Daily Digest, September 21, 2026: Four Approvals in a Weekend — and the First Posts Say They Are Rescheduling

This issue covers Saturday noon to Monday evening. Accounts of court filings are secondhand; we have not read the documents.

The weekend's numbers

The 21 September status report in the diversity visa case reportedly counts, for the window since Friday: no new interviews scheduled, about 302 re-interviews scheduled, 31 first interviews and 226 re-interviews held, 4 cases approved for issuance and 67 refused. Friday's report had 51 approvals against 298 refusals. Two reports are not a trend, but both point the same way, with nine days left in the visa year. Readers also note a change of tense: the instruction that posts may not resume immigrant visa processing before public-charge training is now described as something the department had implemented, with the plaintiff exception described in the past tense too. Whether that means it has been lifted is not stated.

The plaintiffs' latest filing reportedly adds a new layer. Some applicants say officers told them a case needs clearance from Washington before it can be decided, and that officers consulted each other mid-interview about how to complete the new forms.

A correction on Dhaka

Yesterday we relayed a report that two family cases at Dhaka had been told to redo the medical and submit passports without a second interview, and noted the source could not confirm they were not plaintiffs. Today that report is disputed outright. An applicant interviewed there in February says the panel clinic told them old cases have not been started. The plaintiff re-interviewed on the 17th says the only confirmed re-interviews are plaintiffs, each handed a second 221(g). Treat yesterday's Dhaka item as unconfirmed. That plaintiff's status moved again today and still reads Ready, with no decision.

The first signs of rescheduling

At Buenos Aires, a K-1 applicant whose 26 August interview was cancelled was told by the call centre today that rescheduling emails have begun going out, in the order of the original dates. The applicant has not received one, so this is a statement, not yet a date. At London, a spouse case refused under the pause after a 29 January interview has a new medical on 23 September and a second interview on 9 October; the petitioner is a serving US service member. Reports that two European posts have resumed are contradicted by our own readers; we hold nothing confirming it.

Approved before the suspension, still waiting

The suspension is holding more than interviews. A spouse case approved at Frankfurt on 31 July still has no passport 52 days later. A K-1 approved at Kingston on 13 August has not been issued. Neither nationality is on the pause list.

Outside the pause

A visitor visa applicant at Paris was given a 221(g) on 11 September conditioned on a 10,000 dollar bond; the payment link had not arrived ten days later. It is the first bond-conditioned 221(g) we hold. An H-1B case at Hyderabad gives a full social-media tail: white slip on 4 September, approved on day 5, issued on day 14, passport on day 17. At Toronto, an H-1B renewal drew a yellow slip for social-media vetting and moved from Refused to Approved the same day.

Where the numbers stand

Eighty-six cancellation reports across 30 posts, with Buenos Aires, Jerusalem and Sydney new. Fifty-six were September appointments and three have replacement dates. Ten confirmed pairs. Thirteen records added and three updated. The re-check reached 18 older open cases before a rate limit stopped it; two had resolved, both at Ankara in August, one approved and one issued. The figures are crowdsourced and anonymised; they describe what people chose to report.