So, you're trying to come to the United States as a non-immigrant, either as a student,
as an investor, or as a tourist but the embassies are closed, or at least some of them are closed.
In this video, we'll talk about the process of how to get a non-immigrant visa appointment in
this day and age. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
In this video, we'll talk about how to schedule a non-immigrant visa appointment
now that so many embassies and consulates are closed worldwide. We'll talk about the procedures
of how to do it right now, which embassies are open, which embassies are closed for
non-immigrant visa appointments, and give you some updates as to how to make this process
as effective and smooth for you to be able to get your visa appointment.
Before that, if you're here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to our channel. Make sure
to click that bell to be notified. And also give us a big like so YouTube will be able to show
this video to more viewers just like you. So, non-immigrant visas, let's talk about that. Now,
quite a few of our YouTube channel viewers and subscribers are stuck in their home countries,
they're trying to come back to the US, or they're trying to get their non-immigrant visas
scheduled. So, we're talking about tourist visas, investor visas, student visas, J1 visas, all these
non-immigrant visas, they need to schedule them for appointments. So, as you remember,
in March, late March, most embassies and consulates worldwide were essentially shut
down for visa processes. And then later on, in July 15, US Embassy started to reopen,
and visa appointments started to be scheduled slowly. Not all of them but some of them. So,
the way it works right now is the following. The way it works right now is that consulates,
depending on the country where they are located, they're going to be reopening based on the country
conditions. So, even though July 15, it was announced that consulates are going to be
reopening, they are working based on the country conditions. The country where the situation
with health and the Coronavirus is better, those countries have more availability for appointments,
and consulates are going to be entertaining more visa appointments. And I'm going to go
through a few examples of those countries. Another change that happened and I reported that before,
as of August 25, 2020, the State Department also issued another change that allowed for
visa interviews to be waived in the non-immigrant visa categories for applicants
that apply for non-immigrant visas in the same classification. So, if you're trying to renew your
H1B or another visa, you're not going to have to go for an in-person interview, those were waived.
That's another huge change that happened. But now that we are in September, and people are coming
back and needing to get their visas, what are the actual procedures to get your non-immigrant visa
scheduled? The most important tip that I can give you is that in order to successfully schedule a
non-immigrant visa interview, you have to be able to demonstrate to the consulate or the embassy,
that you qualify under the exemptions to the respective proclamations. And if you're not,
then you have to demonstrate that you qualify for any of the national interest exemptions,
as defined by law. And we have quite a few videos about those as well. Once you're deemed eligible,
either under the exemption to the proclamations or under one of the national interest exemptions,
once you're eligible for those, then you are able to schedule your non-immigrant visa appointment
even if the post is officially closed, that's really important to understand because quite
a few of these polls are close. But if you can demonstrate that you are exempt, or you're able to
come with eligibility for their national interest, exceptions, then you're able to contact the post,
even if the post is closed. And once again, when you email the embassy, do not expect that
they have some sort of an automated process to determine that you are outside of the scope of
the ban or you qualify for a particular exemption. It's your job to be able to demonstrate with proof
with… if you need any documents or whatever that are required for you to show them that you qualify
so they'll be able to open an appointment for you. They don't have some sort of
electronic way to do so. The burden is on you to be able to show that you do that. And again,
we do this for our clients. We prepare the packages. We had a recent case in Germany
where we had to show that somebody was coming to the US as an investor, he fell under one of the
national interest exemptions, and we prepared the package, and we send it. And his case was
granted within two days, and he was able to get an appointment. But again, I didn't expect the
embassy to be able to understand that. I had to prepare the case and show it to them so he was
able to get the appointment and come to the United States. Another important thing to remember,
even if you get an appointment, it doesn't mean that the visa will be issued. So, you already
pass one hurdle of getting the appointment. Once you get the appointment and the consular
officer determined, he was not satisfied that you meet the requirements for the exception, the visa
is not going to be issued. So again, once again, you can get the appointment, you pass one step,
you’re still going to have to come with all the documents to the appointment to be able to
convince them to actually give you the visa. So, that's also something to really… it's important to
understand that as well. So, let's look at some individual countries and see what's happening,
whether they see non-immigrant visas, are the open or they're not open. Just to give you an example
of what's happening in the different posts this time as it relates to non-immigrant visas only.
So, let's take a look at China, Beijing, currently, they’re scheduling B1, B2s,
tourist visas for late November. F1 student visas are now being scheduled for late November as well.
And H1B visas for late November as well. No appointments for October currently unless
there are emergency appointments. Another post in China will be Guangzhou. Their scheduling B1,
B2 for September. They have F1 visas. F1 visa, student visa is only December, and we have H1B
visas open for October. US Embassy in Hong Kong is only open for limited appointments.
We don't have specific information as to when... what dates they're going to be opening for
General non-immigrant visas but they are accepting appointments on a limited basis even now. Japan,
the Embassy in Tokyo is completely closed. The Embassy in Osaka is accepting appointments
for non-immigrant visas as of September, and those are student visas, J visas, and investor visas.
Again, limited appointments but they are open. The embassy in the Philippines, non-immigrant visas,
is pretty much closed for tourist visas. The only visas they're accepting as of late August
are student visas and they are being processed in the Philippines, in Manila. Thailand,
Bangkok is open for non-immigrant visas, mostly student visas, F and J visas.
No tourist appointments available unless there are exceptions. The US Embassy in New Delhi in India
is open right now, with limited appointments but only for student visas, F and M. Tourist visas are
not available unless there's an exception. The US Embassy in New Zealand is open they're processing
most non-immigrant visas. But it seems that H, and L visas, and J visas are suspended through
December. The US Embassy in Hanoi Vietnam is open. They are processing F visas and M visas, no
tourist visas unless there's an exception. So once again, this is just a sampling of a few of the
non-immigrant visa polls. I just want to give you an idea. It’s really important to contact the post
before to make sure they opened. And if they're not open, try to present a case for… if you're not
falling under any of the exceptions or under any of the travel bans, then you should be able to
schedule an appointment. And if you are, then you can qualify for the national interest exception.
Once again, make sure you present your case in a very, very strong way, in a convincing way to
make sure that you are actually going to be able to get an appointment. But the good news is that
our permits are available in limited posts, and more and more opening and we're going to continue
to update you as we know more. But we just want to give you kind of the processes on how to
schedule an appointment. [inaudible] it's done on a case by case basis with the individual posts.
So, you need to be able to contact the individual posts. And we'll link here in the description of
the video, the general website of the State Department where you can find the embassy's
website so you can go to those websites and communicate with them directly. And once again,
make sure that you qualify or under the exceptions to be able to schedule your non-immigrant visa
appointment. So, yeah, let me know in the comments if you have any questions or any concerns about
that. This video is specifically for non-immigrant visas. Again, if you're here for the first time,
make sure to subscribe to our channel so you never miss any of our videos. Click that bell
to be notified. There's a link to our private membership group. If you want to get more updates
and support throughout your case. We have a private membership group that we created
just for people that are going through a visa process, they're stuck in the immigration process,
they want to get more support, they want to get to see what other people are doing. It's called
ImmigrationU. It's right here. The link is in the description of the video. So, make sure you join
and I want to see you there too. So, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.