Immigrant Visa Pause Update, Oct 3: Four Non-Plaintiff Approvals in One Day at Guatemala City, Rio, Budapest and London

This covers Friday 2 October into Saturday morning. Anything relayed from another group is marked as relayed.

Four approvals, none of them plaintiffs

For six weeks the question on every thread has been whether a post would clear anyone who had not sued. On 2 October four did, in four countries, and every one of them went through the public-charge second interview the guide describes.

Guatemala City. An IR1 first interviewed on 15 April. The family had filed an individual lawsuit in April and had a state representative write twice. On 30 September, hours after government lawyers asked for a 30-day extension to answer that suit, the embassy phoned and offered Friday. The interview ran 35 minutes with one officer asking and two watching: assets, health history, any prior public benefits, length of marriage, the petitioner's monthly income, whether the cars are paid off, retirement plans, health insurance plans. Approved at the window, passport pickup on Monday 5 October, and an instruction to leave the country before the medical expires on the 8th.

Rio de Janeiro. A spouse case first interviewed on 7 August, no lawsuit. The notice came on Friday 25 September for Tuesday the 29th and asked for every original previously requested plus updated financial information. The interview took an hour and twenty minutes, one of only two immigrant interviews in the building that day, both of them second interviews. The questions were about his professional background and his US business, assets down to vehicles and equipment, the business and joint accounts, her retirement plan and insurance, her employment letter, and a job he had been recommended for. The passport stayed. CEAC went Refused, Administrative Processing, Issued on 1 October; the passport was collected on the 2nd and the family flew home together.

Budapest. A Pakistani spouse almost two years into the process, whose visa was close before the January pause. The re-interview came with document requests nobody saw before the pause: evidence of prospective US health insurance, a potential job offer letter, financial support or assets. Ten days to redo the medical and get a new police certificate, which meant the file was completed a week after the interview. The passport came back with the visa printed around 2 October. This is the first first-hand issuance we hold at this post.

London. The British applicant in 221(g) since 8 July whom we have followed since Wednesday had his second interview on Friday morning with 45 hours' notice. He was placed first in the security queue, called twice (once to hand in the written public charge statement, once for the interview), and the questions tracked the invitation list: employment plans and current employment, health insurance plans, assets and savings. The earlier tax transcript was examined again. Verbal approval, and CEAC to Administrative Processing by the afternoon. People in the queue told him the post is working through a backlog of 221(g) immigrant cases.

What the four share: a first interview between January and August, a second interview about money, insurance and work rather than the marriage, and a decision within days. Two had lawsuits or heavy outreach behind them; two had nothing but the queue.

New dates at Beirut, Bogota, Warsaw and, relayed, Bangkok

Beirut has made its first call. A Lebanese spouse refused at a 28 January interview was emailed on 2 October, the day after the petitioner wrote to the post's immigrant visa address describing their hardship, to schedule a second interview (now 20 October), redo the medical and bring updated public-charge documents. At Bogota a non-plaintiff IR1 first interviewed 13 May was emailed a 6 October second interview, assigned directly rather than self-booked; a 4 May family also has an early-October date while an 11 May case is still waiting. Warsaw has two April IR1s doing new medicals for 19 October interviews, and applicants there say only October slots were offered. At Bangkok, relayed from a community group, three applicants all first interviewed on 27 January were scheduled for 6 October (IR5) and 13 October (CR1 and IR1) and told not to worry about expired medicals but to bring evidence of financial support. Bridgetown emailed a Jamaican applicant interviewed in January for a follow-up one week out, with no instructions and an auto-reply to every question.

The quiet posts

Tirana sent its generic processing-in-order email on 2 October to several February cases, one after four inquiries and a congressional contact; the same cases had CEAC touches three times in September and on 1 October. Kuala Lumpur sent the identical email the same day. Madrid produced a third CEAC touch on a 3 February case and nothing else. Casablanca cases from February and April were touched on 23 and 28 September with no call. At Amman, re-interviews for next week and an employment-based issuance on the 2nd are relayed from a private group; a Cairo case transferred there got only the generic email. A Dhaka diversity visa plaintiff landed at JFK on 2 October and was through CBP in five minutes.

London gives its K-1s no date

The same post that approved a spouse on Friday emailed several K-1 applicants the same day that their 8 and 20 October interviews were rescheduled, with a separate email to follow for the new date. For some the portal still showed the original slot; for others the date simply vanished. One applicant booked for 18 September says she never received that email and was turned away at the door. Medicals already done are now on a clock. The status-by-embassy page has the London row, which now reads two ways at once.

Outside the pause

A J-2 dependent at Toronto was asked for a CV, transcripts, thesis abstract and the supervisor's CV with the passport returned, and is a week into Refused. A J-1 physician interviewed in July was told on 1 October that the case is "not currently undergoing any processing" while still refused under 221(g). A returning F-1 at New Delhi has waited since 26 August over an I-20 and SEVIS update, passport held.

What the day adds

Twenty-seven records added or updated, including the London case moved to approved. New pause-status rows for Budapest, Bridgetown and Kuala Lumpur, and twelve rows rewritten. Three London K-1 cancellations added. The guide gains the Guatemala City, Rio and London question lists and the Budapest document list. Today's dataset is crowdsourced and anonymised.