Hello everybody, In this video, we're going to go over a few successful cases that we had in
the past few weeks to expedite cases, K1s, CR1s, and other family members that are stuck overseas
trying to come to the United States and their US citizen family members in the US are desperately
trying to get those cases expedited so that they will be able to be scheduled for an interview. So,
we'll go over some of these cases. So, you can kind of see the timeline as to when we filed
the expedited, and when NVC approved the case. And now, what's happening with a case going to
the US Embassy in the respective country? We're going to cover in this video, Moscow,
and the Philippines, which were the two cases that we had approvals, just in the past week. And I've
got some information about Islamabad as well. So, always remember that expedite requests under the
national interest exceptions are never guaranteed. And in this video, we'll go over some of the
examples of cases that did work, just to give you more hope and inspiration in case you're stuck,
waiting for your loved ones to come back to the United States. So, let's dive right in.
Hello, everybody. And welcome back to our Immigration YouTube channel. This is the
place where we get the most recent immigration news, immigration updates, and everything else
that you need to make your immigration journey less stressful. My name is Jacob Sapochnik, and
I'm an immigration attorney based in San Diego, California, and I help clients in all 50 states.
If you’re here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to our channel, click the notification
bell so you don't miss any of our videos. And also, give us a big like so YouTube will be able
to share this video with more people just like you. So, let's talk about extra requests and
what's happening right now. We're in March 2021, cases that have been stuck at NVC waiting for
their interview to be scheduled at the respective embassies. What I can tell you is that in the past
few days, we have been receiving a few emails since the proclamation has been lifted from NVC
from our clients notifying us that they finished processing cases, and they're starting to send
them to the embassies. But these are very, very few, these are really isolated cases. We still
are not seeing what we expect to see the NVC will start finishing processing cases and start
in a methodical and organized way to send the cases to their respective embassies. Currently,
a lot of the activities that NVC is referring to DV lottery winners because of the litigation,
and because the proclamation has been lifted. So, we see quite a few of those are getting their
cases starting to move forward. But since there's no movement at NVC, yet, for cases like K1s, CR1s,
and other family petitions, we have no choice but to continue to push the different embassies
at our office and try to get expedited requests approved for our clients, whether they are K1s,
CR1s, and other family matters. In this video, we're going to go through K1 that was recently
approved in Moscow, one of the most difficult embassies to deal with. And we're just going
to discuss the case what we've done, and what to expect in the next few months at different
embassies. As they start to reopen once again, remember that the NVC or the embassies, they don't
have an obligation to approve these cases. Yes, we have the national interest exceptions, and we
try to fit our clients within those exceptions. But still, every case is handled case by case.
And so, aside from waiting, trying to expedite is definitely a good idea if you qualify. And
like I said, the last resort is to sue the government and file a writ of mandamus. But again,
a lot of people are still hesitating to do so. And they want to try different things
before going for litigation. And that's what this video is all about. Let's jump into the cases that
were approved in the past two weeks, and describe exactly what happened. So, our first case, we're
going to focus on is a case, one at the US Embassy in Moscow. Now, remember, this is one of the most
difficult embassies in the world when it comes to CR1 cases, family petitions, and K1 visas.
It's very difficult to get ahold of this embassy. They're not really replying to emails on a
regular basis. And every time we have a case at that embassy, we try to be very consistent,
very methodical, yet respectful. But it's very important to make sure that you understand how to
deal with these particular embassies. So, in this case, we have a US citizen, a male US citizen,
who is in the United States, their petition was pending for more than a year, the K1 is pending
for more than a year. The last time they saw each other was sometime in December. They met
in Turkey, in the third country. And since then, they've been separated, the US citizen
who is working for an employer, he's not self-employed, he's working for an employer.
He has a good position. He's an engineer. And because of the stress and because of the anxiety,
he had to go on some medications, and he went to the point where he had to go on medical leave
for almost six months so the US citizen is now on medical leave. He is taking medication,
antidepressants, and other medications. Again, there's no life-threatening condition there.
Remember, people think that it has to be a life or death situation. It's not. It's
definitely a very complicated situation. It's different, very difficult for this petitioner.
But we have a lot of families and loved couples in that same situation. While we are doing those
cases, we are trying to navigate the situation of this family and see how we can fit them
into the national interest exception. One of these exceptions is stating the following.
The State Department has intentionally established the national interest exception for cases in
which the beneficiary can join the US citizen to alleviate their burden of care. What that means is
that under this exception, we are showing in our Legal Brief, and in all the supporting documents,
that this US citizen needs his fiancee to come and help him to take his medication,
to help him with his treatment for his depression, and other things that are going on with him. So,
essentially, because he's now by himself, he doesn't have anybody else to help him.
We need his fiancee in the United States to be with him because the longer they are separated,
his anxiety becomes even worse, his depression becomes even worse, his medications are less
effective. And we need his fiancee to be in the United States to help him. Again, we included the
Legal Brief, we have letters from psychiatrists, from his doctor, different lists of medications
to prove that he's under medical leave at the moment, that he cannot work,
all these different factors that are impacting the US citizen’s quality of life, and specifically
addressing that exception that allows a foreign national to come to be with their US citizen
spouse if they're there to help care for them. And again, this is kind of the most common way,
how we are able to fit people that qualify into this exception. So, let's look at the timeline.
