How I transferred my immigrant visa interview from Dublin to Bucharest

[sauldelgado 8]

4 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

I suspect MOST consulates would not be so accommodating to someone with no connections or residency in their jurisdiction.

You are absolutely right. In my experience, being DQ'ed since August 2020 and waiting for an interview at the US consulate in Guatemala City we tried transferring our case to El Salvador around October 2021 as they had more interview slots and cases were moving faster there. Even though my wife has both Guatemalan and Salvadorean citizenship they shut us down pretty much immediately - to be fair she was not the main beneficiary so that might also be a factor. 

 

As someone else already said in this thread, this case seems to be the exception, not the rule.

[Redro 4,612]

2 hours ago, sauldelgado said:

You are absolutely right. In my experience, being DQ'ed since August 2020 and waiting for an interview at the US consulate in Guatemala City we tried transferring our case to El Salvador around October 2021 as they had more interview slots and cases were moving faster there. Even though my wife has both Guatemalan and Salvadorean citizenship they shut us down pretty much immediately - to be fair she was not the main beneficiary so that might also be a factor. 

 

As someone else already said in this thread, this case seems to be the exception, not the rule.

Oh! That must feel so frustrating. You're just waiting on an interview and can't move the case. 

 

5 hours ago, johnnyirl said:

True - but you're missing the point. I came on to share my experience on changing embassy, and you lot just can't take it. And initially didn't believe it. 

Your initial post did not give any details and referenced a post/topic we are not supposed to restart.

 

Requesting a change of consulates is easy. The instructions can be found at NVC: (The interesting piece of information you've given is telling people they should contact the embassy and not NVC once the case has been DQ'ed... )

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html

How do I transfer my Immigrant Visa case from one embassy or consulate to another?

If you would like to transfer your Immigrant Visa (IV) case to another embassy or consulate, please follow the steps below:

• If your case is at a U.S. embassy or consulate, contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case.  Please include a justification for the request.  If you are not a resident of that country, specify that in your request.  

• If your petition is being processed at the National Visa Center (NVC), contact the NVC to request the transfer.  NVC will transfer cases to another IV processing post if parties provide a written request along with the address in the requested country and the proof of eligibility (citizenship/legal residency in the requested country or other documentation). This can be provided at https://nvc.state.gov/inquiry.  In limited circumstances, NVC may need to contact you for additional eligibility requirements.  Note that transferring your case might not result in immediate processing as cases are processed in order based on the date the case became documentarily qualified. 

• If you are requesting a transfer for a K Visa, the receiving Embassy or Consulate has the discretion to approve or deny the acceptance of a K visa application from an applicant outside the consular district.  Contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case and include the reason for the transfer request.  If you paid the MRV fee at the original post and the transfer request to a new post is subsequently approved, a new visa fee will be required.  

•  

Getting the request approved is a different matter.

We can see you and @sauldelgado have been waiting for similar amounts of time after DQ. Your case was moved, theirs wasn't. 

 

Thanks for sharing the details and your story and again congrats on your move to the US. 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by ROK2USA

[johnnyirl 7]

12 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

Oh! That must feel so frustrating. You're just waiting on an interview and can't move the case. 

 

Your initial post did not give any details and referenced a post/topic we are not supposed to restart.

 

Requesting a change of consulates is easy. The instructions can be found at NVC: (The interesting piece of information you've given is telling people they should contact the embassy and not NVC once the case has been DQ'ed... )

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html

How do I transfer my Immigrant Visa case from one embassy or consulate to another?

If you would like to transfer your Immigrant Visa (IV) case to another embassy or consulate, please follow the steps below:

• If your case is at a U.S. embassy or consulate, contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case.  Please include a justification for the request.  If you are not a resident of that country, specify that in your request.  

• If your petition is being processed at the National Visa Center (NVC), contact the NVC to request the transfer.  NVC will transfer cases to another IV processing post if parties provide a written request along with the address in the requested country and the proof of eligibility (citizenship/legal residency in the requested country or other documentation). This can be provided at https://nvc.state.gov/inquiry.  In limited circumstances, NVC may need to contact you for additional eligibility requirements.  Note that transferring your case might not result in immediate processing as cases are processed in order based on the date the case became documentarily qualified. 

• If you are requesting a transfer for a K Visa, the receiving Embassy or Consulate has the discretion to approve or deny the acceptance of a K visa application from an applicant outside the consular district.  Contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case and include the reason for the transfer request.  If you paid the MRV fee at the original post and the transfer request to a new post is subsequently approved, a new visa fee will be required.  

•  

Getting the request approved is a different matter.

We can see you and @sauldelgado have been waiting for similar amounts of time after DQ. Your case was moved, theirs wasn't. 

 

Thanks for sharing the details and your story and again congrats on your move to the US. 

 

 

It's worth mentioning that when I was waiting outside the embassy to go inside, there were two other couples with no connections to Romania who had transferred to Bucharest. One from London and I don't know where the other was from but they said they had transferred. Also, if you follow the immigration lawyers on Twitter, you would have seen last year that many, many people were successful  in transferring embassies without having residence in the new country. I know of two personally because I reached out to them. One lady from Finland who had been waiting for her spouse immigrant visa successfully applied to Casablanca was was able and willing to go there. It's not widely documented but it does happen and based on my experience it happens more often than you'd think. Also I don't know of anyone who went through the official DOS route. I and they went through the embassy directly. I think you're going to see more people documenting their experience about this.