U.S. suspending visa services worldwide due to coronavirus - State Department

[SandyD 7]

Saw this today.

What does this mean? If I am immigrant visa interview is that going to be cancelled? I never got email from dept of state I just saw this on the news and on consulate website. Just wondering if immigrant visa is considered part of this

[SalishSea 17,848]

36 minutes ago, SandyD said:

Saw this today.

What does this mean? If I am immigrant visa interview is that going to be cancelled? I never got email from dept of state I just saw this on the news and on consulate website. Just wondering if immigrant visa is considered part of this

Yes.  All consular services are suspended.

[kellygram 16]

Consular shut down..

My interview was scheduled to happen on April, but the consular office saying all scheduled interviews are cancelled and they will let us know the newly scheduled date soon.

 

I believe even though they're saying 'soon', they got no concrete time frame ..

 

 

[SandyD 7]

But we never got an email. Shouldn't we get an email to confirm it is suspended? 

Also. April is long ways from now. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by SandyD

[Just Paul 4,595]

1 hour ago, SandyD said:

But we never got an email. Shouldn't we get an email to confirm it is suspended? 

Should - but there might not be anyone to clear the calendars and trigger the emails.

1 hour ago, SandyD said:

April is long ways from now.

It's next week.

[cyclone27 710]

If all goes well maybe in June. 

[kellygram 16]

Maybe you better to make a call to your embassy where the interview happens for the details.

 

 

 

[CGs_Mother 114]

Embassies and Consulates are subject to two sets of laws - the country of the embassy, and the municipal laws where the buildings are located. The buildings have to meet things like fire codes, occupancy permits, etc. So if the head country is suspending services, then they can't open. But if the head country is still operating but the city in which the building is located is under emergency orders, the building would still not be able to open and operate. That's why they can't post definitive dates of when consular processing will continue. Since the US lockdown is continuing until April 30, 2020, the embassy might reopen that date provided that it's located in an area that will reopen on that date. If you're in Canada,  for example, I can tell you right now that Montreal will not reopen until maybe June at the earliest. So you have to watch for both the US reopen date and the local, municipal reopen date. Sorry. 

[Hilde 381]

This will all be country-specific and the consulate will always follow USA procedures. I can´t imagine any consulate will open before June/July to do face-to-face interviews (even if it´s through the glass)... This is purely my personal opinion. 

[SalishSea 17,848]

On 3/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, CGs_Mother said:

Embassies and Consulates are subject to two sets of laws - the country of the embassy, and the municipal laws where the buildings are located. The buildings have to meet things like fire codes, occupancy permits, etc. So if the head country is suspending services, then they can't open. But if the head country is still operating but the city in which the building is located is under emergency orders, the building would still not be able to open and operate. That's why they can't post definitive dates of when consular processing will continue. Since the US lockdown is continuing until April 30, 2020, the embassy might reopen that date provided that it's located in an area that will reopen on that date. If you're in Canada,  for example, I can tell you right now that Montreal will not reopen until maybe June at the earliest. So you have to watch for both the US reopen date and the local, municipal reopen date. Sorry. 

Except in this particular case, it is the state department pulling diplomats and their families from overseas posts and repatriating them to the United States.

[noname_no 38]

@Jorgedig you are right. My case is still ' in transit' after 17 days. There were other two people I chat with that had their case 'ready' about a week after it was forwarded from NVC. 

 

We also tried contacting the embassy to want to make sure that our case is forwarded but no avail. We are concern we want to make sure it is with the embassy.

 

https://nypost.com/2020/04/16/dhl-slammed-by-skyrocketing-shipping-needs-during-coronavirus-crisis/ (It is not most reassuring right now when DHL is facing logistics issues themselves). We feel that we don't even know what to do. NVC told us that it is out of their hands and refer to the embassy and embassy is not replying. Feeling stuck and trying not to think about it but it is hard when the status remains the same.

[ghostfoxgoddess 160]

@Ryceryce I’d honestly try not to worry about not hearing anything from the embassy/consulate until they’ve started picking up routine processing again. With most of them currently barely staffed and only processing emergencies, paired with the amount of emails they are surely receiving regarding non-emergency issues, I can imagine they simply don’t have the (wo-)manpower to reply to requests that aren’t labeled as time critical  

[noname_no 38]

@ghostfoxgoddess Thank you so much for your reassurance. I think it's a combination of a lockdown and other life factors happening simultaneously that is creating a lot of anxiety. I really appreciate your reassurance.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/14/asia/women-government-leaders-coronavirus-hnk-intl/index.html (we need more wo-menpower)

[ghostfoxgoddess 160]

@Ryceryce believe me, I fully understand feeling anxious and uncertain - we’re all in the same boat here.

Just seeing how swamped my own work is right now, I - while hoping for an interview reschedule 74736462726368272 times a day - understand their issues with basically being understaffed and not being able to meet everyone’s expections/wishes/need for reassurances/whateverkindofrequest, even if they wanted to. The other people you’ve talked to may have just already heard something because of the specific moment in time their case came in, coincidentally having the file land on someone’s desk/in someone’s inbox who - at that very moment in time - had the capacity to do what it took for their system to trigger a notification/status change. 
I know it’s way easier said than done, but all we can do is our best to be patient, reminding ourselves that they may only have (random numbers here) 2 employees currently working for every 10 they would otherwise have, with those 2/10 prioritizing what meets time critical/emergency criteria 99% of their workday, using the other 1% to reply to requests/regular or administrative work items as much as they can, with the rest of routine processing matters unfortunately having to wait until at least part of the other 8/10 can return to work

[scudderb56 2]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:07 PM, ghostfoxgoddess said:

@Ryceryce believe me, I fully understand feeling anxious and uncertain - we’re all in the same boat here.

Just seeing how swamped my own work is right now, I - while hoping for an interview reschedule 74736462726368272 times a day - understand their issues with basically being understaffed and not being able to meet everyone’s expections/wishes/need for reassurances/whateverkindofrequest, even if they wanted to. The other people you’ve talked to may have just already heard something because of the specific moment in time their case came in, coincidentally having the file land on someone’s desk/in someone’s inbox who - at that very moment in time - had the capacity to do what it took for their system to trigger a notification/status change. 
I know it’s way easier said than done, but all we can do is our best to be patient, reminding ourselves that they may only have (random numbers here) 2 employees currently working for every 10 they would otherwise have, with those 2/10 prioritizing what meets time critical/emergency criteria 99% of their workday, using the other 1% to reply to requests/regular or administrative work items as much as they can, with the rest of routine processing matters unfortunately having to wait until at least part of the other 8/10 can return to work

The last update I received USCIS field offices and international offices are preparing to go to full operations June 4. I am assuming that also means the Embassies as well.