CR1 is DQ, current wait time for interview in Manila?

[Jason and May 76]

22 hours ago, spicynujac said:

Question for those who are awaiting interview appointments at the Manila Embassy:

Do I understand correctly that it is up to the couple to schedule their OWN interview?  And not the embassy assigning you a date?
I thought these interviews were stated by NVC to be done "first come first serve"?

I am reading about people who are logging in to a scheduling website for weeks or months looking for an opening (unsuccessfully).  
If that's the case, interviews aren't really given in the order of filing, are they?  What if you don't log on daily to try to schedule an interview?

Could someone approved weeks or months later than you really grab a spot ahead of you?

Is this normal procedure at other embassies?  Seems to me they should just assign the first date available to the next person in line and cut out all of this stress and delays.  It isn't right for someone else to jump ahead in line because they happened to obsessively check a website faster than you when you should be up next...

 

I don't think I want the stress of trying day after day... maybe will just pay someone to do it for me.  It was already stressing me out when I would check the USCIS site almost daily once we passed the 12 month mark.  And that was "only" about 6 weeks of checking.  Sounds like the wait from NVC to interview could be a year!

We were DQ on August 24, 2023. 

 

We got my wife's interview letter on August 1, 2024. 

 

Her interview is scheduled for September 23, 2024. 

 

None of those dates you see in CGI are dates that can be scheduled, at least so far as I'm aware, unless someone receives an expedite or there is an auto expedite that comes along. I know the calendar will say the first available date for an IR1/CR1 is like August 15 or something absurdly just around the corner, but.... No. 

 

Also, until Manila gets the file, when you try to book an interview in CGI, it will tell you the beneficiary's case can't be found. Additionally, if you were to book an interview successfully and Manila didn't have the file, then the interview would be canceled. 

 

There really is no way to make the process go faster, unless you're lucky enough to have an expedite approved. Expect about 27 months from petition to "she's in the United States." That seems to be the most quoted timeline I've seen in the groups I'm in for IR1 finally arriving in the U.S. right now. 

 

 

[cup1981 5]

Looks like there was a pretty big auto-expedite yesterday according to the Spousal Visa Journey FB group. From what I can see, people as late as Nov 2023 DQ got expedited without requesting it. 

 

[tw8 3]

Looks like it went all the way to November 20th for those waiting

[Jason and May 76]

And, as I mentioned above is now happening: The cases just auto expedited are able to schedule their own interview dates, and so they are scheduling interviews before  the cases who were scheduled by NVC on 08/01. Good for them that they can, but ridiculous nonetheless.  

 

For example, one case timeline is:

 

DQ: 09/23/23

Auto expedite: 08/20/24

Interview scheduled for 09/16/24

 

My wife’s timeline:

 

DQ: 08/24/23

IL: 08/01/24

Interview scheduled by NVC for 09/23/24

 

Absolutely ridiculous.  

Edited August 21 by Jason and May

[spicynujac 17]

On 8/10/2024 at 1:59 PM, Jason and May said:

 

We got my wife's interview letter on August 1, 2024. 

 

Her interview is scheduled for September 23, 2024. 

 

None of those dates you see in CGI are dates that can be scheduled, at least so far as I'm aware, 

 

Also, until Manila gets the file, when you try to book an interview in CGI, it will tell you the beneficiary's case can't be found.

 

 

I'm still confused.  Some indicated that marriage visa applicants (IR1) have their interviews scheduled by the embassy, but finance (K1) must schedule their own interview using a tedious system where you must log in repeatedly for days/weeks/months until you luckily catch an opening.

 

The above seems to indicate you booked your own IR1 interview.  Which is it?

[top_secret 2,275]

14 minutes ago, spicynujac said:

I'm still confused.  Some indicated that marriage visa applicants (IR1) have their interviews scheduled by the embassy, but finance (K1) must schedule their own interview using a tedious system where you must log in repeatedly for days/weeks/months until you luckily catch an opening.

 

The above seems to indicate you booked your own IR1 interview.  Which is it?

 

K1 appointments are self scheduled on the ustraveldocs site.  In recent months the embassy has failed to release enough appointments to accommodate all of the "ready' applicants.  Hence the tedious constantly checking to see if any appointments opened up.

 

Ordinarily CR/IR applicants are scheduled by NVC.  Expedited CR/IR cases and cases where interviews were canceled for sputum testing etc are able to self schedule on the ustraveldocs site.  However for almost a year NVC scheduled ZERO CR/IR applicants.  NONE.  This year has only seen some sporadic NVC scheduling.  At irregular intervals they did the so-called "mass expedites" where they issued expedites to many cases in batches which allowed them to self schedule.  Throughout that time the embassy has released plenty of open CR/IR interview appointments on ustraveldocs.  Just most CR/IR applicants who are waiting almost a year could not book them unless they had an expedite.

 

K1=many applicants who are able to book and no open appointments.

IR1=few applicants who are able to book and many open appointments.

[top_secret 2,275]

It seems a big batch of NVC scheduling did go out yesterday.  Covering DQ dates up until somewhere in November 2023.  CR/IR-1/2 and IR5's. This is in addition to last week's mass expedite.  That is at least a little progress on the backlog. 

[tw8 3]

https://ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-embassy-to-launch-new-visa-application-center-additional-consular-information-services/


There's another application center opening in the metropolitan Manila area (Parañaque) at the end of the month. It seems like it's to help with processing and will change the way things work prior to the interviews. It sounds like you'll have to do stuff at this location prior to the interview for document related items. Not sure if this will speed things up or slow them down.

Edited September 10 by tw8