Interview letters not being sent out for months

[Asudehhh 0]

Hello,

 

I've been waiting for my husbands CR1 IL from the Ankara embassy for 5 months now. The whole process shouldn't have taken this long. cases that were DQ'd 1 month before ours all got their visas months ago but there hasn't been any update on the next batch of interviews since may. Is there a general problem? Is anyone getting their IR1/CR1 IL? 

[powerpuff 6,697]

Just wondering, is he a resident in Turkey? If he’s a non-resident who will interview in Turkey, then the wait is longer for them as the priority is reserved for residents/citizens 

[Asudehhh 0]

He is a born Turkish citizen

[fox3c 11]

I have noticed there is a strange slowdown in the interview dates posted on the Immigration Timelines for IR1/CR1 here on VisaJourney lately, if you just sort by interview date.  I only see 10 interviews reported this month (July), and only 4 interviews scheduled next month (August).

 

That seems quite strange compared to the past for IR1/CR1.  In March, April, and May this year there roughly 40 interviews reported per month.  Going back to last summer, in July and August, there were 60 interviews reported per month.  What makes it stranger is that there appears to be not a similar slowdown on the K1 Fiance visa timelines for interviews.  I don't know if something has happened, maybe some policy change or executive order, or perhaps people have just stopped completing their timelines here. 

 

Regardless it is odd.  I am also in a discussion group where people are talking about similar interview slowdown issues at other embassies, e.g. the Seoul Embassy in Korea.  It's really difficult to get information at the NVC stage though.

Edited July 17 by fox3c

[mikesaidyes 2]

13 hours ago, fox3c said:

I have noticed there is a strange slowdown in the interview dates posted on the Immigration Timelines for IR1/CR1 here on VisaJourney lately, if you just sort by interview date.  I only see 10 interviews reported this month (July), and only 4 interviews scheduled next month (August).

 

That seems quite strange compared to the past for IR1/CR1.  In March, April, and May this year there roughly 40 interviews reported per month.  Going back to last summer, in July and August, there were 60 interviews reported per month.  What makes it stranger is that there appears to be not a similar slowdown on the K1 Fiance visa timelines for interviews.  I don't know if something has happened, maybe some policy change or executive order, or perhaps people have just stopped completing their timelines here. 

 

Regardless it is odd.  I am also in a discussion group where people are talking about similar interview slowdown issues at other embassies, e.g. the Seoul Embassy in Korea.  It's really difficult to get information at the NVC stage though.

 

Seoul resident here, waiting for our I-130 approval (PD March 30, 2024) - are these groups in Facebook? NAVER Cafe? Can you share them with me, please?

[fox3c 11]

10 hours ago, mikesaidyes said:

 

Seoul resident here, waiting for our I-130 approval (PD March 30, 2024) - are these groups in Facebook? NAVER Cafe? Can you share them with me, please?

They are KakaoTalk chat groups actually, that my wife is part of.  I'm not sure how to get invited to them or how she found them, but if you live in Korea then maybe try searching on KakaoTalk.  There are also some people talking about interviews at the Seoul Embassy over on Reddit recently, on the NVC page.

 

Regardless, we are also in Seoul for IR1/CR1 visa, though our I-130 was already approved in April 18th since we filed last year.  Our DQ at NVC was May 9th, but unfortunately still haven't gotten an interview letter (IL) yet. Seoul is supposed to be one of the quicker embassies, but alas.  There were several people for the IR1/CR1 visa at Seoul Embassy who DQ'ed in April who all got interviews in June, but several people with DQ dates in May for Seoul have still not even received the IL, so no interview date set yet. There are at least 4 of us in the same boat that I know of.

Edited July 18 by fox3c

[fox3c 11]

On 7/17/2024 at 11:35 PM, mikesaidyes said:

 

Seoul resident here, waiting for our I-130 approval (PD March 30, 2024) - are these groups in Facebook? NAVER Cafe? Can you share them with me, please?

Hello, I wanted to follow up on this.  So there is a Naver Cafe called Mijunmo (미준모) that my wife uses.  You would need to be able to read/speak Korean though, perhaps you do.  People are pretty good on there about posting their timelines, including DQ dates, interview letter (IL) received dates, and actual interview dates.

 

I do speak Korean, so I went through posts there from this summer and last summer to collate those timelines into a spreadsheet.  I didn't record every single one cause it took some time, but tried to get a good sample. I will attach a PDF of that spreadsheet here for you, in case it is useful.  I have found the NVC stage to be much more opaque than the USCIS stage, with few data points to go off of.

 

I will note that recently the Seoul Embassy is taking a lot longer.  Many of us who were DQ'ed in May still have not received interview letters (roughly 90 days ago).  You can also see in the spreadsheet that there is a lot of inconsistency in how cases are handled. Even though NVC does mostly go "first in/first out" as they say, there are times that doesn't happen.  Also occasionally cases seem to get skipped over for later ones.

Seoul Embassy Interview Timelines.pdf

[mikesaidyes 2]

On 8/5/2024 at 1:13 AM, fox3c said:

Hello, I wanted to follow up on this.  So there is a Naver Cafe called Mijunmo (미준모) that my wife uses.  You would need to be able to read/speak Korean though, perhaps you do.  People are pretty good on there about posting their timelines, including DQ dates, interview letter (IL) received dates, and actual interview dates.

 

I do speak Korean, so I went through posts there from this summer and last summer to collate those timelines into a spreadsheet.  I didn't record every single one cause it took some time, but tried to get a good sample. I will attach a PDF of that spreadsheet here for you, in case it is useful.  I have found the NVC stage to be much more opaque than the USCIS stage, with few data points to go off of.

 

I will note that recently the Seoul Embassy is taking a lot longer.  Many of us who were DQ'ed in May still have not received interview letters (roughly 90 days ago).  You can also see in the spreadsheet that there is a lot of inconsistency in how cases are handled. Even though NVC does mostly go "first in/first out" as they say, there are times that doesn't happen.  Also occasionally cases seem to get skipped over for later ones.

Seoul Embassy Interview Timelines.pdf 469.67 kB · 2 downloads

Lucky for us, but also unlucky because we are ready to go  - we married March 21, 2024, applied online  March 30, 2024-  so we are gonna stick it out until March 2026 to get IR-1 and go right away (I'm on F-2-7)....so if it's a little slow that's ok even though I am ready to go (I've been here 13 years, F-2-7, I've done all I can do with making my own businesses, earning potential, language skills etc). THANK YOU for this info!

[Vicnic 33]

Wow a few months DQ to IL is amazing- Canada is looking like 8 months now  which will put us at the 2 year mark for process 

TWO years for a USC and Canadian citizen who are married …. It’s absolutely ridiculous I feel like none of them are working at all …. I see work visas and all in Montreal and none of the lists are moving at all

60 interviews down to 4 a month … 

If my productivity at work reduced to that I would be fired !!!