Hello everybody. In this video, we're going to talk about how the Department of State
is prioritizing immigrant visa processing. This is the most recent update that we have.
And as always, we want to share with you we'll talk about the Four-tier system. We'll
talk about who is getting expedited cases. And we'll talk about what you need to know,
as you're waiting for your immigrant visa right now, many of you are anxious,
we'll give you all the latest updates. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello everybody. Welcome back to our immigration channel. This is a place where we get the most
up-to-date immigration news, immigration information, and everything else that you
need to make your immigration journey less stressful. My name is Jacob Sapochnick,
and I'm an immigration attorney located in San Diego, California, and we help clients
in all 50 states. If you're here for the first time, don't forget 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 show this video to more people just like you. In this video,
we're gonna dive in into the most recent update from the Department of State that was released
about a week ago, that tells us how they're processing Immigrant Visas an update about
their Four Tier system, who's getting priorities, and also an update about who's getting their cases
expedited on a priority basis. As you know, and in many of my videos, and anybody who's talking to me
in consultations, I still believe that getting your case expedite right now is super important
if you qualify, if you can because right now, the backlog at NVC is really, really big right now,
it's still important to be proactive on your case. Well, in this update, they're telling
us who is actually getting priority for the expedited case, they're not saying those that are
not in that category, and I'm going to be able to be expedited. But they actually emphasize
who is the top priority for expedited cases. I'll talk about that in this video. So the most recent
update was released on the Department of State website. And I'll provide an analysis of that,
in addition to a link to that update in the description of this video as well. The update
starts with the state of informing everybody that the embassies and consulates are still not working
on a regular basis. They also explained that every embassy depending on where they are located
is going to open according to country conditions according to their staffing capabilities. And
two other things that will impact the embassy to provide routine Visa Services. They also said that
all these embassies and consulates are working within that four-tier system, which I'll remind
you in a second what it is. But the interesting thing in this update is that they're saying that
pretty much a lot of these embassies or consulates are scheduling appointments for each one of these
four tiers. So a little bit on Immigrant Visas, a little bit on CR1s, I1s, a little bit on tier
three for other family-based preferences. And of course, also some tier four for employment-based
cases. So they will schedule appointments a little bit for each and every single tier
every single month. This is interesting because, until this update, it was very unclear how these
embassies are using the tier system specifically to schedule those appointments. There's been a lot
of confusion from applicants, but now it seems that they will be scheduling appointments based
on their four-tier system, but they're going to be providing appointments under each category every
single month, which is good. Let's see how this is actually going to be implemented in reality.
Remember that the State Department's priority system highlights the congressional objectives
to prioritize first of all family petitions, immediate relatives, then K1 visas for fiance's
followed by all the family preference categories. That was their main goal
when the crisis started. And the only way to implement this was to create that four-tier
system. Let's go over that real quick in a way of reminder and also explain to you what's
happening with the system at the moment. So the following are the four-tier system for processing
Immigrant Visas at the moment. Tier one focuses on immediate relative inter-country adoptions,
aged out children cases, these are cases where the applicant would soon no longer qualify because
of their age. Those have to be expedited on a priority basis so they won't lose their place in
line. Certain Special Immigrant Visas. Currently, we have the Afghan crisis, a lot of these
applicants are getting priority to get their visas when being processed at different embassies and
consulates that are able to process their cases, they definitely fall within tier one. And finally,
General emergency cases are being determined on a case by case basis. Again, specifically, if you do
get your case expedited and you get an emergency appointment at a US Embassy, your case will fall
under tier one and you'll be able to get that visa scheduled as a priority. Tier 2 focuses on
immediate relative visas I-1, CR1s, spouses of US citizens, it's also focused on K1 fiance visas and
returning resident visas, those are the green card holders that are the ones that are included in
tier two of immigrant visa processing. Tier three, focus on all other family preference visas, F2Bs,
F4s, and older people that are documented qualified, and their priority dates are
currently in those categories. It's also reserved for Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees
of the United States government. Tier four is reserved for all other
immigrant visas, including employment-based and DV lottery diversity visas, that are included
in Tier four. Now, the interesting thing about this update is that they said specifically that
those embassies that are processing visas, those embassies that are working on limited capacities,
are going to be processing issuing visas from each one of those categories,
every single month, their approach is to try to schedule appointments from each one of these tiers
every single month. Now the volume of these appointments is really unclear,
we have no idea how many of them but they are doing that they're not just limiting them to
tier one or tier two cases, they are trying to get people scheduled on a different tier. So if
you have an employment-based case that is about to get an interview, or you're sitting there
waiting for an interview on your employment-based case, don’t lose hope, because your case could be
scheduled now, while they're scheduled other family-based petitions as well. And again,
the reason why they have their Preference System is they're trying to maximize their resources,
they only have a limited number of officers, they only have a limited number of slots available,
they only have a limited amount, a number of days in the week as well to be able to see people
and as a result of using that tier system to be able to schedule as many people as possible. Now,
there's been a lot of complaints about applicants that saying that they're in category three or
four, they're not getting any interviews. And the State Department in this update said that they are
committed to scheduling people from tier three to four, which again, the family preference, or the
family preference outside of immediate relatives, and employment-based categories, our EB2s and EB3s
applicants, they're ready, they're waiting to get their immigrant visa appointments, and they're
stuck. So the promise is that you're going to see more movement in the next month or so. And again,
hopefully, it will happen if it's not going to happen. Obviously, I'll bring that update
here on our channel. And remember, you know, we come out here with a video to keep you posted.
