Immigrant Visa Pause Update, October 16, 2026: Frankfurt Approves a CR1 and Says the Medical Need Not Be Redone, Bangkok's Domicile Refusal Explained, Tokyo and Ciudad Juarez Still Waiting
Post by post
| Embassy | Status | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | Approved | Non-plaintiff CR1 approved 16 Oct; medical need not be redone if the visa prints in time |
| Bangkok | Refused | Domicile refusal: joint sponsor unquestioned, lease wanted, invitation letter insufficient |
| Tokyo | No decision | June pause case with no instruction; a 29 Sept interview rescheduled with no new date |
| Ciudad Juarez | No decision | Feb 23 pause case still in 221(g); June case derailed by a sputum test has no date |
| Bogota | Cancelled | K-1 cancelled for 3 Sept still without a date while immigrant re-interviews run |
| Rome | No decision | O-1B renewal with a white 221(g) from about 6 Oct; post now identified |
| London | No decision | Blank-slip H-1B: others interviewed the same day approved with passports back in 3 days |
A quiet collection window, from 8 pm to 7 am Eastern, still produced six new records and four updates, and one of them answers a question applicants ask every day. At Frankfurt a non-plaintiff CR1 was approved at a second interview on 16 October, and the officer told the applicant that the medical, due to expire within a week, did not need to be redone because it only has to be valid on the day the visa is printed. Elsewhere the day is about holding patterns: Tokyo and Ciudad Juarez cases from June and February with nothing since, a 3 September Bogota K-1 still without a date while the post issues immigrant visas by the dozen, and more detail from the Bangkok domicile refusal. No enforcement order has been reported since the 14 October hearing; plaintiffs' proposed reporting structure was due at noon on 15 October.
Frankfurt: approved, and the medical ruling
The interview followed the pattern in the re-interview guide. Two questions the applicant singles out: where the couple is looking for an apartment, and whether there is a job offer. The advice is to answer honestly but to have a concrete answer. Debts were asked; there were none. A bundle of documents handed in at document intake, before reaching the window, is credited with keeping the conversation short. Approval is pending the manager's sign-off that the post applies to these cases, which the officer called a formality.
On the medical: the officer said it does not have to be renewed as long as the visa is printed while it is valid. That is one officer at one post, and it matches how the medical validity works in the printing step rather than at interview. If your decision is unlikely before the exam lapses, still expect to be asked for a new one; posts like Almaty and Islamabad are listing a new medical in the re-interview email itself.
Bangkok: what domicile meant at the window
The 27 January IR1 refused on 13 October added detail. The joint sponsor, a sibling's spouse earning far above the guideline, was not questioned at all. The officer concentrated on the petitioner, who works remotely for a US company at under 25,000 a year, and on domicile. A house purchase was not needed, the officer said, but a lease showing the couple intends to live in the United States was; an invitation letter from a relative with the petitioner's address registered there was called insufficient. The first 221(g) was for the pause, the second for proof of domicile. For couples who have lived abroad together, this is the case to read: income from a joint sponsor does not answer a domicile question, and a registered mailing address is not a residence.
Holding patterns
- Tokyo: a pause-country case interviewed in June has had no instruction since; a spouse whose 29 September interview drew a reschedule notice has no new date. Added to the cancellation tracker.
- Ciudad Juarez is not a pause post, but pause cases sit there too: an applicant interviewed 23 February was told the case was fine and has been in 221(g) since. An immediate-relative case whose 30 June interview was derailed by a three-day sputum test, cleared on 28 August, still has no date and a medical expiring in December, with the scheduling tool showing December 2024.
- Bogota: K-1s are the exception to the post's pace. A K-1 cancelled for 3 September has no date on 16 October, and the petitioner is asking whether any September Bogota K-1 has been rescheduled.
- Rome: the O-1B renewal with a white 221(g) from about 6 October now has its post recorded; the applicant had left the US to renew quickly for an extension of stay. London: the third-country H-1B with the blank slip notes that others interviewed the same day were approved with passports back in three days.
- One applicant's medical from the 19 May public-charge refusal expires on 1 November, with the relationship letter for the joint sponsor dropped at the VAC two months ago and no answer.
What to do with this
- Bring the document bundle to intake, not just to the window. Frankfurt and Bogota both describe intake as where the papers were taken.
- If the petitioner lives abroad with you, prepare domicile evidence that is a residence: a lease, a signed pre-lease, or a family home with the petitioner's name on utilities or a mortgage. An address on an invitation letter did not count at Bangkok.
- Your post's row is on the status-by-embassy table; Frankfurt, Tokyo, Ciudad Juarez and Bogota changed today. If your report would change a row, add your case.
Every figure here is from community-reported, anonymised cases. Court items are summarised from applicants' accounts. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State.