Hi, everyone. In this video, I'd like to provide you with updates
on US embassy and US consulate interviews. We know for so many of you going through an
immigration process, the closure of US embassies and consulates due to COVID and
the limited interviews being conducted by US embassies and consulates has been extremely
difficult. We know that the immigration process is stressful to navigate. Basically everyone on
our team has gone through an immigration process either individually or with their spouse.
We understand how stressful it is and how much you just want to be able to be together.
This has been a question that we receive frequently throughout this year,
couples wanting to know the status of US embassy and consulate interviews.
That's what I'll discuss in this video. But before I do that, I'd like to introduce myself and
our firm. My name is Attorney Megan Pastrana from Corado-Pastrana
the immigration firm for couples. We're dedicated exclusively to assisting couples in navigating
the immigration process from fiancé visas and consular processing to adjustment of status
and removal of conditions and naturalization. We know how important it is for you to have
up-to-date information about what's going on in the world of immigration as it relates to couples
and general educational materials. If you haven't already subscribed to our channel
please do so now and hit the alerts button. If you like this video, please
give it a thumbs up so YouTube will share it with other couples who can benefit from the information.
We also have a Facebook group called Immigration for Couples. The link is below and we also have
free educational materials and information on our website. The link is also below. If you're just
beginning on your immigration journey or if you're in the middle of the process and need help, our
attorneys would love to help you and so, there's a scheduling link in the comments section below too.
Let's dive in to what is the status of US embassy and consulate interviews.
For many of you who are going through the process, part of the process involves
an interview at a US embassy or consulate if you're going through the CR1 or IR1 or K1 process.
For those of you who are just starting out in your immigration journey, I'd like to give
you a little bit of context at what phase the interview comes into play.
The first step for a CR1 or IR1 spousal visa is a petition, and same with the K1 fiancé
visa, the first step is a fiancé visa petition. With that petition you're showing immigration
you have a real relationship based on love. Once that petition is decided and approved, the next
step is a US embassy or US consulate interview in the immigrants'
country of origin. This year with COVID, it's been a tough year for
individuals who are going through an immigration process. The US embassies and consulates closed
across the world for routine services. Later in the year, they began
resuming services for expedited interviews. We are starting to see that the consulates
and embassies are starting to begin trying to resume normal procedures.
They're slowly starting to begin scheduling interviews at US embassies and consulates.
The reality is that every country is different in terms of how
they're handling Corona virus and what their levels of COVID are. It has impacted
the US embassy and US consulate's ability to reopen or to have routine services.
We are noticing an uptick in the scheduling of interviews.
There is a very long backlog. There was a lot of people who had interviews scheduled
in March, right when COVID started picking up and their interviews were sadly cancelled.
But we are starting to see that interviews are being rescheduled for individuals who had
interviews canceled. We've also had a lot of success with individuals who are
going through an expedited interview process, requesting an expedite. We have separate
videos on our YouTube channel about what an expedite request is and who might be eligible
and you're welcome to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys to discuss
if that's an option for you. The good news we wanted to share in this video is that we
are seeing embassies and consulates begin to start taking additional steps at scheduling
interviews and addressing interviews that had been cancelled earlier in the year.
That's not a hundred percent great news but it is a step in the right direction.
We've noticed in our Facebook group that a
lot of individuals have posted that they're really excited that their
interviews have been scheduled or they're really excited that they've gotten petition approvals.
If you're not a member of our Facebook group, please join that community. It's been really great
for couples to be able to provide each other with emotional support and have a community
of people who are all going through the same process and experiencing the same
feelings. We wanted to share this video with you and I wanted to share
the good news that we are seeing interviews being scheduled not at the level that
they were pre-COVID but they are beginning to schedule interviews on a more regular basis.
Some US embassies and consulates have posted on their website that they're taking steps to
resuming interview scheduling. There's not a way for me to go through every single country and give
you a status in every single country but I can tell you the best thing you can do is check the US
embassy or consulate website for the country where your interview will take place so you can see what
updates that that US embassy or consulate has with regards to interviews. That's the
best place to get the most up-to-date information about the status of interviews in your specific
country. I hope that that video was helpful and it provided you with some positivity.
Please subscribe to our channel and hope to see you on our Facebook group or maybe
even in an appointment and that link to schedule to talk to one of our attorneys is below. Take care.