K1 Action Plan - Getting Consulates to Process Our Visas

[Kasia & Damian 22]

3 minutes ago, Jody and Misho said:

And every Embassy knew this - so why is Cairo (for example) continuing suspension of all but emergency services through the end of September?  This makes no sense!

We contacted an Embassy in Warsaw, Poland regarding the health issue of my fiance- he has to have a surgery- they just don't care and responded with generic e-mail that we have to wait.. I mean.. ?!

[Zaichik&Miska 44]

4 hours ago, Kasia & Damian said:

Ohh really? Do you have the link to this info by any chance? We are willing to try everything.

 

[pooj97 89]

I contacted my two senators from NC last month and one didn't reply but the one who did was pretty helpful. Their office contacted the Montreal embassy on my behalf who said, "As local conditions permit, our missions will phase in processing some routine nonimmigrant and immigrant visa cases. Please note that the Presidential Proclamation does not include K-1 fiancee visa applications as mission-critical exceptions." 

 

So basically no good news, but hopefully the fact that my senator is involved counts for something  

[tris&kris 132]

@pooj97 Great job getting involved. Ask the involved Senator’s office to contact State Department leadership in DC and their Congressional Liaison Office to convey the concern that K1s should be mission critical and exempt from travel restrictions. Keep at it!

[E&W 146]

15 hours ago, Jody and Misho said:

And every Embassy knew this - so why is Cairo (for example) continuing suspension of all but emergency services through the end of September?  This makes no sense!

Might be because there is suspicion that the Egyptian government isn’t reporting the true numbers. And that the numbers are still pretty high. If they can’t get accurate information, they just don’t know if and when it’s safe for them to open up. At least that’s how I would interpert this. I’m sorry in any case, it is unfair to be suffering because of other people’s actions.

Edited July 18, 2020 by E&W

[Dia 10]

On 7/13/2020 at 4:18 PM, dkristof87 said:

Got a total garbage reply by Ohio Senator Rob Portman. It was also sent from a noreply email address so I can't even follow up to call him on it. It's clear that no one from his office even bothered to read the message I sent, he's up for reelection 2022...

 

<Thank you for contacting me to express your views on the Trump Administration’s decision to temporarily suspend new work visas amidst the coronavirus pandemic. It is good to hear from you.

As our nation reacted to the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, the overall unemployment rate in the United States nearly quadrupled between February and May of 2020. With over 20 million people abruptly losing their jobs, we experienced the most extreme unemployment ever recorded by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics since the Great Depression. While economic jobs reports since June have indicated that those numbers are getting better, millions of Americans still remain out of work.

In response to the labor market, the Trump Administration has extended a freeze on green cards and suspended new temporary work visas through the end of the year. The order targets high-skilled workers who would receive H-1B visas, as well as corporate management working under L-1 visas.  The ban also applies to H-2B visas for seasonal workers and J visas for cultural exchange work programs. The order does not affect workers already in the U.S., or workers outside of the U.S. who already have been issued work visas. There will also be a narrow exception for certain medical workers dealing specifically with coronavirus research and caring for COVID-19 patients, and for H-2A agriculture workers who work in the food supply industry. There is also a separate provision allowing individuals to request exemptions based on their individual circumstances.

The temporary suspension is set to expire at the end of this year when we are hopefully nearing the end of the pandemic.  Please know that I will monitor this situation closely and keep your views in mind.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.  For more information you can visit my website at www.portman.senate.gov.  Please keep in touch.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Rob Portman
U.S. Senator>

Thank you for sharing! reading through it...uh? Am I missing something or does this response say literally NOTHING about our K1 situation?
"suspension is set to expire at the end of this year", that is for work visas right?

 

[dkristof87 14]

3 hours ago, Dia said:

Thank you for sharing! reading through it...uh? Am I missing something or does this response say literally NOTHING about our K1 situation?
"suspension is set to expire at the end of this year", that is for work visas right?

 

It is, and yes, they completely failed to mention anything regarding K1s. My guess is they have a bot that scans their emails for key words. There bot detected "VISA" and sent this garbage auto reply, meaning it's highly doubtful that anyone actually read my message. It's nice to know your representative cares about what you have to say...

[Zaichik&Miska 44]

The #LoveIsNotToursim and #LoveIsEssential campaigns are gaining more and more traction in EU countries. #ResumeK1Visa is piggybacking on their success. Fire up your Twitter accounts and join the voices. I started up an account and am getting retweeted left and right, hopefully the powers that be will take notice soon.

 

In other news, got a reply from a Senator's office and the Congresswoman's office. They sent off my request inquiring on my case and the embassy just gave the standard reply that routine visa processing has not been resumed yet. The respective offices also took the time to blame the administration for everything. Ugh, I really hate politics. I just want my fiancee here.

[angu88 3]

Thank you so much Tris&Kris for getting this thread started. I have contacted my representative and senators by email and by phone. I have received only a reply from Dianne Feinstein talking about all the work she does to support immigration in general. I will try doing the "Need Help with a Federal Agency" route. Thank you! The embassy in Madrid also wrote me stating they cannot process K1 due to the travel ban, so when I call my congresspeople I say that an exemption should be made within the travel ban that states that K1 visas are exempt as they have done for student visas. We definitely have more influence in numbers. I hope this gets sorted out soon!

[TakeMeHome 43]

Hello everyone, please sign and share this petition on your social medias. 

 

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/letusmarry

 

I am also tweeting about it on Twitter as @Zaichik&Miska said, it is getting quite a bit of attention. 

 

There are also some news outlets covering our struggles so thats good but lets keep talking! 

 

[TakeMeHome 43]

Hello everyone please check this out. Huge update on this petition 

 

https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-open-the-embassies-for-k1-applicants?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_22934891_en-US%3A5&recruiter=1140318062&recruited_by_id=260d9830-dbff-11ea-ab14-9332a5af10c2&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial

 

 

Read the update above the comments there! 

[Joy18 7]

Are some embassies processing K1 visas? My fiancé had his interview before the lockdown but was missing a document and had to bring it to the Dropbox later. Now months later the embassy emailed us saying they received it and need another document and 2 recent photos. I’m just curious if this could mean good news for us. 

[JacobP 186]

24 minutes ago, Joy18 said:

Are some embassies processing K1 visas? My fiancé had his interview before the lockdown but was missing a document and had to bring it to the Dropbox later. Now months later the embassy emailed us saying they received it and need another document and 2 recent photos. I’m just curious if this could mean good news for us. 

At least Taiwan and New Zealand are doing regular K-1 processing and a handful more are doing expedited cases. I'd be cautiously optimistic, I don't see anything suggesting Sudan is processing any regular visas, but they might be able to work on their already-interviewed cases.

[millefleur 5,047]

**Several posts removed regarding Siskind lawsuit; these posts were seeking money for a retainer and this constitutes a violation of the TOS for fundraising/advertisement. Any other posts alluding to this lawsuit will be removed and admin action will be taken.**

 

VJ Moderation

Edited August 26, 2020 by millefleur

[millefleur 5,047]

7 hours ago, TiEy said:

I am not part of the lawsuit but I find it really unreasonable to ban people for talking about it on a visa forum. Still to understand how it hurts the forum.

The posts that were removed included links to external Google documents (the only such links we allow at this time are Google sheet case trackers made/monitored by our members). We remove any link to any external Google doc (aside from the member made sheets), unless it is allowed by the VJ admin in a special circumstance.

 

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