especially for spouses of US citizens.
And now we have learned that the Department of State
has kind of given a green light
to some posts to go ahead and reopen as they see fit.
Now, what is the best way for you to find out
if your consulate will be available
to give you an appointment
for a non-immigrant visa interview?
I can't really give you the answer.
The best thing for you to do
is to just check on the website for that consulate
because hopefully, they will be providing
that information there
and also, if you have an account for the appointment system
for your consulate,
log on there and see if any appointments are available
because if there are appointments that are available,
then that's usually a good indication
that your consulate will be reopening.
Now, what if you need to get your interview
for an immigrant visa?
For this, the best thing for you to do
and really the only thing that you can do
is wait to receive that appointment letter
from the consulate.
Since this is something
that you cannot schedule on your own,
you have to wait for the consulate to give you this notice.
But what you can do is just check on the website
for the consulate.
See if it says that it's reopened.
So this is really great news for those who need
to come to the US with a visa.
The other thing that the Department of State
has also announced
is that consulates during this phased reopening
will be prioritizing three types of cases.
The first type will be any emergency case.
So it really depends on what kind of visa you need
and what your emergency is
but the consulates are prioritizing
these emergency-type interviews.
Again, if you need an emergency,
then you have to give the consulate proof of your emergency
and why you need to have this interview right away.
The second category of interviews
that they will be prioritizing
are interviews for family members of US citizens.
The third category that the consulates will prioritize
are visas for students
and certain J1 and M1 visas.
I hope you found this video helpful
and that you enjoyed watching me here today.
If you did, please subscribe to my channel
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I release a new video
and trust me, you don't wanna miss a thing.
There's something new almost every single day.
My name is Moumita Rahman.
See you next week.
This video is for informational purposes only
and does not constitute legal advice.
For proper legal advice on your case,
please call us to set up a consultation.