You've been asking me so many questions and posting so many comments, and I'm so grateful.
And I want to be able to answer every single one of them. And I'm trying. In this video,
I’ve gathered few questions that relate to consular processing, embassies, and things
like that, I'm going to try to answer them in a video format. If you like that, I'm going
to make more of these videos, and choose other topics. So, once again, don't stop commenting.
Don't stop asking questions. I'm going to make videos answering those questions. So,
let's jump right in. I'm super excited to make this video because, in this video, I
get to answer your questions as you ask them, as you post them in the comments. And if you
like this format, I'll be doing those videos more and more. This time, I chose the theme
of US embassies, consulates, and questions that are related to NVCs, K1s, and all the
good stuff. So, let's jump right into your questions. Question from Neil Hussein. “How
to email NVC? Can you make a video about it?” So, that's a great question. And we see a
lot of these comments. And I think that's why I chose this comment because it's very
common for people to want to know how to contact the NVC. So, remember, once your I-130 is
approved, the family petition is approved, the case is then transferred to the National
Visa Center for further processing. At that point, they're going to ask you to fill the
DS-260, ask for all the supporting documents. And it's really important to stay in touch
with them. So, how do we communicate with them? So, one way is to send an email inquiry
to the NVC and the email addresses, right here on the screen, nvcinquiry@state.gov,
just right here. It’s the best way to send them an email and to make an inquiry about
your case. Please do not abuse that email because they get so many emails and so many
questions. Another way is to use their phone number. And the phone number is right here
on the screen. 603-334-0700. So, those are the best ways to communicate with NVC. If
you have questions about your case, or you're confused about any of the forums, or anything
that you have to do, you email them to nvcinquiry@state.gov, or you call that phone number right here on
the screen. We also are going to put a link in the description of this video to the phone
number and to the email. So, you don't have to worry about it if you missed it right now.
The next question is from Fellis Vlog. And the question is the following, “Is the priority
date, or when the approved date is when they're going to consider for the interview? My priority
date was January 2020, please reply.” So, that's a great question. In family-based petitions,
the priority date of the I -130, in this case, is the date when the Immigration Service receives
your case. So, for example, when the case is received, that's when your priority date
is determined. In your case, it was January 2020, it’s when your case was received,
and that's also your priority date. Now, the approval date maybe months in the future,
seven, eight months in the future. That's when the I-130 is approved. But that's not
the priority date. The priority date is when they received the case. That's when you get
the priority date and you have to check it on the visa bulletin every month. And when
your priority date is current, that's when you can proceed with the Adjustment of Status
if you’re in the US, or with your immigrant visa petition if you're outside the country.
It's a very common question for people to get confused. So, it's not when the I-130
is approved, it's the date immigration receives your case. The next question is from Sadaf
Nuri. The question is, “Hi, Jacob. Can you please tell me how can I expedite my husband's
case? I'm a green card holder. And my husband is waiting for his interview. He's in Afghanistan.”
So that's a great question. So, first of all, we've done quite a few videos about how to
expedite the case. In fact, we have a recent success story. You can see the link in the
cards here in this video. But remember, you are just a green card holder. This is the
F2A category. And as you know, currently, under the proclamation, those categories are
not able to proceed and get interviews because the proclamation bans the entry of spouses
of green card holders. If you were a US citizen, and even US citizens right now, your cases
are stuck because embassies are not really open. And therefore, the right way to expedite
is to file a request with the National Visa Center for an expedited case with the correct
reasons and the National Interest Exceptions. And then, once they approve it, then we can
request an emergency appointment to the US Embassy. But in your case, because you're
a green card holder, they obviously will not give you a priority because, under the proclamation,
you're not able to process that case. So, right now, you have to wait a few more weeks
until the end of September. And then, we'll see what happens. And hopefully, by then,
cases will start moving much faster than now. Hopefully, this helps. Let me know in the
comments. The next question is from Nina Mangara. Hi, Sir. How about K1 fiancé visas, taking
so long right now? So, that's a great question. And we've done quite a few videos about K1
visas. The situation right now is that, first of all, we're still waiting on litigation.
There are more than 500 couples that filed a lawsuit because of the delays, and because
of the family separation. We still don't have information on that. And so, we're waiting
for it. But the reality is that a lot of embassies are still not giving priority to K1 visas.
And the thing is, there was an announcement by State Department a few months ago that
they will be given priority. They also said that K1 visas, they will expire. The validity,
they’ll be able to renew them without reapplying for the case from the beginning. So, the validity
will be extended automatically. But remember that if you are a K1 visa holder, and you
think that you have a good exception to try to expedite your case right now, my suggestion
is to try to expedite your case by working with NVC at the embassy to see if you fit
any of the exceptions to be able to move your case even further but aside from that, there's
really not much that the fiancées can do right now because unless the embassies are
going to reopen for routine processing, a lot of these K1 visas are stuck. And they're
waiting. What we have done in our office, we try to file a lot of these expedited cases.
And we had a lot of success, to be able to fit people into the National Interest Exceptions,
and it still works. It's worth a shot to try because right now, the backlogs are really
severe. And I feel really bad for these families. They've been separated for no reason. So,
once again… not too many updates about K1. As soon as they know about the litigation,
hopefully, that will be successful, and embassies will be forced to give more priority to K1
visas. And hopefully, we'll start pushing those through faster than they do now. So,
hopefully, that answers your question. I know a lot of you, guys, are worried about K1s.
Let's see what we can do about this in the future. Here's a comment from Akua Miaku,
“Embassies will start appointments when Biden will take over in January? What this
current administration has done is pure torture, and there is no excuse for that.” So, [inaudible]
a question, it's a comment but a lot of people are wondering what's going to happen when
Biden's going to take over in January as to what's going on with the embassies. What we
know, what we think is going to happen is that this new administration is going to move
towards adjudications rather than enforcement, which means that it's going to force the embassies,
hopefully, to start pushing cases out NVC, to start sending cases for appointments. And
instead of blocking people from coming in, they want to actually allow people to enter
and start issuing more visas. Again, it's going to take some time, it's not going to
be immediate. I think within six months, probably, we'll see more flow of movement. But the damage
that this administration has caused the US embassies and NVC is going to take some time
to reverse. That's my personal opinion. Here's the last question from Sonia Shibu. “We’re
F4 category interview scheduled on 16th of March, Bombay canceled. Please update.”
So, it's a good question. It will apply to not just the F4 sibling category but all categories.
Currently, the US Embassy in Mumbai is closed for routine appointments. We have a lot of
people that are inquiring about Mumbai. We're hoping that sometime in January, maybe the
beginning of February, they will open for routine appointments but for the moment, No.
Remember, those people that were scheduled in February, in March, in April, should be
getting priority to be scheduled for new interviews as they start these new appointments. So,
if you were rescheduled in March, we’re hoping that you will get a priority for your
case to be rescheduled again, as they resume routine processing sometime, probably late
January, maybe beginning of February, hopefully, sooner. But the good news is, those people
that were rescheduled, already had appointments scheduled but then rescheduled should be first
priority to get their new appointments as they reopen the embassies. Then there is the
right thing, on part of the embassies, to process and we hope it's going to happen.
There you have it, guys. These are some of the answers to some of your most burning questions.
I'm going to make a few of these segments again if you like them. Let me know in the
comments if you like this format, and what other questions you have, and I'll make a
batch of more questions. I'll make another video, and who knows, maybe you'll be featured
in the next video. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video. One more thing.
In some of those questions, I talked about K1 visas and how to expedite. Watch this video
with more information about K1 visas and expedited just to help you understand more how this
process works. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.