Daily Digest, September 12, 2026: The First Pause-Refused Visas Are Issued — and the Price Is a Second Interview
Three days ago the filing said nobody had left administrative processing. Two days ago a cable went out. Today we hold the first two reports of previously refused immigrant visas being issued, and the text of the cable itself has been filed in court. The detail that matters most is how the first case got through: a second, in-person interview about money.
What the cable actually says
The government has now filed the 10 September cable, marked immediate, sent to every post. As reported from the text: the immigrant and diversity visa pauses are no longer in effect and the old guidance is rescinded in its entirety; nobody may be refused under either; posts must immediately begin reviewing cases refused solely under the pauses and contact those applicants; and, given the time that has passed since the original interviews, officers are encouraged to re-interview applicants in person for a full assessment. We have not read the filing ourselves; that last clause is the one to plan around.
The first issuances, and the route they took
One outcome was verified from documents shared privately: a pause-refused applicant was called back for an additional interview and then approved for pickup. The second interview reportedly centred on finances, employment plans in the United States, health insurance, what the petitioner does for work and whether they had received public benefits, living arrangements, and whether entry could happen before the medical expires. A second issuance was reported the same day at Kingston, where another applicant saw a case touch within hours.
Alongside that, a diversity visa applicant at Yerevan received an emailed public charge assessment that goes well beyond the affidavit of support: whether the applicant is likely to find work sufficient to support dependents, and whether their age leaves enough working years to build savings, reach forty quarters for Social Security, or qualify for a pension. With the cable's re-interview clause, the shape of the next few weeks is: review, a conversation about money, then a decision.
Touches that now mean something
Islamabad IR1 cases interviewed in February and May both saw their last-updated date move on 11 September, the day after the cable, with no email yet. A Bogota applicant was told by email the pause is over; a Rio applicant was told by phone that contact would come very briefly. On Tuesday we said a date change is not a case leaving processing. That is still true, but the touches arriving the day after an instruction to review are a different animal from the fortnightly refreshes we described, and we will treat them that way.
Not every message was good. One applicant relayed a post saying the instruction was now to wait longer and not contact applicants yet. Unverified, and the same day's issuances cut against it, but it is on the record.
A full tail from Chennai
Outside the pause, an H-1B applicant at Chennai gives us a complete social-media vetting timeline: interview on 1 September, the 221(g) email six hours later, form submitted that evening, approved on day two, issued on day seven, passport in hand on day ten. The fastest end-to-end social-media case we hold, and a yardstick for the New Delhi F-1 cases still open past a week.
Where the numbers stand
Sixty-two cancellation reports across 22 posts. Thirty-seven were September appointments and three now have replacement dates: two at London and a new one at Naples, 2 September moved to 23 September. Ten confirmed pairs, gaps of 8 to 70 days. Manila, Kingston, Mumbai and London added cancellations today with no date. In the re-check of 36 older open cases, one resolved. These figures are crowdsourced and anonymised, and describe what people chose to report.