London CR1 / IR1 Appointment Updates

[Dags 134]

28 minutes ago, jackbuck93 said:

Hi, new to the forum so sorry if I'm asking a repeat question.

 

I have not seen my wife since Dec 9th last year (she is the American, I'm in UK). We have been apart for the majority of our five-year relationship as I was deemed ineligible for a tourist visa as they knew I was in a relationship with a US citizen. I was told by NVC that they had accepted all my paperwork and were scheduling an interview on September 1.

 

Does anybody know roughly how many months it is taking these days to finally get an interview?

My wife and I are suffering horribly from depression. My wife is vomiting every day from the anxiety. She also just lost her apartment and needs to move out, and my landlord is selling my apartment too. So we are both faced with having to find new places to live, on new leases, in two apartments without any idea of how much longer we have left to wait. It is shocking that the embassy is refusing to give people in this situation, as I'm sure many of you are, any idea of how long to expect. We cannot even plan. My wife is also in her late 30s and we've been waiting for years to have children and now running out of time. I just despair with this process.

 

I am wondering if this is going to take another year? I know that the MRV fee is being extended to December 2021. And, soon enough, I am probably going to have to apply for a new police certificate as it expires after six months. I cannot believe the embassy cannot even give us a timeline, or perhaps do interviews via Skype. 

 

Anyway, I hope everybody gets a timely interview and ultimately succeeds. If anybody has any idea of roughly how many months from "DQ" (as I think it's called?) to interview day, I would greatly appreciate your advice so I can have an idea of how to plan our life...

Best

Jack

Hi Jack, I’m sorry to hear it! It sounds not nice, especially with 2020 being bad year for most of us, if not everyone. When did you DQ? By the sound of thinks

yoy may have good bases for expedite request. Have you tried to expedite Your case yet? 

[corntop 129]

38 minutes ago, jackbuck93 said:

Hi, new to the forum so sorry if I'm asking a repeat question.

 

I have not seen my wife since Dec 9th last year (she is the American, I'm in UK). We have been apart for the majority of our five-year relationship as I was deemed ineligible for a tourist visa as they knew I was in a relationship with a US citizen. I was told by NVC that they had accepted all my paperwork and were scheduling an interview on September 1.

 

Does anybody know roughly how many months it is taking these days to finally get an interview?

My wife and I are suffering horribly from depression. My wife is vomiting every day from the anxiety. She also just lost her apartment and needs to move out, and my landlord is selling my apartment too. So we are both faced with having to find new places to live, on new leases, in two apartments without any idea of how much longer we have left to wait. It is shocking that the embassy is refusing to give people in this situation, as I'm sure many of you are, any idea of how long to expect. We cannot even plan. My wife is also in her late 30s and we've been waiting for years to have children and now running out of time. I just despair with this process.

 

I am wondering if this is going to take another year? I know that the MRV fee is being extended to December 2021. And, soon enough, I am probably going to have to apply for a new police certificate as it expires after six months. I cannot believe the embassy cannot even give us a timeline, or perhaps do interviews via Skype. 

 

Anyway, I hope everybody gets a timely interview and ultimately succeeds. If anybody has any idea of roughly how many months from "DQ" (as I think it's called?) to interview day, I would greatly appreciate your advice so I can have an idea of how to plan our life...

Best

Jack

 

I'm sorry to hear about your struggles, it really is a difficult process. Like the poster above me says, you might have cause for an expedite request if you can no longer manage.

 

If I'm reading this correctly, do you mean you have been DQ since 1st September? If so, July DQs are currently waiting for interview dates to be scheduled, so going by those timelines, you may be waiting a couple of more months. London appear to be scheduling interviews in monthly batches. You could get something very early 2021.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by MRV fee, but if you're already DQ then the only fees you have left to pay are your medical costs and the immigrant (greencard processing) fee, which is paid once your visa is in hand and before entry if possible.

 

Also, the UK police certificate is valid for 1 year. When did you get it? You may not have to worry about that if it was only recently.

[jackbuck93 0]

51 minutes ago, corntop said:

 

I'm sorry to hear about your struggles, it really is a difficult process. Like the poster above me says, you might have cause for an expedite request if you can no longer manage.

