Is Manila accepting expedites for K1?

[DanielMarianne 49]

Case has been filed! Super excited and honored that they chose me as the lead plaintiff too. Really hoping we get some reprieve now!
https://twitter.com/ckuck/status/1384991018974687242

[Marek50 24]

17 hours ago, nykolos said:

Just because you failed to comprehend what I posted, doesn't make it a lie.. I quoted a member who's NO2 date was in May of 2020, the USEM in Manila closed in March of 2020, that's amounts to a 2 month backlog of petitioners who are front of him.. And to say that a 2 month backlog amounts to 8 months is pure speculation on your part, you posted nothing to substantiate that.

 

Yes, at the time I posted this, I called Philippine Airlines and was informed that I could go to the Philippine consulate and request a Tourist Visa, Vaccination required, once I have that I can book my flight.. No quarantine, however it would be subject to change.

 

I have to ask, Are you associated with a law firm? I suspect that you and some others here are as well, otherwise why are you being so defensive? and why are you pushing so much negativity about Petitioners who don't join in the lawsuit?, It reads like YT videos from Immigration lawyers who push these same doom and gloom scenarios, suggesting; "If you don't acquire our services or join in our lawsuit, it could be years before you see your fiance",  Or as one wrote, "you wont be with your Fiance for Christmas"  LMAO.   

I see a lot of Immigration attorney's on social media taking full advantage of Covid and the lock downs, just like they have with other tragedies of the past, They're the modern day version of Ambulance chasers, what remains unchanged is they'll never offer their clients a guaranty of success,  if their unsuccessful in the lawsuit, the Attorney's keep all the money you paid, and you're no further ahead than you were before you gave the money, just $2500 poorer.

 

 

 

 I'm going to help you out with a little dose of logic and reality for the sake of good will. The Embassy, even if they were to start resuming regular K1's like they have magically just stated DO NOT HAVE THE MANPOWER TO DO THEM. Do you think they are fully staffed just waiting to resume full capacity???? Are you seriously that naive and uninformed ?  I'm not trying to be nasty, but wholly cow dude. You are living in a fantasy world right now. And PH Air is now in charge of entry into the Philippines??? Please let us all know how that appointment at your local closed consulate goes for your tourist visa 🙂 The only people taking advantage of the covid lock downs are the US embassies. True story.  I don't have any issue at all that you have not joined the lawsuit but just be honest with yourself first and foremost. You are going to be waiting a long time, you seem ok with that and there is nothing wrong with your decision either, 🙂

[nykolos 711]

1 hour ago, Marek50 said:

 I'm going to help you out with a little dose of logic and reality for the sake of good will. 🙂

Interpretation:  "I'm going to help myself out by promoting this lawsuit and degrading anyone here who opposes it" 

 

 

1 hour ago, Marek50 said:

 The Embassy, even if they were to start resuming regular K1's like they have magically just stated DO NOT HAVE THE MANPOWER TO DO THEM. Do you think they are fully staffed just waiting to resume full capacity???? Are you seriously that naive and uninformed ?  I'm not trying to be nasty, but wholly cow dude. You are living in a fantasy world right now. 

it's clear that you haven't read my earlier posts in this thread, I was one of the first to post that the wait time for processing at the USEM will extend into 2022, I'm a realist and in 100% agreement with that.. Go back and READ!

 

2 hours ago, Marek50 said:

And PH Air is now in charge of entry into the Philippines??? Please let us all know how that appointment at your local closed consulate goes for your tourist visa

You're wrong again, just like you were wrong about litigants having priority ahead of other K Visa applicants.

 

The Philippine consulate in Los Angeles IS open by appointment only, you can check that online. There was an exemption period where you could obtain a tourist visa and would be allowed entry, that was about the time that I made the call to PAL, they were correct. 

 

I think that once Manila and surrounding provinces end ECQ at the end of this month, the consulates will allow tourists to once again apply for Travel Visa's.. When that happens, I plan to book my flight for late June or early July.  

  

 

 

1 hour ago, Marek50 said:

 You are going to be waiting a long time, you seem ok with that and there is nothing wrong with your decision either, 🙂

Again, I'm fully aware of the long wait ahead, with that said, you don't know me at all, and you don't what lengths I've gone through and what I'm currently going through to expedite the process.

 

[Marek50 24]

15 hours ago, nykolos said:

I

 

You're wrong again, just like you were wrong about litigants having priority ahead of other K Visa applicants.

