US travel with immigrant visa

[ashp65 4]

Summary of my situation:

- Our FB3 visas was approved back in Jan'20 and due to expire June'20.

- We did not travel before the expiry date because of the obvious reasons and our visas expired.

- We have sent our passports and visa pack back to the US Embassy in London to re-open our application and invited to undergo medicals and re-schedule an interview.

- Our passports have not been returned yet which is worrying because we require these for the medical and interview.

- If we book our medicals, the re-issued visa will expire within 6 months and with US border still closed should we wait until this changes?

- Question is, can we travel to US with our immigration visa, will we be exempt from the current travel restrictions?

[aratamorne 164]

The Secretary of State has determined that the entry of the following travelers is in the national interest for purposes of exceptions to all four proclamations. The Secretary may revise these national interest determinations as circumstances warrant.

These three categories of travelers are automatically considered for National Interest Exception (NIE) at the Port of Entry and do not require advance approval of a NIE from an embassy or consulate.

• immigrants of all categories (not applicable to Proclamation 10199, which only covers nonimmigrant travel);
• fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens and their dependents (K visas);
• Students (F and M visas) as described here;
• New or returning students present in China, Brazil, Iran, South Africa, or India may arrive  no earlier than 30 days before the start of an academic program beginning August 1, 2021 or after, including optional practical training (OPT);

[ashp65 4]

So going by this, we will be ok to travel to US once we our visas.