US Embassy wait times

[rhess22 0]

Hello,

 

My fiance and I met earlier this year, and after having an online relationship for a while, we finally met in Costa Rica on the 3rd to the 11th of this month to spend time together, gather evidence and do an official proposal.  We had an amazing time :).   She is everything I was hoping for, and more.are preparing the K-1 Visa, and she is from Venezuela, and I am a US Citizen.  

 

Since Venezuela no longer has an embassy, they are directed to use the Columbian embassy in Bogota.  Right now we are working with my lawyer to try to find another US Embassy that can process her since the K-1 is processed as an 'immigrant Visa' and the wait time is sitting on 717 days as of today.   She has family in Costa Rica, in addition to other areas.  Residency would likely not work out, since we'd pretty much have to wait as long as the Bogota wait time.

 

She has a passport, not she is not likely eligible for a Visitors Visa (since the turmoil in Venezuela happened a few years ago, they no longer have bank accounts and have been struggling, so proving she has anything of monetary value would likely be impossible).  She has income from her clothing business she owns, but its pretty much just paying the bills.  Below is a link to the countries that she has access to with her passport.

 

https://embassy-finder.com/travel-with_venezuela_passport

 

Basically what we are looking for is a country that will accept third country nationals and doesn't have a crazy wait time.  I'd hate to wait 2 1/2 years to even get her to the US.  Although my fiances are in order and I personally have no problems, me paying to fly her out of Venezuela for extended periods of time is financially not an option. We found that it usually costs me anywhere from 1.5-2k just to get her out of Venezuela and back.  That doesn't count my travel or our hotel stays.

 

I've been trying to email and call each US Embassy separately, but I was wondering if there was any success or helpful links people have used in the past to find an US embassy that accepted third country nationals (TCNs).  I've also been using this link below to quickly check the appointment wait times.

 

https://visagrader.com/us-visa-appointment-wait-times

 

We plan on filing on December 3rd with all the required paperwork, so any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Rick

 

 

 

 

 

[powerpuff 6,697]

Consulate shopping is generally not allowed. You have to have compelling ties such as residency or a work visa, etc. to have your case transferred to a consulate other than your designated one. Long wait times are usually not a good excuse. All you can do is email consulates individually to see if they’ll be willing to accept your case but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re unwilling to do so. 

[rhess22 0]

Understood.  Since her US Embassy isn't available anymore, they did point to Columbia but from what I understood they were considered shopping even there.    Its almost as if she doesn't have a 'home' Embassy with everything that is going on in Venezuela.

 

 

[powerpuff 6,697]

9 minutes ago, rhess22 said:

they were considered shopping even there.    Its almost as if she doesn't have a 'home' Embassy with everything that is going on in Venezuela.

Bogota is officially the designated consulate for immigrant applicants from Venezuela (K1s are always processed by an immigrant unit). There’s no consulate shopping there and she does have  a ‘home’ consulate. It was announced by the DOS and says so on the page of the US consulate in Colombia:

 

”Embassy Bogota is the designated Immigrant Visa processing post for residents of Colombia, Venezuela, and the Dutch Caribbean islands.

 

As a result, we will not accept requests to transfer cases from other Embassies unless the petitioner or beneficiary is a resident of Colombia, Venezuela, or the Dutch Caribbean islands, or the beneficiary is legally present in Colombia and will remain so for the entire period of the immigrant visa process.”

https://co.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/

[rhess22 0]

Fair enough.  We've heard different things from Lawyers when I was talking to them, and also calling Bogota and asking them wielded different results.  They said that we could send it to any embassy.

 

I appreciate the clarification and sorry if I made you upset.  I'm not trying to argue or debate, just asking for advice.  We will go through Bogota and if she has issues waiting 2 years then we have other issues.

 

Thank you again for your help.

 

 

[powerpuff 6,697]

7 minutes ago, rhess22 said:

Fair enough.  We've heard different things from Lawyers when I was talking to them, and also calling Bogota and asking them wielded different results.  They said that we could send it to any embassy.

 

I appreciate the clarification and sorry if I made you upset.  I'm not trying to argue or debate, just asking for advice.  We will go through Bogota and if she has issues waiting 2 years then we have other issues.

 

Thank you again for your help.

Not at all. Just trying to provide info and relay experiences of others I’ve read on the forum. Still doesn’t hurt to try and contact other consulates. Another piece of advice: take what lawyers say with a grain of salt. The stories of their incompetencies we read here on almost daily basis is shocking. Good luck on your journey! 

Also there’s a thread in the regional forum for those who are going through Bogota. Several people are from Venezuela. Maybe you can also reach out to them:

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by powerpuff

[rhess22 0]

Sounds great I'll look into that ☺️, thank you so much!

Rick

[SalishSea 17,827]

4 hours ago, rhess22 said:

Fair enough.  We've heard different things from Lawyers when I was talking to them, and also calling Bogota and asking them wielded different results.  They said that we could send it to any embassy.

 

I appreciate the clarification and sorry if I made you upset.  I'm not trying to argue or debate, just asking for advice.  We will go through Bogota and if she has issues waiting 2 years then we have other issues.

 

Thank you again for your help.

 

 

You're free to request a transfer to an embassy of your choice.  Based on what we have seen here, it is generally not going to be accepted in the absence of ties to that country by the beneficiary, particularly if the goal is to simply get around the wait times.

 

Wait times are what they are.  The people ahead of you in the queue simply applied before you.  

[rhess22 0]

25 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

You're free to request a transfer to an embassy of your choice.  Based on what we have seen here, it is generally not going to be accepted in the absence of ties to that country by the beneficiary

I appreciate it. 😁  This is exactly the information the lawyers didn’t tell me.  The goal wasn’t only wait times (like the title might suggest), she has family in Dominican Republic and Costa Rica for example and felt safer traveling there (and knows no one in Columbia), but none of that fixes the problems of an absence of ties to those countries. 

[African Zealot 1,455]

11 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Wait times are what they are.  The people ahead of you in the queue simply applied before you.  

That’s an inconsiderate and unnecessary add on in my opinion. Everyone including OP knows that. However no reasonable  person will call wait times of 2+ years reasonable even under these Covid circumstances.

Edited November 20, 2021 by African Zealot

[SalishSea 17,827]

1 minute ago, African Zealot said:

That’s an inconsiderate and unnecessary add on in my opinion. Everyone including OP knows that. However no reasonable  person will call wait times of 2+ years reasonable even under these Covid circumstances.

Nowhere did I mention that the wait times are reasonable.  My point was that everyone waiting is subject to the same wait times.  And everyone wants their interview yesterday.  The queue is based on date of application.

 

Consulate shopping in order to avoid wait times will not necessarily be successful.  But, like I said, OP can request to his heart's content.