Delaying an Interview - Update

[canadavisa22 202]

Hello everyone,

 

My interview is set for December 7th but due to COVID my wife and I decided to make a life change and the plan doesn't include moving to the US for the foreseeable future (we both live in Canada). So I emailed the Consulate to get instructions on how long I can delay an interview for and how to keep my file active with the Consulate in case we changed our minds down the line.

 

They replied that you have one year following receiving your interview letter to reschedule your appointment or else your file is terminated. 

 

I had read in the past that if you contacted the Consulate at least once per year your file would remain active, but according to the Montreal Consulate that is not the case. So now I'm awaiting clarity on if my file would be sent back to USCIS or if it would be kept at NVC.

 

If anyone has any experience with this please let me know if the Consulate officer is mistaken. I will post updates here for anyone else who ends up in a similar situation in the future.

[igoyougoduke 1,656]

1 year is the max 

[HRQX 4,145]

1 hour ago, canadavisa22 said:

If anyone has any experience with this please let me know if the Consulate officer is mistaken. I will post updates here for anyone else who ends up in a similar situation in the future.

Respond by quoting the Foreign Affairs Manual: https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM050413.html

An applicant becomes liable to possible termination of registration under INA 203(g) if the applicant:

(1)  Has not made an application for a visa within one year of notice of visa availability.  The beneficiary has one year to make an application for a visa, beginning on the date the notice of visa availability is issued.

(2)  Does not respond to the appointment notice included with the Immigrant Visa Appointment Package, meaning that the applicant fails to appear for a visa application interview on the scheduled appointment date and fails to take further action on the case within one year of the scheduled interview;

(3)  Is refused at the interview under INA 221(g), and fails to present evidence purporting to overcome the basis for a refusal under INA 221(g) within one-year following the refusal; or

(4)  Fails to comply with the Follow-up Instruction Package for Immigrant Visa Applicants or logs into their CEAC account within one year.

Edited December 1, 2020 by HRQX

[canadavisa22 202]

17 hours ago, HRQX said:

Respond by quoting the Foreign Affairs Manual: https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM050413.html

An applicant becomes liable to possible termination of registration under INA 203(g) if the applicant:

(1)  Has not made an application for a visa within one year of notice of visa availability.  The beneficiary has one year to make an application for a visa, beginning on the date the notice of visa availability is issued.

(2)  Does not respond to the appointment notice included with the Immigrant Visa Appointment Package, meaning that the applicant fails to appear for a visa application interview on the scheduled appointment date and fails to take further action on the case within one year of the scheduled interview;

(3)  Is refused at the interview under INA 221(g), and fails to present evidence purporting to overcome the basis for a refusal under INA 221(g) within one-year following the refusal; or

(4)  Fails to comply with the Follow-up Instruction Package for Immigrant Visa Applicants or logs into their CEAC account within one year.

The question with #2 there is what's considered "further action"?

 

Is simply responding once a year that "I'm not ready to reschedule my visa appointment interview at this time" considered further action on the case?

 

(CT:VISA-544;   03-28-2018)

a. Failure to Appear:  The Department (CA/VO) considers the end of the one-year period to apply for the visa to be a mandated date triggering termination of the petition for inactive applications.  The one-year period stops, however, if during that time the applicant takes substantive steps to apply for the visa, such as rescheduling the immigrant visa appointment date.  If the applicant reschedules the appointment date within one year of an initial failure to appear  the one-year period to take action on the visa would begin anew on the new appointment date.

OR 

Do I just keep setting a new appointment date each year and then not showing up in order to extend the one-year period? That seems sort of instinctively wrong to do though.

Edited December 2, 2020 by canadavisa22