Info from Addis Ababa?

[MeliA 3]

Hello to everyone waiting on Ethiopia,

 

I am wondering if anyone has had success in trying to talk to the embassy in Addis Ababa. I have been emailing and calling with very limited success. I did finally get one reply to an email, but ultimately not with a lot of information and none of my questions answered. It sounds like no visas are being processed....Has anyone found out anything about anything?

[JeanneAdil 6,651]

when i checked the Ethiopia portal page,  there are no visa interviews listed as upcoming

They have suspended all nonimmigrant visas at this time

no mention on the embassy site about immigrant visas but there is mention of the civil unrest and the following statement:

  We continue to process immigrant visas on a limited basis and by appointment only.

 

So,  your case is spouse visa,  did NVC and the embassy schedule your interview?

That's the way spouse visas are scheduled and the embassy would have no idea of your case if its not even at the embassy yet and is still at NVC

 

[MeliA 3]

Thanks for answering. Yes, I do know that. I did get an email response that said: "We have very limited ability to process IVs, but may be able to approve and process cases for immediate relatives of American citizens." This is somewhat reassuring, but also not, as the COVID backlog is already tremendous and now the war has reduced the ability to process anything.

So no, we do not have an interview scheduled yet. We have only been waiting 6 months, and I know there are people on here who soon will have been waiting 2 years for an interview....I am curious if any of those people have been able to get more information from the embassy about what is possible as they don't answer phones and emails are very, very delayed with little information.

We also applied for an expedite that I was told cannot be forwarded to the embassy as they have "suspended visa services." Not sure what the next move is meant to be when we're not in a great situation.

[Katelyn_Wray 34]

2 hours ago, MeliA said:

Thanks for answering. Yes, I do know that. I did get an email response that said: "We have very limited ability to process IVs, but may be able to approve and process cases for immediate relatives of American citizens." This is somewhat reassuring, but also not, as the COVID backlog is already tremendous and now the war has reduced the ability to process anything.

So no, we do not have an interview scheduled yet. We have only been waiting 6 months, and I know there are people on here who soon will have been waiting 2 years for an interview....I am curious if any of those people have been able to get more information from the embassy about what is possible as they don't answer phones and emails are very, very delayed with little information.

We also applied for an expedite that I was told cannot be forwarded to the embassy as they have "suspended visa services." Not sure what the next move is meant to be when we're not in a great situation.

They have been cancelling immigrant visa interviews for the past three weeks now. I know of two IR1 interviews coming up on Thursday (one expedited and one DQ July 9, 2020), who were told over the phone that they are welcome to show up to the embassy but they are most likely going to be turned away. Even expedites for parents of US citizen toddlers who need to escort their children out of the country are being ignored and told at the embassy gates there is nothing to be done, so I fully assume they are not doing any visa processing at all despite their messaging that they may be doing emergency appointments.

 

It’s all very disheartening after waiting so long. We have been waiting 16 months for an interview already and were finally getting close ☹️

[MeliA 3]

Ah, yes! I've seen your case, and I keep thinking you guys have to be next! I'm so sorry for the anguish it must be for you guys! Are you in ET or separated?

[Jake K 0]

Yes its pretty devastating the amount of time we have to wait to get interviewed. My wife is waiting for interview for IR1 case as well. We have been waiting since Oct 2020, about 15 months since we were documentary qualified. I wanted to see if I can expedite the case but the email I got only states the same as the above message, that they're only doing immigrant visa with limited services. And Unable to get in touch with anyone when calling the embassy. We're very devastated. Also, on top of that my wife is pregnant which worries me even more. Very unfair how we're having to deal with such situations. 

[MeliA 3]

Jake, so sorry to hear that. We actually did apply for an expedite (my health), but NVC said they can't do anything as the embassy is not accepting cases. That seems wrong to me...I can't understand how that's possible with no alternative options. I've still not been able to get anyone at the embassy neither by phone nor email (which is what they claim they will respond to), and that's more than 2 months now. 

 

If anybody is having any sort of success contacting anyone, it would be great to hear how!

[HYga 3]

On 1/29/2022 at 1:24 AM, MeliA said:

Jake, so sorry to hear that. We actually did apply for an expedite (my health), but NVC said they can't do anything as the embassy is not accepting cases. That seems wrong to me...I can't understand how that's possible with no alternative options. I've still not been able to get anyone at the embassy neither by phone nor email (which is what they claim they will respond to), and that's more than 2 months now. 

 

If anybody is having any sort of success contacting anyone, it would be great to hear how!

Is transferring to embassy’s in other country not possible?

[milimelo 4,557]

On 1/29/2022 at 8:24 AM, MeliA said:

Jake, so sorry to hear that. We actually did apply for an expedite (my health), but NVC said they can't do anything as the embassy is not accepting cases. That seems wrong to me...I can't understand how that's possible with no alternative options. I've still not been able to get anyone at the embassy neither by phone nor email (which is what they claim they will respond to), and that's more than 2 months now. 

 

If anybody is having any sort of success contacting anyone, it would be great to hear how!

You know they are/were on ordered departure for couple of months which means folks doing visas were probably sent away and they only had skeleton crew there.  

[MeliA 3]

1 hour ago, HYga said:

Is transferring to embassy’s in other country not possible?

 

If it is, tell me how! I've tried contacting a number of embassies, all of which said it's not possible unless we reside in the country. I also asked NVC, and they said the same (OR if the applicant has ever lived in another country, we could apply there). That doesn't work for us.

Other ideas?

 

[MeliA 3]

1 hour ago, milimelo said:

You know they are/were on ordered departure for couple of months which means folks doing visas were probably sent away and they only had skeleton crew there.  

Yes, I'm sure that's true. The operator finally told me that there is no one there. The questions remain:

1) What are we supposed to do if there's no one there to help us (especially in expedited/necessary situations)?

2) Who knows when in the world this order will ever end?

[milimelo 4,557]

It ended on Friday I think. Give them couple weeks to get back to normal. I think the norm is you have 7-10 days to get back to country you were ordered out from. 

[MeliA 3]

10 hours ago, milimelo said:

It ended on Friday I think. Give them couple weeks to get back to normal. I think the norm is you have 7-10 days to get back to country you were ordered out from. 

Where did you read this (can you link it)? I still haven't seen anything.

[milimelo 4,557]

2 hours ago, MeliA said:

Where did you read this (can you link it)? I still haven't seen anything.

Don’t have a link - a friend is there (non-consular). 

[MeliA 3]

2 hours ago, milimelo said:

Don’t have a link - a friend is there (non-consular). 

Aha! Always great to have someone with an inside track. Thanks for sharing! I hope we will all start to see some movement in the near future!