So, we put together the package. We filed it via email to the NVC. There's a specific email
that is available from the NVC to be able to expedite those cases. We send the case over there.
And let's look, for a second, at the screen right now. So, you can see
when this application was accepted for review. So, as you can see, this application was accepted
for review on February 26, 2021, at 9:57 am, in the morning, and they're just a short email once
you send it to them. It says, “Good day, we are reviewing your request for expedite processing
of this immigrant visa petition, will notify you of the results when the review is complete.”
[inaudible] sent on February 26, you get this general email. There's a case manager assigned
from the NVC and then we have to wait. The next email we received was the approval. And let's see
how fast that was. So, let's look at it again. So, now, we can see that we have March 5, at 7:56 am.
And it says, “Good day, the US Embassy in Moscow has accepted this case for expedited processing,
we will send the file immediately to the US Embassy.” So, basically, what happens now
is they approved the processing. Now, we're going to be working with the US Embassy in Moscow
to get me an emergency appointment to be able to accommodate this couple. So, remember,
from February 6 to March 5, it's less than two weeks that they process that request. It's not
too bad. And now, it's going to take probably another four weeks for the US Embassy in Moscow
to have to issue their emergency appointment for this family to be able to get their K1
visa appointment and be able to get the K1. So, they will be able to be together very soon. So,
it is possible, it is doable. And again, this is one of the most difficult embassies in the
world to get such approval. Again, even for us, it was like wow, it was mind-boggling, because
honestly, we thought about taking this case to court to litigate this one. Thank God that NVC
saw the importance of doing the right thing, getting this thing expedited, and now, hopefully,
Moscow will do the same thing. So, it's possible, it is doable. It is important to take action.
Sitting and waiting is no longer a possibility. Now, let's talk about our next case. This one is
another category that we get a lot. And this is a US citizen parent. US citizen parents, we have
so many US citizen parents that have their kids overseas. A lot of countries like India, China,
the Philippines, and we have a lot of people in Africa. This case is again a very complicated,
very difficult embassy, the Embassy of Manila. So, in this case, we have a US citizen mother,
she's in her 80s right now. And her child who is an adult child who is in the Philippines,
again, very complicated. We were waiting, we get no response. And we've decided to... the dates
are current, the priority date is current. NVC needs to do the right thing. Nothing was moving.
We filed the expedite request, again, based on the national interest exception. Just like I mentioned
before in the previous case, this is because the mother has... she has cancer. She needs help
with mobility, getting her medication, and companionship, her mental state is getting
worse and worse. And she needs her daughter in the United States to help and care for her. So, again,
that's an exception. That's the reason. Let's look at the timeline as to when we filed the expedite
request, and what happened. So, if you look at the screen, we look in here, on February 16,
2021, at 3 pm. And it says, “We are reviewing your request for expedited processing this immigrant
visa petition, will notify you when the results are complete. So, again, we follow the same
procedure, we put together the package, we use all the supporting documents like I mentioned,
we go for the exception, specifically, that section that says that the US citizen petitioner,
not the beneficiary, but the petitioner is in need of care from the beneficiary,
which is waiting overseas. We use that and put all the supporting documents, medical records,
whatever is needed, submitted via email, received that email that we just saw, February 16. Now,
let's see when the approval came. So, now, we are looking at Thursday, March 4, 2021, at 3:26
am. “Good day, US Embassy in Manila has accepted this case for expedited processing. We'll send
this file immediately to the US Embassy.” Now, this is amazing news, we're looking at, again,
just over two weeks, which is not bad for Manila. Now, we're going to go press
hard on the US Embassy over there, to get us an emergency appointment to get this beneficiary to
get her immigrant visa approved, so she can go and join her US citizen mother to be able to help her
in the United States. So, again, those things work. Again, it's not guaranteed, by all means,
I'm telling you that it's not guaranteed, we're doing our best. But again, if this doesn't work,
and you've been waiting and nothing happens, you will have to go ahead and try to file a lawsuit,
which is a whole different story. But again, I firmly believe that it's worth it to try it.
If it works, great. You save some money, and it's fast, as you can see. Now, the third case,
just came in when I was recording this video, is from Islamabad. It was a CR1. And that one also,
it took about two weeks to process that case, from the time we submitted the request for expedited
until they approved it. Again, these are very, very difficult embassies, Moscow,
Philippines, Islamabad, and I get it, people are frustrated and they don't want to wait anymore.
But it is important to be proactive. There are things you can do. And after you tried everything,
and if nothing works, then you sit down and assess the chances of whether you should go
ahead and file a lawsuit, pros and cons, and all the other things you can do. But there are
different options. And it's important to sit down and understand your specific case and evaluate
whether you're ready to expedite or do something else. The bottom line is that there is hope
for everybody who's watching this video. If you're stuck, you're waiting overseas and you need help,
there are options. So, once again, thanks for watching this video.
If you’re here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to the channel. And don't forget
that if you need help, you can text me right here. That's the phone number, 619-483-4549.
Set up a consultation. Let's talk about your case. Let's see where you start. Let's see how we can
expedite your case. Let's understand where you're coming from. You're not alone. There is hope. Once
again, thank you, guys, for watching. I appreciate all of you and I'll see you in our next video.