Immigrant Visa Pause Update, October 20, 2026: What the Appeals Court Stay Changes, a Kathmandu Plaintiff Issued in 23 Days, Islamabad Emails February Cases, and Tbilisi Refuses at the Second Interview With a Document List

Twenty-one records went into the tracker today from 48 threads, eight rows on the status table changed and Ho Chi Minh City becomes its 67th post. The news everyone is reading is the appeals court's partial stay of 19 October. The news that matters for a file is quieter: a plaintiff case at Kathmandu went from a phone call to a passport in three weeks, Islamabad has started emailing February interviewees unprompted, and Tbilisi has shown what a refusal at the second interview looks like when it comes with a document list.

The stay, in one paragraph

This is a community summary of court filings, not legal advice. On 19 October the appeals court paused the part of the August judgment that set aside the individual refusals and sent them back for decision. It did not pause the ruling that the 75-country suspension itself was unlawful. The government then asked the trial court to hold off on the plaintiffs' proposed enforcement order; the plaintiffs replied the same evening that the suspension's vacatur on its own obliges the department to decide applications that were held only because of it, pointing to the government's own earlier statement that vacatur would require fresh case-by-case adjudications, and to the count given in court: about 706 of roughly 43,000 affected applications decided since August, nearly 60 percent of them refused again. The practical reading from applicants is that nothing now forces a post to reopen a non-plaintiff file until the appeals panel rules, but nothing stops a post that is already working through its queue. The cases below are what posts actually did on the day of the stay and the day after.

Kathmandu: phone call to passport in 23 days

A spouse first interviewed on 26 February and refused under the pause, with the petitioner a plaintiff in a private group suit, was phoned on 22 September to attend a re-interview and redo the medical. Medical on the 23rd, re-interview on the 24th: the questions were general ones about finances and health insurance, the post kept the passport and the originals, and the officer said the medical was the only item outstanding. CEAC read Issued on 29 September and the passport arrived on 15 October. Nobody ever asked for a self-sufficiency plan, at either interview. That is the guide's pattern for a file that is already complete, and it is the first full timeline from this post.

Islamabad: an email nobody asked for

Applicants first interviewed on 10 and 18 February received an automated email around 20 October saying the post is reviewing cases and will reach theirs in turn, together with a CEAC last-updated change. Neither had sent an inquiry. An applicant at Almaty got the identical email on 9 October. It is not a callback, but at Islamabad the late-January cohort was the last to be emailed re-interview dates, so February applicants are reading it as their turn approaching. Relayed the same day: a case with a scheduled re-interview at Islamabad was approved on 20 October, the day after the stay.

Tbilisi: refused at the second interview, with a list

A family third-preference case from a pause country had its second interview on 16 October. The officer said refused, public charge, 221(g), and then handed over a yellow sheet marked administrative processing asking for a health insurance plan or quote for every family member and bank statements and savings for both the petitioner and the joint sponsor, to be re-evaluated once submitted. The same request appeared as a message in CEAC. This sits between Almaty's flat 212(a)(4) of two weeks ago and an approval: the file was short, the post said what was missing. Send all of it, and get a quote for each person rather than one policy.

Post by post

• Naples: an IR-1 was told on 20 October of a second interview the following week. The email lists what the post may consider: bank statements, financial information, educational qualifications, employment applications, health insurance, housing arrangements and the sponsor's financial documents. Employment applications and housing arrangements are new in writing; the applicant has not applied for US jobs yet, and should start now.
• London: an IR1 first interviewed 5 August and given a 221(g) has had its second interview and holds the visa, dates not given. Outside the pause, a K-1 interviewed in early July and promised the visa in two weeks was instead asked for a full medical history from the UK health service, then a paid telehealth evaluation with the post's psychologist in mid-September; CEAC has not moved since 20 August and emails go unanswered. A K-1 cancelled for 22 September still has no date while earlier dates have been rebooked.
• Sydney: a pause-country diversity visa selectee reports a second interview on 19 October and a visa the same day, with few details. The 19 August IR1 stuck on a medical report is still waiting.
• Ho Chi Minh City, new on the table: a family first-preference interview rescheduled from 27 August has had no follow-up, and the spouse-and-child case cancelled by email for 28 September has no date either, as of 20 October.
• Lima: an IR1 with a 14 September appointment has no new date.
• Unknown posts: a K-1 given a 221(g) in early August over an expired medical was told a few days ago that the worldwide training pause is still on; a family fourth-preference case interviewed in May, expedited for an age-out, was asked only whether the derivative is married.

Dubai: a white slip that cleared in four weeks

For the nonimmigrant side of the tracker, a clean dropbox timeline. A UAE resident since 2010 with a previous ten-year visa submitted a B1/B2 renewal on 24 September and got the passport back three days later with the old visa cancelled without prejudice and a white 221(g) saying nothing further was needed. CEAC moved on 1 October, the post emailed for the passport on 14 October, Approved showed on the 19th and Issued on the 20th. Another applicant at the same post is five weeks in; the applicant's own estimate for Dubai is three to eight weeks. Elsewhere, a first-time B1/B2 at Chennai was approved after questions on purpose, travel history, job and salary, while a business visitor at Tokyo and a tourist at London were refused under 214(b) after three questions each, neither asked about the trip.

What to do this week

If your post has emailed you a document list, it is telling you what the worksheet found missing; answer every item, including an insurance quote per person. If you have had no contact, a CEAC last-updated change or an unsolicited "reviewing cases" email is the first sign of movement at Islamabad and Almaty, so check the status page rather than the inbox. Every post has a row on the status-by-embassy page, and cancelled appointments belong in the cancellation tracker.