 

 

 

Everything else is like beating a dead horse at this point. Litigants in the Milligan case have gotten priority over everyone else just like ALL the mandamus cases Josh Goldstein  has done so far. Can you cite an example where they have not gotten a priority? Just because someone says something out of opinion, I wouldn't believe it as fact. Look at the facts to find your answer on this one. 🙂  They may not supposed to be able to get priority, but they do and they have in past practice. The judge only cares about the case in front of them.

[nykolos 711]

21 hours ago, Marek50 said:

Litigants in the Milligan case have gotten priority over everyone else just like ALL the mandamus cases Josh Goldstein  has done so far. Can you cite an example where they have not gotten a priority? 

Can you cite one case example where they have?  

 

In this thread alone, not one person has posted they even won a Mandamus case, let alone been given priority, but yet they talk it up.  

 

 

 

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 hour ago, nykolos said:

Can you cite one case example where they have?  

 

In this thread alone, not one person has posted they even won a Mandamus case, let alone been given priority, but yet they talk it up.  

 

 

 

This has been part of the problem with out of these lawsuits out there.  Applicants getting interviews for other reasons and some of the legal firms taking credit for this.  I know two people who joined the current lawsuit and backed out for various reasons.  One received an interview a week or two ago for July 8th whereas the other one is still waiting.  Ive spoken to the Immigration attorneys at my work and most cant really provided comment without knowing more details on the cases.  I work at at company, not a law firm, and our immigration attorneys are move focused on Work visas then family visas.

 

Some of the concerning points for this would be who actually has received an interview in Manila because of the work the attorneys have done.  I believe the 1st round there were around 6-7 couples.  I believe all of them have received interviews, but digging into the cases more, maybe 1 or 2 was there a direct correlation between them and the work of the legal firm.  Most of the others appear to have received interviews purely circumstantial.  Round 2 was filed in December and I believe there were 23 couples.  As to my understanding, none have had an interview yet.  Round 3 has alot more couples, but in my opinion the legal firm should have given more time to get more applicants.  150 seems like alot, but its only 2% of the backlog.  I think a better case could have been made if they could have got up to 500 or more.  

 

I truly have empathy for the ones who have been waiting so long for an interview.  Lawsuit or no lawsuit, I hope the embassy starts processing K1s asap, especially for people waiting since Feb/March 2020.  This can be extremely hard for couples who may not have had alot of time to spend together before they started the K1 process. 

 

A positive point is it does appear that the US embassy employees will start to be vaccinated.  The VA in Manila has received the Pfizer vaccine for US citizens living in the country and I believe the Embassy workers will receive this.  That will be helpful in moving towards normalization.  The other thing where I believe USEM is being stubborn in their visa processing is there is no ambassador.  Ambassador Kim left in October and as far as I know, the ship has been without a captain since then.  If an Ambassador can be brought in, that may help slightly.  Then you have the local conditions, but Ive written on that too much before.  I also thought that the embassy should just have people located in Manila do their interviews even if it meant skipping over others outside of the NCR area.  People in Manila are not really bound by too many travel restrictions.  Finally, State Dept is hiring a ton of Foreign Service officers which is good news.  My understanding is many of the FSO's in Manila left the State Dept during the pandemic.  Many FSOs were extremely unhappy with how the State Dept was being run and left.

 

The last thing is I deal with US Embassies all over the world, plus other country embassies as part of my job.  The backlog at USEM is not particular to that embassy.  Its most other US Embassies as well.  In addition, every foreign government I deal with has a ton of backlog.  Processing times for other country visas (especially work visas) are 2 to 5 times longer now, if they are even possible.

[nykolos 711]

On 4/23/2021 at 3:41 PM, flicks1998 said:

Lawsuit or no lawsuit, I hope the embassy starts processing K1s asap, especially for people waiting since Feb/March 2020.  This can be extremely hard for couples who may not have had alot of time to spend together before they started the K1 process. 

 

This recent prioritization announcement from the State Dept, K1's are in Tier 2

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/immigrant-visa-prioritization.html

 

 

Immigrant Visa Prioritization

Last Updated: April 30, 2021

 

As noted in our recent visa services operating status update, the Department of State is committed to sharing the current status of our worldwide visa operations.  As part of that effort, we would like to provide more details regarding how our embassies and consulates are prioritizing immigrant visa applications as the Department works to reduce the backlog of such applications resulting from travel restrictions and operational constraints caused by the global COVID pandemic.

