K1 visas. Families are being separated, and they just can't wait any longer. So, in this
video, I'm going to give you the latest K1 visa litigation update. And what you can do
now to speed up your case. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Let's talk about K1 visa litigation. I think this is, for me, the most important subject
right now, in addition to, of course, the CR1s and all the other family categories.
But in my mind, K1 visas have been impacted the most by the proclamations and the whole
crisis that we have in immigration since the whole pandemic started. So, I've been trying
to provide updates whenever they come out. And in this video, I'll talk about the status
of litigation right now. What you can do if you are a plaintiff in that litigation, if
you're not a plaintiff in that litigation, and what the future for K1 visas is going
to be. So, stick to the end, I'm going to cover all this in this video. So, my name
is Jacob Sapochnik. And thank you for joining my channel. This is where we talk about all
immigration, updates, news, and educating you so I can give you the power of knowledge
to know everything you need about your immigration case. So, let's dive right in. If you remember
last week, I've done a live video giving you the most recent update about the status of
Milligan versus Pompeo, the K1 visa litigation, you can watch that video right here, just
to give you a reminder, but what happened is that a federal judge in the District of
Columbia essentially enjoined the government from stopping to issue K1 visas to families
that are in the Schengen region. In this case, the federal judge of the District of Columbia
essentially enjoined the government from suspending K1 visas for the named plaintiffs in the Milligan
versus Pompeo case. Specifically, it refers to the proclamation that bars the entry of
immigrants from the Schengen countries, from the Republic of China, from Iran, Brazil,
the United Kingdom, and Ireland. So, essentially, the embassies were using that as an excuse
not to give visas because they said, you're not able to come to the United States unless
you quarantine somewhere for 14 days, while the judge says those plaintiffs that are named
in this lawsuit, should be able to get their visas now, and that the embassy should not
be using this as an excuse not to issue visas. So, that was kind of the gist of it. What
the judge didn't do in this case, they didn't clearly state that delays were unreasonable.
And we're hoping, in the next few weeks, to get some more guidance from the government
to see what they're going to be doing about it. But the key element of this particular
case was that this particular proclamation that the embassies were using that as an excuse
not to issue those visas. Now, so, we talked about that already in that previous video
but what happened a few days ago, as a result of that litigation, the State Department updated
its website. And they have specific guidance for plaintiffs in their case, and also known
plaintiffs, people that are not from that region, they’re essentially just families
that are stuck waiting for their K1 visas to be adjudicated. So, they issue their guidance,
and I wanted to show it to you right now. Maybe we can read a few a section from this
guidance just to explain to you what it means for you, and what steps you should be taking
now. This guidance was issued by the State Department. So, let's take a look at that
for a second. We talked about the first part but what is important for you, guys, to understand
right now, the new information is that it says, “The following K1 visa applicants
who are named plaintiffs in Milligan versus Pompeo, and subject to original proclamations
should contact their nearest embassy or consulate for guidance on scheduling a visa interview.”
What this means is that if you're a named plaintiff, and I know there's quite a few
of you out there, and I've spoken to many of you, they're actually through emails and
we have consultations, if you're a named plaintiff, in this case, you should email your consulate,
attach a copy of the complaint. Once again, there's a link in the description of this
video for the actual complaint, and also, in the other video that we linked before,
the live video that I've done, I've also linked the actual complaint. Go there, download the
complaint, email your consulate, and request them to schedule an interview as soon as possible.
So, I hear from quite a few couples that already tried that and they are starting to get their
interview scheduled. Now, if you try that, and they refuse to do so, make sure that you
email me, let me know, and we'll try to see what we can do to help. Now, let's go into
the State Department notice again and see what happens to applicants that are not plaintiffs
in this litigation. K visa applicants who are not plaintiffs in Milligan versus Pompeo,
and who are not subject to cover related regional proclamations will continue to have their
applications prioritized and processed in accordance with the existing phased resumption
of visa services guidance. This is a very vague statement and as expected, so what I
suggest to people that are not plaintiffs, still contact the embassy. You can still contact
the embassy. I'm doing this for our clients. You can still do this. Download a copy of
this complaint and still try to see if you can request an appointment and see what they
say. Some embassies may be open to doing so as they slowly start resuming their appointments.
But in any case, we do believe that people that are not plaintiffs are not going to get
priority at the moment. Embassies are still overwhelmed, they still have a backlog, NVC
is still kind of holding off on some of these cases. So, once again, the only solution we
see right now is to try to expedite your K1 visa based on the national interest exceptions.
And we've done quite a few of those expedited. We've done quite a few videos describing some
of our cases that we've done. And we've written about that in our blog. We're going to link
in the description of this video a few of the success stories so just you can see what
they look like and see if it applies to your case. But once again, if you're not a plaintiff,
I still believe the best way would be to try to expedite your case using some of those
exceptions. And if you want to try that you're welcome to contact our office. There is a
link in the video here that explains how to do so. That’s the situation right now. If
you're a plaintiff in the Milligan versus Pompeo, you need to immediately email the
embassy, attach a copy of the complaint, and request your visa interview as soon as possible.
If you're not a plaintiff, you still should contact the embassy and see what they say.
Inquire about your case and see if we can get an appointment. And if not, you should
try to get an expedited appointment. There's a special process for that. And like I said,
we've done many of those, and we continue to work with so many embassies all over the
world to help our clients. The goal is for families to be reunited. There's no reason
in the world why this case should take months and months and why families should remain
separated. So, once again, hopefully, this information was useful. Let me know in the
comments below. As soon as we have news about more embassies reopening, about any other
litigation, or the first two reported right here, we'll go live, or we'll do a video.
Once again, I'm committed to making these videos every single week to keep you informed
because I know a lot of you are anxious, and I'm here for you. So, thanks for watching,
and I'll see you in the next video. Hey, guys, we’re almost done. Make sure you watch this
video where we have the live immigration litigation update on K1 visas. Make sure you see that
one and don't miss it. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.