Are consulates prioritizing interviews for IR1/CR1 over K1?

[Sm4598 37]

Wondering if consulates/embassies are prioritizing IR1/CR1 visa interviews over K1 interviews, or potentially even the other way around?

 

I’ve found some mention of this in the forums (just people speculating) and am wondering if there is any evidence of this.

 

I know that IR1/CR1 visas and K1 visas are all exempt from the travel ban, but as IR1/CR1 are immigrant visas and K1s are not, would there be a different prioritization? Or is it just being done in order of receipt? 

 

*I know there’s no way to know for sure and that the process is a black box. I’m just wondering if anyone has any relevant information (e.g. something an NVC officer said on the phone) or personal experiences that might be relevant.*

Edited October 19, 2020 by Sm4598

[Crazy Cat 41,772]

K-1s are not exempt from the travel ban.

[Sm4598 37]

7 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

K-1s are not exempt from the travel ban.

My bad! I meant the freeze on new visas, i.e. “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak." Sorry, so many bans and freezes and closures to keep straight. 

 

Will edit to clarify. 

[Crazy Cat 41,772]

Just now, Sm4598 said:

Sorry, so many bans and freezes and closures to keep straight. 

That is the absolute truth.......I certainly can't keep up with all the policy changes, fee changes, court orders, etc......😄

[Sm4598 37]

Seems like I can’t update my original post, but I meant to say that K1 visas are exempt from the Presidential Proclamation suspending the issuance of certain types of visas until the end of 2020, not that they’re exempt from the travel ban. 

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, Sm4598 said:

Seems like I can’t update my original post, but I meant to say that K1 visas are exempt from the Presidential Proclamation suspending the issuance of certain types of visas until the end of 2020, not that they’re exempt from the travel ban. 

They are exempt per se, but they ARE NOT  considered mission critical like the spouse visa 

Edited October 19, 2020 by payxibka

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, Sm4598 said:

*I know there’s no way to know for sure and that the process is a black box. I’m just wondering if anyone has any relevant information (e.g. something an NVC officer said on the phone) or personal experiences that might be relevant.*

 

You can check the stats and make your own conclusions about whether consulates are really prioritizing spouse visas if you don't want to take their website announcements at face value.  For example, taking the July and August figures for Manila, assuming stable demand for visas, there has been >80% drop in the number of K1 visas issued by the embassy from last year, while for CR1/IR1 the decrease is not so drastic --

 

Jul 2019:  668 K1, 91 CR1, 109 IR1

Jul 2020:  111 K1, 76 CR1, 84 IR1

 

Aug 2019:  499 K1, 81 CR1, 81 IR1

Aug 2020:  43 K1, 52 CR1, 52 IR1

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics.html

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

You can check your consulate website. Those that have restarted routine visas will usually say what type, and IR visas are indeed usually the first to be prioritized (some also prioritized student visas due to time constraints). Different embassies are doing different things so some will be issuing more types of visas than others. 

 

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to US Embassy and Consulate Discussion.