We've had a lot of individuals understand the immigration journey is extremely stressful
and long.
We've had individuals asking, "Can I transfer my case to another embassy or consulate?
Would it make it faster?"
I completely understand always looking for a way to find a shortcut or to make things
move more smoothly and looking for a creative solution.
It's really great that people are asking this question.
I want to provide clarity about the reality of transferring a case to another US embassy
or consulate.
Transferring a spouse visa case or a fiancé visa case to another embassy or consulate
is something that we actually do pretty frequently in our office.
It really just depends though.
I know that that's a famous attorney response to say it depends but it really does.
There's a lot of factors to take into consideration regarding whether or not it makes sense to
transfer your case to another US embassy or consulate.
I see that there's three main times that an individual might have more than one embassy
or consulate available to them where it would make sense that you would transfer your case
to a different embassy or consulate where it is faster.
The first scenario would be that you are an individual where you are a citizen of one
country that you happen to be legally residing in another.
I'm going to give this as an example: you're a citizen of Australia but you're currently
living and working and have lawful permanent status or have a work visa in Canada.
Since you're actually living in Canada, you could have your interview in Canada.
What will happen is when you file your application, what we do with clients that have multiple
embassies available to them because they may be a citizen of multiple countries or like
the example I just gave, they have residency or a work permit in another country, we work
with them to decide what is the location that's going to be best for you.
What's going to be the easiest.
If you're already living and working in Canada, we can ask for the interview there so you're
not having to make a trip back to Australia.
Right now, with everything that's going on with COVID, the US embassies in Australia
are very slow and in a standstill.
The processing times are extremely slow because of COVID and the lockdowns.
Canada would be the better option.
We would ask for that embassy on the application.
Or you recently started working or have residency in Canada, you could transfer the case.
That's one scenario where it would make sense that you would want to transfer the case to
that embassy instead.
That is just an example.
There's a lot of factors to take into consideration about whether or not it makes sense because
if you are transferring your case, first of all, you have to have lawful status in the
country where you want to transfer your case.
In the example I gave, you would have citizenship in one country and a work permit or lawful
permanent resident status in another.
You could pick between those two countries which one will be the best option.
You might also be a citizen of multiple countries.
We have many clients who are citizens of two or three or maybe four countries.
We would just pick which country would be the best and sometimes that changes when we
get closer to the interview phase and we can transfer the case.
Another scenario where you're able to transfer is in situations where there isn't a US embassy
or consulate where you are consular processing for your spouse visa or fiancé visa.
The one that's top of mind is Russia.
The US embassy and consulate there are no longer doing interviews so Poland has been
taking those cases.
Russia is just one example but there are other countries where there isn't a US embassy or
consulate and so, you can transfer your case to another US embassy or consulate in another
country.
Those are three scenarios, either you have citizenship and lawful permanent residence
status in two different countries, you're a citizen of multiple countries or you live
in a country where there isn't a US embassy or consulate that you could transfer your
case to another US embassy or consulate.
Whether or not you should do that, as I mentioned, is going to depend.
We work with clients to decide one: what is the place that would be easiest for you.
Maybe you have citizenship in multiple countries but it would be too difficult for you with
work or obligations for you to go to that country.
The other consideration where I say it depends is moving your case to another US embassy
or consulate, you could be trading one long line for another long line.
It's really important that we pay attention.
That's what we do with our clients.
We pay attention to what are the average wait times, what's happening at the other US embassies
or consulates before we transfer the case.
I have a video where I explain how you can get a general idea and I can put that in the
show notes below if you are watching this on YouTube or on the Facebook channel, I'll
put it in the comments below but I'll link to that video so you can see how we generally
gauge that.
That's one tool we use but also, we help many couples and so, we are able to see how cases
are processing, which embassies are doing interviews, and how quickly those interviews
are being scheduled.
Those are all factors we take into consideration before we move a case.
What you really need to know is if you're wanting to transfer your case, you could only
do that if you have lawful status or if you're a citizen of that other country or your US
embassy or consulate in that country is non-existent, then you'd be able to transfer your case.
Before you transfer your case, you'd want to make sure, as I mentioned, you're not trading
one long line for another.
Again, I'll post that link to that other video so you can gauge that.
It's not completely the safest way to know but it gives you a general idea if you check
those wait times using that table in the video that's I'll be posting below.
Hopefully, that was helpful.
Transferring cases is definitely an option but it is complicated and there's a lot of
factors to take into consideration and if you are needing assistance with your case
and wondering if transferring your case is a good idea, please feel free to visit immigrationforcouples.com.
You can schedule your appointment there and we also have a lot of free resources that
can help you out in your immigration journey.