US Embassy Reopening - Update Thread

[My Mzuri 20]

16 minutes ago, Hanre said:

Hi again all. 

Thanks for keeping the thread going. The Lusaka, Zambia, consulate website has been posting weekly (most weeks) updates on where they stand on covid and general activities. Since the beginning they kept on posting "routine visa services have been suspended". Until today. Our latest update doesn't include that line anymore. This could be good news potentially, or just someone who forgot to add it. Since I am an optimist, I would like to think that this is a good sign. Zambia is not allowing tourists in, but they are allowing most other travelers in, for business, residents and people with work permits. Which I assume means embassy staff as well... Though there is still 2 weeks home quarantine. 

Have a look on your embassy pages on whether the same update is there. 

Cheers 

H

 

Thanks for the update H. I will take a look at the Nairobi embassy and let you know what it says. 

[sl1pstream 551]

23 hours ago, My Mzuri said:

Thanks for the update H. I will take a look at the Nairobi embassy and let you know what it says. 

Ours shows the same thing. I've noticed that the visa wait times have been updated on a few embassy websites to show actual wait times instead of "emergency only", but I have no idea if those that have the wait times were updated to say "emergency only" in the first place. It looks like the ones in the Schengen zone that I checked are all still at "emergency only" but I only checked London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels.

[AlexaC 28]

does anyone know if the decision to open the consulate comes from the host country or the US? I've tried to contact the consulate in Montreal but I just get the same copy/paste response. 

[sl1pstream 551]

Okay, so the one in Lisbon, Portugal, shows wait times instead of emergency only. Considering that Portugal is in the Schengen zone and also banned from traveling, it's probably not related to the travel ban. It's still super weird.

  

54 minutes ago, Alexag said:

does anyone know if the decision to open the consulate comes from the host country or the US? I've tried to contact the consulate in Montreal but I just get the same copy/paste response. 

It comes from the US. Essential businesses have been allowed to operate in a lot of countries for a while at this point. Embassies seem to be on the top of the essential business list. No one knows what the exact requirements are that would make them open again. A lot of people are assuming that they follow the DoS' "Diplomacy Strong" plan, but that hasn't actually been officially stated, so no one really knows. The Trump administration is in the middle of trying to push through a whole bunch of new restrictions, extra paperwork requirements and new fees, so it could also be related to that. But no one really knows.

I'm pretty sure the embassies and consulates don't know either, which is why all they're sending out is the same copy/paste response.

Edited July 3, 2020 by sl1pstream

[My Mzuri 20]

1 hour ago, Alexag said:

does anyone know if the decision to open the consulate comes from the host country or the US? I've tried to contact the consulate in Montreal but I just get the same copy/paste response. 

My assumption is that according to the Diplomacy Strong policy of the state department, they already have the green light to operate depending on the situation of the country. I received this reply from the Embassy in Nairobi when I emailed a few weeks back.

[sl1pstream 551]

1 minute ago, My Mzuri said:

My assumption is that according to the Diplomacy Strong policy of the state department, they already have the green light to operate depending on the situation of the country. I received this reply from the Embassy in Nairobi when I emailed a few weeks back.

If they're allowed to operate under the Diplomacy Strong plan and aren't, it's not based on the Diplomacy Strong plan.

[LegalAlienn 125]

This has nothing to do with us but at least gives us some hope. German embassy in Bosnia is opening up from next week, and day will be processing just some type of visas and one of those is family based. Let’s hope US goes the same way 

[My Mzuri 20]

1 hour ago, LegalAlienn said:

This has nothing to do with us but at least gives us some hope. German embassy in Bosnia is opening up from next week, and day will be processing just some type of visas and one of those is family based. Let’s hope US goes the same way 

 

2 hours ago, sl1pstream said:

If they're allowed to operate under the Diplomacy Strong plan and aren't, it's not based on the Diplomacy Strong plan.