And therefore, if you have an issue with your case, if you need to consult with an attorney,
that is why I'm here for you to make sure you send me a text, 619-483-4549. We're going to get to you
eventually we get a lot of text messages, but we will respond and we will get that appointment
scheduled with you. So make sure you take advantage of that if you're watching this video.
With respect to DV lottery diversity cases, the State Department promised that they will continue
to process these cases, as many as possible within their limits. I know there's litigation going on
right now a lot of DV lottery applicants are missing the opportunity because the deadlines
are coming close. But they promise that they will process as many of these cases as possible, also
in this update. And we hope that if you're a DV lottery applicant and you're stuck overseas, make
sure you follow up with your embassy to see if an interview can be scheduled because they promise
that they will prioritize you as well. Now, in this most recent update, they did provide us an
update as to who can get their cases expedited, in addition to the regular national interest
exceptions that we've been using for a lot of other cases, based on hardship, this specifically
highlighted one category that is going to get a priority right now for expediting their cases.
And this is specifically for healthcare workers who are going to be working in a facility that
is engaged in response to the pandemic focused on pandemic-related response. And again, those cases
are going to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Who qualifies for this special expedited request,
number one who will work in a facility engaged in pandemic response, number two, have an approved
immigrant visa with the current priority date for either an immediate relative, a family preference
petition, or an employment-based immigrant visa. So essentially, if you are a beneficiary over
either family preference petition, immediate relative, or even an employment-based petition,
which typically is going to fall on the fourth tier, you can request an emergency expedite,
you will be prioritized, and there'll be able to get you an appointment and a visa interview
as soon as possible. Now, most of you are going to have your cases stuck in the National Visa Center.
If that's the case, you're going to have to email the NVC expedite email address that we
already explained in past videos how to do this expedited request, you email them a full package
describing that your healthcare worker, if you meet those requirements, and they will process
your application, they will approve this expedite, move you to your appointment, and then you'll be
able to get your emergency appointment with the US Embassy wherever your case is assigned to.
It's a good sign that we can see that embassies and consulates with the NVC are still committed
to processing expedited cases. And they're giving us guidelines as to which cases get top priority.
Again, it doesn't mean that all the other cases that are based on hardship or all the other
requirements of the national interest exemptions are not in effect anymore. They are in effect,
but they're just saying that under this recent update because of the issue of the Delta variant
in cases in the United States and other countries, they are giving priority to health care workers,
specifically those that are engaged in the Coronavirus battle. So these are great news
to know that, yes, embassies are still slow. Yes, embassies are not fully operational,
but they are trying to make things better. They are committed to their tier system.
And they are processing cases every single month from all four tier systems. And they have included
another category to allow cases to be expedited in addition to the regular expert process that
we've engaged in the past several months. So once again, if you're here for the first time,
don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Click the notification bell so you don't miss any of
our videos. Give us a big like so YouTube will be able to recommend this video to more people
just like you and once again if you enjoyed this video, leave me a comment. Leave me a question.
We'll try to get to all your questions, to all your comments. We're doing our best to get so many
of them but we're not forgetting anyone. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video