Immigrant Visa Pause Update, October 23, 2026: Bogota Approves Three Spouses in a Week, Guatemala City and Almaty Start Calling, Naples Sets November Dates While Montreal and Auckland Wait, and Montevideo Joins the Table

Day 63 of the immigrant visa pause. The government's answer to the district court is due this evening at 17:00 Eastern; we will read the filing and summarise it in Saturday's post. Today's data is about the week that preceded it, and it splits cleanly in two. At the posts that invited applicants back before the appeals court's stay, interviews are being held and visas approved. At the posts that never got that far, nothing has changed, and the people waiting have started to count the days they have been away from home.

Bogota: three approvals, one in five minutes

Bogota is the clearest case of the first kind. Three spouse cases were approved there this week, on Monday 19, Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 October. All three had been emailed on 23 September, before the stay, and told to rebook through the appointment system's missed-appointment option. The 22 October case had first been interviewed on 10 March and refused only for the pause. The second interview lasted five minutes. No public charge question was asked and the papers were barely looked at. The petitioner had done the work in advance: updated tax returns, pay stubs, W-2s, an employer letter, housing arrangements, and three personalised health insurance quotes in the applicant's name, one from the employer's plan and two from the marketplace, obtained through independent brokers because the carriers themselves would not produce them. The applicant speaks little English and showed enrolment in an English class. The one refusal she saw that day was for an expired passport.

The other two interviews were longer. One ran 40 minutes and included questions about whether the applicant would keep paying into his pension at home and how he would verify his education in the United States. The other ran under ten minutes and asked about health insurance and assets. All three were approved, so the length tells you about the officer, not the outcome.

Not everyone with the 23 September email has been seen. One family did the repeat medical for both applicants and has sat in the queued state for four weeks; the post says by phone to use the website and by email to wait. A spouse refused in April has no date at all. And an EB-3 derivative child, first interviewed 28 January, was given a 19 November second interview yesterday, which suggests the invitations did not stop with the stay.

Guatemala City joins the posts that call

Guatemala City has started phoning. A spouse first interviewed 27 July was called yesterday with a second interview date and told she needs health insurance. Another family got a call with a date and is still waiting for the email. A relayed account has a mother and child re-interviewed on 21 October and approved, with two more re-interviews set for 27 October. Callers were told on 21 October that instructions are going out. This is the first instruction to a non-plaintiff we have recorded at this post, so its row moves to "some".

Almaty moves the same way. An IR5 couple first interviewed 13 April were emailed yesterday for a second interview in early November, with the fullest document list we have seen: proof of the relationship to the sponsor, a personal credit report, a certificate on whether the applicant has ever received targeted social assistance, a translated valuation of all assets, bank and pension statements, a US health insurance plan, and job offers or a work plan. Kazakh applicants can pull the assistance certificate from the e-government portal; the sponsor is told to bring the US equivalent. We have added the list to the guide.

Islamabad, for its part, is said to be working strictly by original interview date and to have reached cases first interviewed on 2 February. EB-2 NIW applicants from May and June have no email yet. In the insurance 221(g) we reported yesterday, the officer wanted a monthly premium figure for the spouse and accepted a screenshot of the petitioner's email exchange with an insurance agent. Policy cards were not enough; a number was.

Where the public charge refusals came from

Several applicants whose second interview ended in a 212(a)(4) refusal say the slip gave no reason and asked for nothing. One of them got an answer through a congressional inquiry: the problems were proof of the petitioner's domicile and the need for a new joint sponsor. That matches what Bangkok applicants have been saying for a week, that many of the refusals there came from people who did not ask why, and that some may need only an insurance document or a better presentation of assets. If you are refused, ask the officer what is missing before you leave the window.

Naples reschedules, and the rest of the world does not

Outside the pause, Naples sent out its September reschedules yesterday. An Italian IR1 cancelled for 9 September got 12 January 2027. An IR1 cancelled for 2 September got 18 November. An IR5 cancelled for 2 September got 17 November. Another got 20 January. The new appointment showed in the scheduling site before the confirmation email, so it is worth logging in. One applicant approved on 6 October had the passport with the visa on 12 October. Nobody at Naples has been asked for anything about public charge.

That is the only post with November dates. Montreal's two 31 August appointments are still unrescheduled, one of them a direct consular filing whose email, escalation and congressional inquiry were all rebuffed. Auckland's K-1 cancelled in early September has no date, and every phone line repeats that the post will message when it wants to interview. Manila's 23 September immigrant visa and 22 September K-1 interviews have nothing. Paris's 29 September K-1 has nothing, though another September K-1 there was moved to late November. Frankfurt is sending K-1s the final-processing email and then not letting them book. London's booking site shows no dates, but an unusually large batch of London K-1 petitions moved to In Transit at NVC yesterday, with NOA2 dates from June to October, which applicants read as the NVC freeze thawing. A Ciudad Juarez spouse case given an administrative processing 221(g) on 24 July, passport kept and nothing asked, has had no CEAC change since.

The human cost is now being counted in months. One applicant who lives in the United States and travelled to Lima only for the medical and the interview has been there two months. Another has been away from home for four. A Bangkok DV-2026 selectee, refused under the pause and told the post has sent one invitation in ten days, watches the court's extension run out today, a public holiday in Thailand.

Montevideo joins the table

At a reader's request we have added the US Embassy in Montevideo to the status table. Uruguay is not a pause country, but the post is affected by the worldwide suspension like every other: several employment-based and family cases documentarily qualified in August 2026 are waiting for interview dates with none issued. We hold no forum reports from this post yet and will fold them in as they appear. If you are waiting at Montevideo, the page now exists to watch.

What to do this week

If you were invited to rebook before the stay, keep the appointment; nobody so invited has been turned away this week. If your post has started calling, as Guatemala City and Almaty now have, get a personalised insurance quote in the applicant's name before the date, through a broker if the carrier will not help, and bring a monthly premium figure you can say out loud. If you are refused on public charge, ask what was missing. And check your scheduling account as well as your inbox: at Naples the new date appeared in the portal first. Tomorrow's post will cover the government's filing.