So, everybody has asked me when the embassies and consulates are going to reopen finally?
And I have some news in this video to kind of give you an idea as to what's going to
happen and how and when the embassies are going to reopen. So, watch this video and
I'll see you on the other side. So, with the ban that we have in place with visa delays,
embassies closed, and the Coronavirus pandemic, everybody's stressed out and wondering when
the US embassies and consulates are going to reopen, and when interviews are going to
be rescheduled, and when we're going to start getting our processes back in order and starting
to link appointments from the NVC as well. So, we'll talk about what I know in this video.
Before that, if you're here for the first time, make sure that you subscribe to our
channel. Click that bell to be notified. I am creating videos every single week. I'm
doing this for you, guys. So make sure you subscribe because we have a lot of good things
coming up and a lot of updates to report. Also, make sure you click the Like on that
video because if you don't, YouTube is not going to show this video to anybody. And it's
going to be a shame. Nobody's going to know about that information. So, those of you who
don't know who I am, my name is Jacob Sapochnick, and I'm an immigration attorney located in
San Diego, California. And I practice immigration law in all 50 states. I'm passionate about
immigration. And I'm excited to make videos, live that for you every single week. And therefore,
if you have any suggestions, if you have any questions, now is the time to post a comment.
And I'll try to respond to every single one of those comments. So, let's talk about US
embassies and consulates. What we know right now, we are now almost at the end of May,
is that certain consulates are going to be reopening in the next week or so and others
are going to take longer, maybe a few months from now. The reason is because consulates
who are based in foreign countries are going to be reopening, depending on the situation
in their country. That's kind of the guidance that the State Department has provided to
their embassies and consulates. For example, we know that the US Embassy in Tel Aviv has
already started scheduling appointments for the next few weeks. And the reason is because
Israel has already started to reopen most of the country, they're already in phase three
or four. And therefore, that particular consulate in Jerusalem as well as Tel Aviv is already
starting to schedule appointments for June and later for visa interviews. We also know
for example, that in Europe, the Embassy in London is also going to start seeing appointments
very soon. However, other countries like we know that Thailand for example, there's no
clear indication as to when the consulate will open. It may take more than a month because
the country itself is still pretty tight in a lockdown. So, this is kind of what is happening.
We also know that Mexico City, Mexico City is already going to start scheduling appointments
in the next few weeks, which tells us that as the country starts to reopen as well, step
by step, then the US Embassy there as well is going to start seeing appointments. What
I'm trying to say in this video is that there's going to be no massive general reopening of
all consulates at the same time. This is kind of the notion that people were expecting in
many… from clients that we get, and also a lot of updates everywhere else. But what
we see right now is there's going to be more of a periodical stage by stage reopening,
depending on the country. So, what I suggest you to do is, depending on where your case
is. If you have an interview in Moscow, if you have an interview in Vietnam, it is really
important to stay connected with that particular embassy. Every website, every embassy, there's
an email address, we can email and inquire as to when they're going to reopen, when they're
going to start scheduling interviews and things like that, that's really important to do.
Now, at the same time, we have to remember that probably the NVC is going to start processing
their cases more in a more speedy way in the next few weeks as well irrespective of when
the embassy is going to reopen because they are starting to work with certain consulates
that are accepting cases. So, NVC will start normal operations very soon. They're not working
individually on the pace of consulates because they are located in the US. So, when everything
is going to reopen here, when the agencies are going to start working on a more regular
basis, the NVC as well is going to process cases in a more efficient manner and start
pushing those cases through the different embassies. But as far as the actual consulates
and embassies, that will depend on where they are located in the world. So, for our clients,
we are actively checking on where our cases are. We’re emailing those consulates on
a regular basis, getting those updates, and many of them will send us an email and say,
“Hey, we are now not open or we're not scheduling interviews. And others will respond and say,
“Yes, we're going to start scheduling interviews for next week or two weeks.” And then we
can update our clients and prepare the cases accordingly. We have quite a few physicians
that are looking to get their J1 visas and other visas. And so, we are looking at what
consulates are around here, Mexico or Canada, they're open and try to move their appointments
over there because appointments in their home countries are not really open right now. And
the same thing we tell our clients for family petitions, if you're trying to apply, for
example, let's say Panama or somewhere else where they’re close, maybe Mexico will see
you and [inaudible] kind of shop consulates and see if they'll see you. Some of them won't
see you. Some of them will. We'll see, it depends. It's a matter of trying to email
and figure out whether they will be able to see or be able to entertain your appointment
or not. The conclusion is that we have to be proactive, we have to be checking with
our consulates, and making sure that we know when they reopen, when they start scheduling
appointments so that we can coordinate with our cases and see how we can do that. If you're
a DV lottery winner, like I mentioned before, even if your consulate is going to reopen
right now to processing, you're still within the 60-day ban. So, people that are subject
to the ban, they’re not going to be able to get appointments, even if the consulates
are going to reopen. So once again, I'm going to make another update for this video. Once
I know more details which consulates are open, which consulates are not and we're going to
give you kind of more of an update, maybe like a monthly or bi-weekly update, as we're
reopening on the consulates. So, once again, if you have any questions, post in the comments
right now. If you’re here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to our channel.
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topics like that. We have other members who share their waiting time process, other issues
that they have, and you can be part of the community and give more support about your
immigration policies. So, I encourage you to join the Facebook group and I want to see
you there as well. So once again, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.