Hi. everybody. In this video, we're going to talk about the current status
of US embassies and consulates worldwide. This is based on a recent briefing with Consular Affairs,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, and we'll go over the key points in that briefing so you know
exactly what's happening right now with embassies and consulates worldwide. In January 2020,
there were about 75,000 cases pending at the National Visa Center, NVC, ready for interviews
in February 2021. There were about 473,000 cases at NVC sitting there waiting for interviews. This
is in less than 15 months. What is the State Department going to do about it?
Let's get into the press briefing, and try to get some answers for you. Hello,
everybody, and welcome back to our Immigration channel. This is a place where you get the most
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just like you. So, the State Department organized a briefing with Secretary Julie Stufft to discuss
the current state of affairs with embassies and consulates worldwide, specifically,
after the lifting of Proclamation 114. So, Secretary Stufft started the briefing by
saying that they understand that applicants who are waiting both in the US, the US petitioners,
and the beneficiaries overseas are more than just statistics to the State Department. They
understand that they’re human beings. She said, “We understand the hardship of the people waiting
because of the pandemic, and all these factors are very important to the State Department.” She also
said, at the same time, it's important to protect the State Department employees but also states
that it's a priority for them to protect the health and safety of their personnel, the staff,
the consular officers that are at the embassies. It is a priority for them as they start to reopen
these embassies and consulates. And again, my interpretation of this is that they're setting the
grounds to say, “Listen, we understand that people are suffering. But at the same time, we have to be
mindful of how we're going to be reopening these embassies, with all the different concerns with
health, with staffing, with how many people can be inside the consulates. It is the premise for
this entire briefing, Next, Secretary Stufft moved to acknowledge the lifting of Proclamation 114.
She also said something very interesting. After the removal of proclamation 114, she said there
are no general restrictions remaining on issuing immigrant visas anymore. However, she stated
that there are many immigrants that are still subject to other proclamations, specifically the
travel ban from changing the 14 days quarantine requirements. And as we know, Proclamation 152 is
still in effect, and that, she mentioned as well. She then proceeded to talk about some statistics.
She said that before the pandemic, the State Department was issuing 10 million visas a year,
half a million of those visas were specifically immigrant visas, the rest were other categories.
So, let's talk about the current scope of operations of the State Department.
Remember that before the pandemic, each year, they were processing 10 million visas.
Out of those 10 million visas, 500,000 were immigrant visas. As a result of the pandemic,
there are less people that can move safely through the State Department facilities like
embassies and consulates for interviews so less people can get in to be interviewed,
which means the wait lines are going to be increasing. At the same time, in addition
to restricting the number of visa applicants that can physically be inside the consulate,
there are also less people working for the State Department that are able to be inside the embassy
or consulate at a given time. So, less people interviewing, less people being interviewed.
That means longer lines, longer wait times for people to get their interview appointments
in the next year or so according to this briefing. Well, in the past, they were able to see
hundreds of people a day in each consulate. Right now, they had to reduce the number of people that
can interview. In addition to that, they're not able to waive those interviews, they have
to see people in person one at a time and take their fingerprints. So, given all these facts,
the wait times are expected to increase significantly. So, what is this department
actually going to do to face these challenges and find solutions. According to this briefing,
they're going to focus on three main areas. Number one, the State Department has prioritize
the processing of immigrant visas at all consulates, and embassies worldwide. This is,
like I said, very recent information based on the March 1 briefing from Secretary Stufft. What
that means is that if they have the capacity, the first visas to be interviewed are going to
be immigrant visas. Among immigrant visas, they will continue to prioritize the visas of spouses
and children of US citizens. So, not only they're going to start prioritizing all immigrant visas,
but within immigrant visas, the priority is going to be given to spouses and children of
US citizens. In addition to that, she specifically stated in that briefing that priorities will also
be given to K1 fiance visas. Priority visas to K1 visas, subject to regional restrictions. So,
again, as you know, consulates are opening on a case-by-case basis in different countries. They
open in different schedules but as long as there's no regional restrictions, no problem
in the country, K1 visas should not be held. Number two, the second thing they're going to
do is the State Department is always looking for creative ways to increase the number of immigrant
visa appointments that they can process at any given day. What that means is that every post
will do whatever it takes to make sure they can accommodate different immigrant visa applicants
based on the current country conditions and the status of the particular embassy. For example,
one embassy had to create specific spaces within the embassy. So, outside of the regular interview
rooms. Again, in most embassies, they have space where you walk in, there's a glass window,
and they interview applicants. Again, those are very limited spaces. So, in this particular case,
this embassy were able to expand other areas of their particular embassy, like maybe backrooms,
side offices, they converted them to interview spaces so that they’re able to safely see more
applicants. These are some more creative ways that other different embassies are taking to be able to
accommodate more immigrant visa interviews, even though they're not able to do so in the current
limited space they have for regular interviews. That's great news. Other embassies are actually
training, additional staff, people that are not normally doing interviews, to be able to do
interviews. This way, increasing the staff members that are actually able to conduct interviews.
So, if typically they have five people that do interviews, if they're going to be able to train
five more, now they have more capacity to actually conduct those immigrant visa interviews, and make
sure that people are being able to be processed in a more efficient way, and be able to see more
people. It seems like embassies across the world are now trying to innovate individually. So,
one embassy is fixing more space in the back and converting rooms that are normally, not interview
rooms, into interview rooms. Other embassies are training more staff to be able to accommodate more
people. These are really, really good news. Based on these great updates, we can kind of see what's
going to happen at the State Department, how they're planning to start tackling this backlog.
470,000, almost half a million of these immigrant visas are pending in the queue. They have to start
being creative, to be able to cut through the backlog and start interviewing people ASAP.
Another important takeaway from this briefing is that if you had a case that was previously
refused under Proclamation 114 or any other proclamations that were lifted by President Biden,
the US embassies and consulates worldwide are going to give them a priority. And it's your
responsibility to contact the embassy or consulate that you're dealing with to let them know that
since the proclamations had been lifted, and you've been waiting, you want to know what's
the status of your case, and when an interview can be scheduled for you. But they specifically
said they will. They're going to be prioritizing all these cases that were initially refused,
just because of the proclamations. The State Department stated in this briefing that 90%
of the 136 consulates and embassies worldwide, they process immigrant visas. 90% are processing
certain immigrant visas at the moment. The rest of them currently only do emergency appointments.
So, remember, this is really good news from just a few months ago, where we had much less
of these embassies and consulates that did any appointments. Now, 90% of them are starting
to process immigrant visas, and the rest do emergency appointments. So, as you can see,
we got some really good information in this video. The bottom line is that there's a severe backlog,
and the State Department is aware of it. And they're taking action. They're revising the
procedures, they're making more space at embassies and consulates. They're training more staff. And
they're prioritizing immigrant visas. So, I feel, with concentrated efforts, they're going to start
going at this backlog, month after month. And we will see a decrease in the wait time,
hopefully. And hopefully, they're going to do some more things. I don't think they're going
to waive interviews anytime soon, as they see it as national security. But the fact that they
are taking action, the fact that they're being transparent about it, and I'm able to share that
with you, is good news because those of us that are stuck, and are anxious, at least we know that
something is happening and things are going to get better as the months continue to progress. So,
hopefully, you found this information helpful. If you know somebody that may benefit, make sure you
share this video. Let me know any questions in the comments below. And if you do want to talk to me,
make sure you text me on this number 619-483-4549 and I'm happy to consult with you as well. If
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