Interview Timelines (IR1/CR1 visa) - Seoul Embassy (Korea)

[fox3c 11]

Hello, so we are waiting on my wife's IR1/CR1 visa interview at the US Embassy in Seoul.  I have found the NVC stage to be much more opaque than the USCIS stage, with few data points to go off of.  So I am posting this information here, in case it may be helpful for others.

 

So there is a Naver Cafe called Mijunmo (미준모) that my wife uses.  It is all in Korean though, and obviously focuses on the Seoul Embassy primarily.  People there 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 was a bit time-intensive hunting through the forums, but tried to get a good sample. I will attach a PDF of that spreadsheet here. 

 

You can see for the past year DQ to IL wait times average about 30 days, and DQ to interview wait times average 80 days.  However, do 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

[fox3c 11]

**Please note you can only access the PDF if you are logged in here (to VisaJourney)

Edited August 6 by fox3c

[fox3c 11]

I know some people have been using this data spreadsheet to make complaints their congressman and the US Embassy in Seoul about the sudden abnormal processing times. So here is a slightly updated spreadsheet, just some additional data from last year included now to cover the full period.  They still have not sent out any new interviews since I posted the original one. 

 

The average wait times are still roughly the same as my original post above, about 80 days from DQ date to interview date. Roughly 35 days from DQ date to interview letter.  Now the US Embassy in Seoul is suddenly taking over 100 days even to send out the interview letter (IL) though.

Seoul Embassy Interview Timelines.pdf

[fox3c 11]

Updated spreadsheet for those interested.  Seems like several people complaining to their congressmen got the Seoul Embassy to schedule a bunch of people all at once for interviews covering 2 months of DQ dates.

 

However, seems like they didn't schedule any CR1/IR1 visa interviews at all for the month of September (except the first few days of the month).  So they skipped July and September for CR1/IR1 interviews, despite the official US State Department policy that CR1/IR1 visas are the highest priority class (tier 1). Interview wait times have suddenly doubled.  They are currently running a backlog wait time for CR1/IR1 visas at the Seoul Embassy that is longer than during the COVid pandemic in 2021, for no apparent reason, which is disappointing. 

 

I am guessing that someone at the Seoul Embassy or NVC screwed up with scheduling, but doubt they will ever admit to any mistake on their part.  Seems they have zero accountability to US citizens (and their families) who are affected by such negligence.

Seoul Embassy Interview Timelines.pdf

[Soparopa 0]

On 8/21/2024 at 8:51 PM, fox3c said:

Updated spreadsheet for those interested.  Seems like several people complaining to their congressmen got the Seoul Embassy to schedule a bunch of people all at once for interviews covering 2 months of DQ dates.

 

However, seems like they didn't schedule any CR1/IR1 visa interviews at all for the month of September (except the first few days of the month).  So they skipped July and September for CR1/IR1 interviews, despite the official US State Department policy that CR1/IR1 visas are the highest priority class (tier 1). Interview wait times have suddenly doubled.  They are currently running a backlog wait time for CR1/IR1 visas at the Seoul Embassy that is longer than during the COVid pandemic in 2021, for no apparent reason, which is disappointing. 

 

I am guessing that someone at the Seoul Embassy or NVC screwed up with scheduling, but doubt they will ever admit to any mistake on their part.  Seems they have zero accountability to US citizens (and their families) who are affected by such negligence.

Seoul Embassy Interview Timelines.pdf 472.75 kB · 14 downloads

Hi! Could you tell me how you were collecting the data? We are waiting for DQ and then will be dealing with the Seoul embassy and it seems like everyone going through Seoul has really been through it with the wait. I want to be proactive so I can involve my senator if needed, but not sure how to do the data collection. Thank you!

[fox3c 11]

On 9/14/2024 at 11:04 AM, Soparopa said:

Hi! Could you tell me how you were collecting the data? We are waiting for DQ and then will be dealing with the Seoul embassy and it seems like everyone going through Seoul has really been through it with the wait. I want to be proactive so I can involve my senator if needed, but not sure how to do the data collection. Thank you!

I collected the data manually by going through forum posts on the Mijunmo Naver cafe.  People there are pretty good about posting their timelines.  Took a few hours, but was the only way.  

 

There were also a handful of posts I found about the Seoul Embassy on Reddit, but not many.  I included those in the spreadsheet nonetheless.

[Soparopa 0]

3 hours ago, fox3c said:

I collected the data manually by going through forum posts on the Mijunmo Naver cafe.  People there are pretty good about posting their timelines.  Took a few hours, but was the only way.  

 

There were also a handful of posts I found about the Seoul Embassy on Reddit, but not many.  I included those in the spreadsheet nonetheless.

 

Thank you so much! My husband and I are going to pick up where you left off and continue collecting the data, just in case it is needed.

 

I was also wondering, did your CEAC portal say your case was still at the NVC for months after DQ while you waited for the IL? I just looked at your timeline and was wondering about that large gap of time between DQ and when it left NVC, and then received by the consulate. Do you get those dates updated in the CEAC portal?

Edited September 17 by Soparopa