Immigrant Visa Pause Update, November 7, 2026: The Scheduling Tool Slides Back at Ciudad Juarez and Guatemala City, and London Books a New IR1 Interview

Day 78. The monthly scheduling tool for new immigrant visa interviews updated on 6 November, and for most posts it went nowhere or went backwards. Meanwhile London is booking new interviews, and approvals elsewhere are waiting on medicals.

The November scheduling tool: Juarez and Guatemala City go backwards

The scheduling tool shows how far each post has got in booking first interviews for documentarily qualified cases. In the 6 November update, applicants report that Ciudad Juarez moved back from December 2024 to April 2024, after an earlier backward move. Guatemala City went from September to August 2025. Islamabad stayed at September 2025 for a third month, Lagos at May 2025, Tegucigalpa at April 2025 for immediate relatives, and Accra at March 2024. Australia has not moved since April. New Zealand is booking November interviews, and Colombo shows as current. A backward move does not cancel anyone's appointment. It means the post is booking fewer new first interviews, usually because capacity is going to re-interviews and rebooked cancellations first.

London books a new IR1 interview

On 6 November an applicant reported a London IR1 interview booked for December. It is a direct consular filing that had never had an interview date, not a rebooking. K-1 and spouse interviews continue there, but nobody has reported an employment-based interview letter, and the tool still shows February 2026 for employment cases. A rebooked case also finished: a spouse whose 4 September interview was cancelled was seen on 22 October and issued on 3 November. Its 221(g) asked for a co-sponsor because the petitioner had claimed the foreign earned income exclusion, so the tax returns showed no income despite large savings and a new US salary.

Amman and Kingston

Second-hand from an immigration company group: Amman is re-interviewing applicants first seen on 1 February, and 2 February cases are expected from the week of 9 November. Only 3-5 officers are said to be on these cases. At Kingston, an applicant first interviewed in May was sent a new 221(g) form this week accepting their domicile evidence and asking for a new medical and the passport, with no second interview mentioned.

Medicals are now the bottleneck

Three reports this week turn on the medical. An EB-3 applicant at a second interview on 6 November was held because the new medical had not reached the post system, and was told visas are no longer issued on the spot. A spouse re-interviewed on 3 November passed the public-charge assessment but had to redo the medical before printing, although the letter said that was not needed in advance. At Casablanca, an applicant re-interviewed in mid-October is still in 221(g) waiting for the medical to arrive. If your medical is near its expiry date, book the new one early.

Tegucigalpa and the lawsuit

An IR1 whose August interview was cancelled is told every week by the Tegucigalpa appointment line that the embassy has sent no instructions to resume. Another IR1, in administrative processing since 30 July with an approved waiver, saw its first CEAC date change in a month. On 6 November the plaintiffs in the main pause lawsuit filed a proposed amended complaint. It challenges the public charge worksheet, the training requirement, repeated re-interviews and the review-and-override policy.

Status by embassy: immigrant visa pause status. Cancelled interviews and rebookings: cancellation tracker. What second interviews ask: public charge re-interview guide.