Josh B K

Ciudad Juarez Trip Report by ***********, Petitioner IR-1 US Citizen Petitioner, Mexican Citizen Applicant Appointment Date: Thursday April 9, 2026 @ 7:00 AM Arrival and Accommodations Antonio and I flew to Ciudad Juarez from Guadalajara on Saturday April 4 — two days before his medical exam. Taxis were easy to find outside the airport. We paid $550 pesos (~$30 USD) for the 20-minute ride to our Airbnb (link), which was conveniently located near a Walmart and Sam's Club — perfect for picking up groceries and cooking our own meals. For all other local travel, Uber worked great: fast, affordable, and hassle-free. Medical Exam We scheduled our exam at Clínica Médica Internacional (cmi-medical.com), which is directly across the street from the consulate. We arrived at 7:00 AM and were greeted in the parking lot by clinic staff, who put a bracelet on Antonio and directed us to check-in. The waiting room is enormous — think airplane hangar — with hundreds of chairs for patients and their families. Antonio completed some brief intake forms and was seen immediately. The appointment took about 40 minutes and included a vision test, blood draw, and chest x-ray. He was then taken to a private room for a short interview with the doctor covering medical history, medications, and similar questions, followed by vaccines: MMR, Hepatitis B, and Tdap. Results were sent electronically to the consulate. Costs: Medical exam — $6,744 pesos (~$380 USD); Vaccines — $2,574 pesos (~$145 USD). Credit cards accepted. After the appointment, we crossed the pedestrian bridge in front of the consulate and found a lovely spot for breakfast: Pancake Paradise. Appointment Day (Document Delivery) Thursday The consular appointment date and time we received from NVC was Thursday April 9 at 7:00 am. This first appointment is only for document delivery. We arrived at 6:15 am and found a line of around 100 people had already formed. Only the applicant can wait in the line. I left Antonio at 6:15 am; he was done by 8:05 am — about an hour inside. The line began moving at 7:00 am sharp, and security guards grouped everyone by appointment time. He was told to have just his DS-260 confirmation, Passport, and Police Report in his hands. Next, my spouse passed an airport style security checkpoint. You cannot pass the security checkpoint with any electronic devices (phones, smart watches, etc) or belt buckles larger than the palm of your hand. They see you cowboys! After passing security, he was directed to a short line of other family based visa applicants. In total he was asked for: DS-260 Confirmation, Passport, Medical Exam Receipt, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificate, Police Report, Sponsor’s most recent Tax Transcript They did not ask for a copy of the I-864 Affidavit of support. All the documents were returned to him in an organized packet with a blue entry pass for attending his actual interview scheduled for the following day, Friday, at 9:30 am. Consular Interview Day Friday Antonio arrived at the consulate with his blue interview entry pass at 8:45am. The guards were organizing people into two lines - one line for people with green entry passes and one line for people with blue entry passes. We don’t know what the color system signifies, but we were team blue. Antonio was quickly led into the consulate and joined a line of about 2 to 3 hundred applicants. He waited in line for about 3 hours. His interview started at 12:15 pm and was conducted by a woman behind a glass wall - think bankteller. Antonio gave the woman the packet of documents that were organized in his document delivery appointment. She asked routine questions - Where do you and your spouse live currently? Where will you live in the US? Have either of you been married before? Do you have children? Have you ever been to the US - legally or illegally? Do you or your spouse have any tattoos? The consular officer did not ask for any additional documents. The Affidavit of support was never requested, but we had uploaded it and all supporting documents to the CEAC system. After the short interview, the officer told Antonio he was approved and passed him a green slip with instructions. Receiving the Visa During the appointment registration process in the ais.usvisa-info system we elected to receive our visa at the ASC center in Guadalajara where we live. Using the Visa Status check link provided to us at the interview ( https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx ), we were informed that Antonio’s visa was “issued” on April 13, 2026. We received an email informing us that Antonio’s passport was ready for pickup at the ASC center on April 17, 2026 (7 days after the consular interview). We picked up the visa that day. From the DQ'd date, we waited 421 for our interview in Ciudad Juarez.

@Gloria Moore Did you have a question or information to share?

Hello friends. Here is my update for March. I collected examples from 4 couples who received interview notices in late March (March 25-28). On average the couples waited 378 days from the DQ date. The latest DQ date I was was March 31, 2025.

I'd reach out to your states department of state or vital records to see what you can get your hands on. They usually have expedited services for a fee.

Hello Friend. The average wait time from Documentarily Qualified to an interview notification has been 380 days for those who received notifications in 2026.

I'm a retired us citizen sponsoring my spouse for a permanent resident visa (IR-1). I am seeking confirmation or advice on how to represent my income/assets on the I-864. In my initial I-864 submission, I reported my annual adjusted gross income which exceeds the requirements over the past 3 years, but all of my income is from interest, dividends, and capitol gains on my savings. I don't have a salary. The NVC accepted my documents but said "The income reported as stated on form I-864 is insufficient to overcome the public charge grounds of inadmissibility for visa issuance". They invited me to submit an updated I-864 with other income and assets. I updated my I-864 to report all my financial assets that bear the interest and dividends on which I support myself. I also included all my real estate (primary residence and two vacation homes). I provided account statements and property valuation/tax records as my supporting evidence. Have I gone about this correctly? Is this how a retired sponsor should complete the I-864? How does the state department determine the sufficiency of a sponsor's assets when they don't have a salary income? If there is still concern about my affidavit of support, will the contact me and tell me what additional evidence they need before my spouses consular appointment?

@emeditz, we received our interview date for the consular appointment today. We will travel to the consulate on April 9th 2026. I wanted to share the happy news with you. If all goes as planned, I expect we will have our visa by the end of April 2026. In total we will have waited 2 years and 7 months.

Good morning, Ciudad Juarez Visa Applicants. I want to share the happy news that, today, my spouse and I received our appointment notification email. We were documentarily qualified on February 12, 2025 and received the email today, March 2, 2026 (383 days). Our appointment is scheduled for April 9th, 2026 (421 days from DQ Date). Here is my normal monthly update: Since my last update, I've tracked 6 applicants who finally received their appointment dates. The latest DQ date I have encountered so far which has received an interview assignment is March 4th, 2025. Here are my charts: You can see a slight trend downward in wait times.

Sure, @Cristina0123! There are two facebook groups I follow where people announce appointments and questions about the Ciudad Juarez Consulate. https://www.facebook.com/groups/406904153165017 https://www.facebook.com/groups/consuladojuarez Most posts are in Spanish, but you can get a lot of value out of the group by just searching for the terms "llego cita" ("The appointment arrived"). An example of a common post is attached. In Spanish, they refer to the Documentarily Qualified date as "CC" (Case Closed). People usually share their CC date and the date of their interview. Usually, I see people announcing appointments between the 20th and 28th of each month. I assume the NVC releases appointments in batches.

Oh @emeditz, I'm so happy for you guys. I can only imagine the agony you must have felt when news of pausing visa processing for certain nations was announced. I am so relieved to hear that you are together now. You also waited a long time, and you deserve this happiness.