 

If I'm reading this correctly, do you mean you have been DQ since 1st September? If so, July DQs are currently waiting for interview dates to be scheduled, so going by those timelines, you may be waiting a couple of more months. London appear to be scheduling interviews in monthly batches. You could get something very early 2021.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by MRV fee, but if you're already DQ then the only fees you have left to pay are your medical costs and the immigrant (greencard processing) fee, which is paid once your visa is in hand and before entry if possible.

 

Also, the UK police certificate is valid for 1 year. When did you get it? You may not have to worry about that if it was only recently.

Thank you Dags and Corntop.

Yes. I'm not sure what DQ is, though. That is when the NVC accepts paperwork and says they will start working with the embassy to make an appointment right? If so, then September 1st is when that happened for me.

As for the police certificate, for some reason I thought it was six months. Glad to know it's 12.

As for expedite...my lawyer told me they would laugh me out of the room. He told me he has a client who has terminal cancer and they were denied an expedite. I am just in total shock.

My sister in law has had leukaemia treatment and I have been denied a tourist visa twice to visit her. It is disgusting. And as I say, my wife and I are running out of time to have kids, she's suffering extremely badly with depression. It is messed up. 

But, I am glad to learn from you both that things are taking four to five months. That could mean that I hear news January or February. Fingers crossed. I am going to get her to come to the UK for Christmas and stay here hopefully until I hear from the embassy (and before my landlord sells this flat and forces me to take out a new tenancy I don't want or need!!) 

Thank you again and good luck to you both. This is excruciatingly difficult for me and my family so I imagine everyone else here is suffering the same. 

[Dags 134]

16 minutes ago, jackbuck93 said:

Thank you Dags and Corntop.

Yes. I'm not sure what DQ is, though. That is when the NVC accepts paperwork and says they will start working with the embassy to make an appointment right? If so, then September 1st is when that happened for me.

As for the police certificate, for some reason I thought it was six months. Glad to know it's 12.

As for expedite...my lawyer told me they would laugh me out of the room. He told me he has a client who has terminal cancer and they were denied an expedite. I am just in total shock.

My sister in law has had leukaemia treatment and I have been denied a tourist visa twice to visit her. It is disgusting. And as I say, my wife and I are running out of time to have kids, she's suffering extremely badly with depression. It is messed up. 

But, I am glad to learn from you both that things are taking four to five months. That could mean that I hear news January or February. Fingers crossed. I am going to get her to come to the UK for Christmas and stay here hopefully until I hear from the embassy (and before my landlord sells this flat and forces me to take out a new tenancy I don't want or need!!) 

Thank you again and good luck to you both. This is excruciatingly difficult for me and my family so I imagine everyone else here is suffering the same. 

Im not sure why your lawyer says it. I think you should give it a shot with requesting expedite! It’s nothing going to hurt anything, and it can only help. But the sapins of things You could apply with financial and emotional hardships as a base for expedite. 

[jackbuck93 0]

2 hours ago, Dags said:

Im not sure why your lawyer says it. I think you should give it a shot with requesting expedite! It’s nothing going to hurt anything, and it can only help. But the sapins of things You could apply with financial and emotional hardships as a base for expedite. 

Well, he told me he has a client in the same situation who has terminal cancer, and they were denied the expedite.

 

Perhaps I should give it a go though.

 

I am nervous to claim financial hardship as my financials are fine. And, with the new requirements to prove that I will not be a burden on the United States financially, I don't want to do anything to make them think I am struggling! 

[Andy&Jamie 110]

18 hours ago, jackbuck93 said:

Hi, new to the forum so sorry if I'm asking a repeat question.

 

I have not seen my wife since Dec 9th last year (she is the American, I'm in UK). We have been apart for the majority of our five-year relationship as I was deemed ineligible for a tourist visa as they knew I was in a relationship with a US citizen. I was told by NVC that they had accepted all my paperwork and were scheduling an interview on September 1.

 

Does anybody know roughly how many months it is taking these days to finally get an interview?

