Longer than expected wait to get an IR1 interview in Bangkok?

[Matt & N 3]

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody had a clue why my wife's IR1 application is not getting scheduled for an interview (Bangkok consulate) even though we were Documentarily Qualified on October 4th 2022? On this forum alone, there seems to be at least 3 other applications that DQ'd around the same time (or later) and have received an interview date already.  I used the public inquiry form to ask if there was anything going on and to make sure our application was not being forgotten about but, predictably, I received a useless answer adressing none of my concerns (it simply stated the status of the case as seen on the CEAC portal). I wrote to my senator as well, but received no answer yet.

I became a citizen this summer so we upgraded the petition to IR1 (from F2A) and we also had to later move the case from Montreal to Bangkok as my wife returned to Thailand after her school program finished in Canada. The move seems to have "completed" on October 24th when we received a new case id (starting with BNK instead of MTL). I am afraid that all these changes have somehow affected the ability of our case to be promptly addressed.

I would appreciate anyone's perspective or experience, or updates concerning their own wait times. It will soon be 3 years since the beginning of our process, I'm sure everyone here knows how exhausting and difficult it can be to wait for so long.

Thanks,

Matt

[JanineTam 3]

Hi Matt,

It does seem odd for that wait time bc my husband was DQd on Sept 2 and we received the instructions for interview by the end of the month. We have been in the process for 2 yrs so I have sympathy for you both. Sorry I can't be of much more help, but sometimes knowing there are others in the same situation helps. 

Janine

 

[Hmoobphajej 13]

Me and my wife got

 DQed 12/16 and am still waiting for a appointment as well. Hoping it won't be longer than the 4 weeks or so they stated. I'm guessing Bangkok is having a influx of appointments/applicants now since it use to be about 4 weeks total for Interview Letter and Appointment from some timeline early to mid 2022. But you should definitely reach out to the embassy if you haven't already.

[Dewald & Brittney 46]

I got DQed on December 9th and received my interview instruction on the 28th (If I recall correctly). Not sure what happened to you case, but as mentioned @Hmoobphajej you should definitely reach out to the embassy. If you are not getting answers from them or the NVC, try reaching out to your congressional representative instead of the senator's office. We reached out to our congressman for the I130 and it helped a lot as the representative informed us when our case was sent to an adjudicating officer a week before we were approved.

[Matt & N 3]

Thanks for the tips! Will try to get in touch with the embassy (I was thinking they couldn't help because the case is at NVC, but can't hurt to try) and my congressperson. Still no answer from the Senator's office.

@Hmoobphajej Please do let us know when you get your interview letter ! Since they send those in batches, I will be interested to see if I missed the January batch.

[Chancy 6,241]

*** Removed related thread.  Please post your related questions/updates in this thread to keep the discussion in one place. ***

 

18 hours ago, Matt & N said:

Hello,

 

Does anyone have any tips concerning getting traction with the NVC? My wife's DS-260 application seems to be stuck there. We have been DQ'd since October 4th and had previously requested a move from the Montreal consulate to the Bangkok embassy since my wife's school program ended and she would be returning to her home country of Thailand. On October 24th, we were provided with a new case id (Starting with BNK instead of MTL). We had also changed the visa category from F2A to IR1 in the summer when I became a US citizen (which we see reflected in CEAC). We have still not been scheduled for an interview. I know some embassies and consulates have months long wait times for interviews, but I have seen many people get scheduled for an interview in Bangkok within about 4 weeks of being DQ'd (in fact, a friend was DQ'd in early January and received the interview letter yesterday, for a F2A!)

I used the Public Inquiry Form to communicate with the NVC, but the answer did not address any of my concern and was a simple boilerplate answer that said the NVC had all required documents and was waiting to schedule with the embassy etc. . I wrote to my senator and congress representative but have had no answer yet (it has only been a bit over a week). I tried to call the embassy but was expectedly told that it was in the NVC's hands. I just wrote to the NVC again as we seemed to have missed the January batch of appointments.

Is there anything else that I can try? It seem my only option is to keep pestering the NVC until they acknowledge that something is wrong.

Would an expedite request be an option? At the very least it may get someone to look at our case for real. I wish the NVC had not closed their phone line.

 

Thanks,

Matt