Immigrant Visa Pause Update, October 13, 2026: A Bangkok Second Interview Ends in a Domicile Refusal, London K-1s Refused on Public Charge, and Hyderabad White Slips Clearing Overnight

Twenty-seven records went into the tracker today from 55 threads. The one to read first is a second interview that ended badly for a reason the re-interview guide had not yet covered: domicile. Then London, where the first K-1 interviews after the training are being reported as public-charge refusals, and a brighter note from Hyderabad, where H-1B white slips with nothing requested are turning to Issued the next day.

Bangkok: a second interview refused for domicile, not money

An IR1 spouse first interviewed at Bangkok on 27 January, refused under the pause, had the second interview in mid-October. The officer asked about both spouses' work and education and where they would live in the United States, then whether the petitioner owns a home there. The couple has lived together abroad for more than five years; the petitioner works remotely for a US company at under 25,000 dollars a year and files non-filing statements; a joint sponsor earns many times the guideline. The interview ended with a refusal letter citing 212(a)(4) and a request for two things: a lease or other proof of housing in the United States, and a job offer letter for either spouse. No new medical. The joint sponsor's file was in front of the officer and was not discussed.

The thread's reading, and ours, is that this is the domicile question wearing public-charge clothes. A petitioner who has lived abroad for years has always had to show the intent to re-establish a US home; an invitation letter from a sibling with a mailing address at that house was called insufficient. What is new is that the same facts are now being written up under the public-charge ground, with a job offer letter as the cure. The guide now has a section on it. If you are the petitioner and you live outside the United States, bring a lease, a job offer or transfer letter, and anything that shows the move is real, because a joint sponsor does not answer the question the officer is asking.

London: the first K-1 interviews after training, relayed as refusals

Relayed, not first-hand, but consistent across several replies: a K-1 interviewed at London on 1 October was refused on public-charge grounds although the petitioner earns over 65,000 dollars, owns a home, carries no debt beyond the mortgage and had insurance ready to add the fiance. The fiance's own finances were questioned before the refusal. One reply says four of four interviews that day, the first since the training, ended the same way. A London observer adds what the pattern looks like from inside: beneficiaries whose petitioners clear the income line are still being refused on their own circumstances, including savings, debts and reliance on Universal Credit. A petitioner's income is weighed heavily; it does not override a thin beneficiary picture. The approval we hold from London on 9 October, a spouse case where the UK partner's own benefits history was discussed, is the other side of the same coin.

Against that, a K-1 group for Russian applicants reports interviews rescheduled at Warsaw since the retraining, with a document list that reads like the London questions written down: the beneficiary's savings and assets, education, proof of not having used benefits at home, employment history, and a plan for US health insurance. A second-interview notice at an unnamed post today asked for a new medical, a new police certificate and the latest taxes; the thread's advice to that petitioner, who has no US insurance, was to buy a plan before the interview.

Amman, Islamabad, Ankara: three kinds of waiting

Amman is interviewing. A local intermediary told an applicant the embassy is open and taking immigrant cases in small numbers each day, cancelled first interviews before refusals. Applicants in the thread describe the output differently: nearly everyone contacted gets a re-interview only, three or four visas have actually been issued, and the rest sit in administrative processing for about two weeks afterwards. An email to the scheduling vendor a week ago drew the line that officers are training for public charge.

Islamabad has reached early February, or rather has not. Four applicants first interviewed on 2 and 24 February report Refused on 12 and 13 October, some with CEAC last-updated touches on 6 and 9 October and some with none, and emails to the post unanswered. The thread expects the post to work chronologically after last week's relayed re-interview emails to the 21 to 26 January cohort, which still has no first-hand copy.

Ankara marked fifty days since it began cancelling interviews with nothing: a June immigrant interview refused under the pause is still Refused, a K-1 set for 23 October was cancelled by email on 1 October with no new date, and observers say only diversity visa applicants are being re-interviewed. Across the border in thought if not geography, Tokyo K-1 applicants say no interviews have been rescheduled as of today, and Ciudad Juarez applicants with original dates of 27 August and 14, 24 and 28 September all report silence.

Hyderabad: white slips with nothing requested are clearing overnight

For the 221(g) side of the house, two first-hand H-1B reports from Hyderabad. A first-time stamping on 13 October: passport and I-797 checked, questions on employer, salary, tenure and total experience, the LCA requested, four fingerprints, then a white 221(g) with only the additional administrative processing box ticked. Passport kept, nothing requested, no mention of social media, CEAC Refused the same day. A commenter had exactly that slip on 8 October and was Issued the next morning; the commenter's theory is that entering clickable profile links on the DS-160, rather than bare handles, is why no social-media request followed. One data point, but it fits what the white-slip numbers say about Chennai and Hyderabad: when the box says only processing, the median is days, not weeks.

Less cheerful from the same post: a B-1/B-2 renewal submitted by dropbox came back with a 221(g) telling the applicant to attend an in-person interview on any morning between 8 and 9, which commenters tie to last year's narrowing of interview waivers. And at Chennai, an H-1B stamping appointment originally in January 2026 was moved by the consulate to January 2027, a full year; the applicant has changed employer in the meantime and will carry both DS-160 confirmations.

Also in the records

• An F-1 master's applicant interviewed 5 June, asked the same day for a CV, admission letter and advisor's CV, is still Refused after more than 130 days; the post and a senator both sent templates. Post not stated.
• An O-1B renewal interviewed about a week ago left with a white 221(g) and a promise to resolve it quickly; the previous O-1 three years ago had no delay. Post not stated.
• An H-1B stamping from August 2025 has been Refused since September 2025 over a 2024 arrest that the prosecutor declined to charge; four service requests and one escalation to the post have returned the same generic reply.
• Two threads today conflate the 75-country pause with the separate 39-country travel proclamation. They are different instruments: the pause was vacated in August and is being unwound post by post; the proclamation is still in force and is not touched by any of this.

What to do with this

• If the petitioner lives abroad, prepare domicile evidence for the second interview as carefully as the money: a lease, a job offer or employer letter about the US role, and a plain account of the move. The re-interview guide has the new section.
• K-1 beneficiaries: assume your own savings, debts and benefits history will be asked, whatever the petitioner earns.
• If your post is quiet, it is on the status-by-embassy table with everyone else's; if your report would change its row, add your case.

Every figure here is from community-reported, anonymised cases. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State.