The health and safety of our personnel, U.S. citizens seeking assistance abroad, individuals seeking immigration benefits, and local populations is paramount.  Posts that process both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas are prioritizing immigrant visa applications while still providing some nonimmigrant visa services.  However, the volume and type of visa cases each post will process continues to depend on local conditions, including restrictions on movement and gathering imposed by host country governments.  In addition, consistent with U.S. government guidance on safety in the federal workplace, U.S. embassies and consulates have implemented social distancing and other safety measures, which have reduced the number of applicants consular sections are able to process in a single day.  Consular sections will resume providing all routine visa services as it is safe to do so in that particular location.

The petitioners and applicants in the immigrant visa process are more than just numbers.  We acknowledge the stress and hardships they have borne during the past year of reduced operating capacity as a result of COVID and necessary measures taken to protect health and safety or to comply with local requirements, as well as COVID-related limitations on their travel or visa issuance.  We also recognize the importance of each immigrant visa category.  However, during the pandemic the Department has been forced to make difficult decisions regarding how our consular sections should prioritize immigrant visa applications as they operate at limited capacity and as they work through a backlog of immigrant visa cases once they resume full operating capacity.  The guiding principle on which we have based immigrant visa prioritization is that family reunification is a clear priority of the U.S. Government’s immigration policy, a priority is expressed in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  Specifically, the Department’s prioritization relied on clear direction from Congress that the Department must adopt a policy of prioritizing immediate relative visa applicants and K-1 fiancées of U.S. citizens, followed by family preference immigrant visa applicants.    

Consistent with those objectives, U.S. embassies and consulates are using a tiered approach to triage immigrant visa applications based on the category of immigrant visa as they resume and expand processing.  While our consular sections, where possible, are scheduling some appointments within all four priority tiers every month, the following lists the main categories of immigrant visas in priority order:

• Tier One: Immediate relative intercountry adoption visas, age-out cases (cases where the applicant will soon no longer qualify due to their age), and certain Special Immigrant Visas (SQ and SI for Afghan and Iraqi nationals working with the U.S. government)
   
• Tier Two:  Immediate relative visas; fiancé(e) visas; and returning resident visas
   
• Tier Three: Family preference immigrant visas and SE Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees of the U.S. government abroad
   
• Tier Four: All other immigrant visas, including employment preference and diversity visas

Many embassies and consulates continue to have a significant backlog of all categories of immigrant visas.  This prioritization plan instructs posts to maximize their limited resources to accommodate as many immediate relative and fiancé(e) cases as possible with a goal of, at a minimum, preventing the backlog from growing in these categories and hopefully reducing it. However, the prioritization plan also instructs posts to schedule and adjudicate some cases in Tier Three and Tier Four each month.  The Department recognizes that visa applicants, particularly those in Tiers Three and Four, will face continued delays.  We further acknowledge that certain programs, including the diversity visa program, operate on a fiscal year basis as required by law.  The Department values the diversity visa program and is making every effort to process as many diversity visa cases as possible, consistent with other priorities, despite the severe operational constraints and backlog resulting from the COVID pandemic.  However, as a result of COVID the number of visas issued in lower-priority preference categories or in such programs as the diversity visa program likely will not approach the statutory ceiling in Fiscal Year 2021.   

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by nykolos

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

On 4/24/2021 at 6:41 AM, flicks1998 said:

The VA in Manila has received the Pfizer vaccine for US citizens living in the country

Do you have any more information on this?  My contact here at RAO said the VA vaccines were for vets only.

[flicks1998 1,044]

6 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

Do you have any more information on this?  My contact here at RAO said the VA vaccines were for vets only.

I dont have any updates except what was listed a while back.  Is there anything on the USEM website?  I can try and search to see what the latest is. 

[flicks1998 1,044]

10 hours ago, nykolos said:

This recent prioritization announcement from the State Dept, K1's are in Tier 2

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/immigrant-visa-prioritization.html

 

 

 

 

Thats the most detail I have ever seen them release.  From reading it, it seems relatively promising that K1s may start moving.  I think it wont be known until early June though once they release the monthly visa processing numbers.  If those stay consistent to previous months, it could just be more hot air.

[Ontarkie 14,227]

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