My wife and I are suffering horribly from depression. My wife is vomiting every day from the anxiety. She also just lost her apartment and needs to move out, and my landlord is selling my apartment too. So we are both faced with having to find new places to live, on new leases, in two apartments without any idea of how much longer we have left to wait. It is shocking that the embassy is refusing to give people in this situation, as I'm sure many of you are, any idea of how long to expect. We cannot even plan. My wife is also in her late 30s and we've been waiting for years to have children and now running out of time. I just despair with this process.

 

I am wondering if this is going to take another year? I know that the MRV fee is being extended to December 2021. And, soon enough, I am probably going to have to apply for a new police certificate as it expires after six months. I cannot believe the embassy cannot even give us a timeline, or perhaps do interviews via Skype. 

 

Anyway, I hope everybody gets a timely interview and ultimately succeeds. If anybody has any idea of roughly how many months from "DQ" (as I think it's called?) to interview day, I would greatly appreciate your advice so I can have an idea of how to plan our life...

Best

Jack

Hey Jack, 

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you can take some comfort at least knowing we're a supportive community and we help each other as best we can. 

 

As things stand it's taking about 5 months from DQ to getting notification of the interview date. I know that's a long time, but thankfully it seems like the embassy is still processing ir1-cr1 visas during this lockdown, unlike the last one. That is also why there's such a backlog.

 

Currently we're expecting July's DQs to get interview notices this coming week. Mine was July 23rd, and I'll post here as soon as I hear anything, as I'm sure everyone else will as well.

 

The embassy seem to take cases in batches - they usually take about a months worth of cases at a time from the NVC, near the start of the month, and send out the notifications basically all in one go. 

 

Assuming the July lot get their dates shortly, I would imagine you should hear in January. If you're lucky, given thst your DQ is literally September 1st, you might even get into December's batch. I don't want to get your hopes up for that but it's not unheard of.

 

This is all just to the best of my knowledge and if anyone else seeing this needs to correct me then please do. 

 

I hope this helps!

[RadChan 84]

14 hours ago, jackbuck93 said:

Well, he told me he has a client in the same situation who has terminal cancer, and they were denied the expedite.

 

Perhaps I should give it a go though.

 

I am nervous to claim financial hardship as my financials are fine. And, with the new requirements to prove that I will not be a burden on the United States financially, I don't want to do anything to make them think I am struggling! 

Definitely try for the expedite - your lawyer doesn't need to be involved in this process, and will likely ask for money should you go that route (as ours tried to - we said no thanks!). In reality, it is just a simple email to be sent by your wife, explaining your multiple reasons and with as much proof as she can put together (financial documents or doctors notes confirming her anxiety, for example). Being turned down won't impact your case in any way, but if it works, you could be approved in just a couple of weeks and get to the stage of scheduling your interview. 

 

I was a July 1st DQ, applied for an expedite recently and was turned down. Saying that, I got notified of my interview date during the last batch (Oct 7th) - and my interview is November 17th. This is about 2 weeks earlier than the current average of 5 months. It could be because I just got lucky and snuck into the June DQ group as there were interview spaces. But I also have a theory that if you write a heartfelt and convincing email and pull on some embassy heart strings, you might get a tiny boost in interview date even if you are officially denied the expedite (this is just my theory and no way to prove it - based on only my case and a few others I have observed). 

 

Anyway, I am sorry to hear about your situation - the tourist visa thing is crazy, and right now spouses of citizens are allowed to visit the US even with the proclamation - I am surprised to hear you've had difficulties. I hope you can find a resolution soon! 

 

Also - keep an eye on this forum tomorrow. Hopefully the next batch of dates will be released tomorrow or early next week at the latest, and I have always found it really helpful seeing how everyone else's cases are progressing - if they're suddenly clearing the backlog, we will be able to tell from how many August DQs make it into this batch.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by RadChan

[Andy&Jamie 110]

Seems like people get the emails about interviews first thing in the morning so guess nothing today. I know its been said that supposedly we should still be being scheduled but everything I can find about the definition of mission critical visas does not include us. I think I'm gonna distance myself from this forum for a while. 