Have you read the policy document? https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6884940-Diplomacy-Strong.html#text/p3 it specifically says that local conditions will determine when the embassy/consulate can safely open

[sl1pstream 551]

10 minutes ago, My Mzuri said:

 

Have you read the policy document? https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6884940-Diplomacy-Strong.html#text/p3 it specifically says that local conditions will determine when the embassy/consulate can safely open

Not sure if you specifically linked to page 3 for a reason, but page 3 talks about domestic facilities.

 

The thing that people keep missing about this is that it talks about operations. It doesn't mention what they can process anywhere. The routine visa processing suspension is separate from their regular operations. They can operate and do a whole bunch of things while keeping routine visa processing suspended.

 

And again, if they are following the plan, which they apparently are according to everyone who keeps linking to that, they should've been processing visas in some countries for weeks, but they haven't. So again, visa processing isn't starting up again according to this plan. Their ability to come into the office might, but visa processing isn't.

 

If you can quote the exact part of the document that specifically mentions routine visa processing, please do? It'd be weird, because it's not actually in there.

Edited July 3, 2020 by sl1pstream

[My Mzuri 20]

4 minutes ago, sl1pstream said:

Not sure if you specifically linked to page 3 for a reason, but page 3 talks about domestic facilities.

 

The thing that people keep missing about this is that it talks about operations. It doesn't mention what they can process anywhere. The routine visa processing suspension is separate from their regular operations. They can operate and do a whole bunch of things while keeping routine visa processing suspended.

 

And again, if they are following the plan, which they apparently are according to everyone who keeps linking to that, they should've been processing visas in some countries for weeks, but they haven't. So again, visa processing isn't starting up again according to this plan. Their ability to come into the office might, but visa processing isn't.

 

If you can quote the exact part of the document that specifically mentions routine visa processing, please do? It'd be weird, because it's not actually in there.

Nothing in particular about page 3. Was just linking to the document. So do you think they are not returning to routine services right now because of a directive from Washington? Which would get back to the administrations anti-immigration stance?

[sl1pstream 551]

1 minute ago, My Mzuri said:

Nothing in particular about page 3. Was just linking to the document. So do you think they are not returning to routine services right now because of a directive from Washington? Which would get back to the administrations anti-immigration stance?

The horrible side effect of the ridiculous amount of EOs is that it's super hard to Google any specific one, so ugh. I do remember a video of Trump announcing that he's ordered the suspension, so yes, it's a directive from Washington. It's super hard to predict if it's really just temporary because of the workload, or if it's there until he explicitly gives them the go-ahead. I have no idea, it could go either way.

 

All I know is that there are a bunch of countries who've somewhat successfully flattened the curve, but that there isn't a single country where they've processed anything other than mission-critical and emergency visas.

[OrihimeandIchigo 216]

6 hours ago, My Mzuri said:

 

Have you read the policy document? https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6884940-Diplomacy-Strong.html#text/p3 it specifically says that local conditions will determine when the embassy/consulate can safely open

Its confusing though, Sweden has famously NEVER been in lock down. Schools, public transportation, businesses were always open and public gatherings of 500 and then to 50 were allowed. I can attest to this I had to send my kids to school by law this whole time in Sweden. And the Stockholm Embassy is only doing "emergency services". 

Edited July 4, 2020 by OrihimeandIchigo

[AlexaC 28]

5 hours ago, OrihimeandIchigo said:

Its confusing though, Sweden has famously NEVER been in lock down. Schools, public transportation, businesses were always open and public gatherings of 500 and then to 50 were allowed. I can attest to this I had to send my kids to school by law this whole time in Sweden. And the Stockholm Embassy is only doing "emergency services". 

that just goes to show that it’s the department if state’s decision to continue routine visa services and not the host country unfortunately

[AlexaC 28]

14 minutes ago, Alexag said:

that just goes to show that it’s the department if state’s decision to continue routine visa services and not the host country unfortunately

Although the department of states website does say “Individuals interested in the operations of a particular post should contact that embassy or consulate directly” which makes it all very confusing 

[OrihimeandIchigo 216]

1 minute ago, Alexag said:

Although the department of states website does say “Individuals interested in the operations of a particular post should contact that embassy or consulate directly” which makes it all very confusing 

O.O really where does it say that if I may ask? I would love to see