[RadChan 84]

4 hours ago, Andy&Jamie said:

Seems like people get the emails about interviews first thing in the morning so guess nothing today. I know its been said that supposedly we should still be being scheduled but everything I can find about the definition of mission critical visas does not include us. I think I'm gonna distance myself from this forum for a while. 

Oh no, sorry to hear that! It is still only the 9th and the September batch heard on the 10th, so tomorrow might be a possibility. But how frustrating for everyone waiting. 

 

I hear you about the "mission critical"wording  - to me that sounds like people who can develop a vaccine for Covid or something! Well, if no one hears by tomorrow, I will go ahead and ask them when I have my interview on the 17th what they're planning for the next batch. 

[grapenoodle 25]

On 10/26/2020 at 9:01 AM, Dags said:

We were DQ on 07/10/2020 followed by 

Expedite request and getting it approved on 20/10/2020! 🎉

The case was Ready in LND 22/10/2020 and since then Ive managed to register for courier but no luck with scheduling interview yet...

What was your grounds for expedite if you don’t mind me asking? 💞

[Dags 134]

8 hours ago, grapenoodle said:

What was your grounds for expedite if you don’t mind me asking? 💞

 There is another topic for expedite/ I will reply there, as I know everyone here is waiting for appointment updates and emails to come through soon 🤞

 

 

[Sm4598 37]

Yeah, my initial reading of “mission-critical” is that it doesn’t include regular old IR1/CR1 visas. What mission could possibly be helped by pushing through an interview for my spouse? Unless he’s a humanitarian worker or critical to welfare of America in some way. 

 

I’m actually more cheered by the wording of “visa appointments remain limited.” That makes it seem like things are more or less operating as before the lockdown. Still though. Have a feeling that we’ve all been giving an extra month of waiting 😕 

[PBabz 137]

39 minutes ago, Sm4598 said:

Yeah, my initial reading of “mission-critical” is that it doesn’t include regular old IR1/CR1 visas. What mission could possibly be helped by pushing through an interview for my spouse? Unless he’s a humanitarian worker or critical to welfare of America in some way. 

 

I’m actually more cheered by the wording of “visa appointments remain limited.” That makes it seem like things are more or less operating as before the lockdown. Still though. Have a feeling that we’ve all been giving an extra month of waiting 😕 

I can see both sides of this - I do think we may take the phrase 'mission critical' too literally though. It does seem like it may be eluding to humanitarian efforts, etc, but I think as far as the US are concerned, family/spousal visas are mission critical.

 

Quote from the initial proclamation in July here:

Mission-critical immigrant visa categories may include applicants who may be eligible for an exception under this presidential proclamation, such as: IR/CR1, IR/CR2, IR/IH-3, IR/IH-4, SQ, SI, and certain employment-based medical professionals, as well as cases involving an applicant who may age out.  

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/Proclamation-Suspending-Entry-of-Immigrants-Who-Present-Risk-to-the-US-labor-market.html

[willingtowait4it 49]

1 hour ago, PBabz said:

I can see both sides of this - I do think we may take the phrase 'mission critical' too literally though. It does seem like it may be eluding to humanitarian efforts, etc, but I think as far as the US are concerned, family/spousal visas are mission critical.

 

Quote from the initial proclamation in July here:

Mission-critical immigrant visa categories may include applicants who may be eligible for an exception under this presidential proclamation, such as: IR/CR1, IR/CR2, IR/IH-3, IR/IH-4, SQ, SI, and certain employment-based medical professionals, as well as cases involving an applicant who may age out.  

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/Proclamation-Suspending-Entry-of-Immigrants-Who-Present-Risk-to-the-US-labor-market.html

This sets my mind at ease, thank you! I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about the possibility of additional delays. I appreciate this information, makes me hopeful for another batch being released this week. Previous batches have come out on Thursday and Fridays so probably not tomorrow but fingers crossed for the end of the week!

[R1CH1991 247]

The ONLY saving grace is they haven’t cancellled November so there shouldn’t be any backlog for us July folks. If they cancelled November, and added say an additional month on top, that would be even more stressful.

 

In the words of Jon Bon Jovi and I guess Joe Biden now .... Keep the faith people!