
La semana pasada hablé sobre la crisis humanitaria para los refugiados afganos, así que hoy quiero abordar la crisis…
Have you seen the backlog in visa applications that Covid-19 has brought? The waiting line has exploded, but like everything in life, if you have a solid plan and the right information, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s what I’m going to discuss in this article.
With a lot of government offices closed for a long period of time, the pandemic managed to practically shut down all immigration processes from abroad — be it application for citizenship, permanent resident status, conditional resident status, immigrant visas, or non immigrant visas. . The numbers show us that immigrant visa issuances dropped to 23% of pre-pandemic levels, and nonimmigrant visa issuances dropped to 17% of pre-pandemic levels.
And while in the US, thanks to vaccination, things are slowly coming back to normal, the situation is not so positive in some other countries, where visa operations are still severely affected and hurting families of U.S. citizens and residents. At this moment, consular interview appointments are scarce or in some cases completely unavailable.
To have a clearer idea of how the visa applications backlog is at the moment, think about this:
So, those were the bad news. Nobody likes to hear them but we need to know where we are, so we can know how to move forward.
Now, what is happening at the moment is that all consular posts are providing emergency and mission-critical visa services. But full operations will resume on a post-by-post basis, based on COVID-19 numbers, lockdowns, travel restrictions, quarantine regulations, medical infrastructure, emergency response capabilities, and all the necessary measures to try to reduce the spread of Covid 19.
Currently, immigrant visas are being prioritized over nonimmigrant visas. Generally, family-based applications are prioritized over employment-based applications.
The State Department recently divided the immigrant visa categories into four tiers of priority:
Knowing all of this, there are a few strategies that can be taken to get your Visa:
The DHS has temporarily expanded the ability to waive the in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a nonimmigrant visa in the same classification. Previously, only those applicants whose nonimmigrant visas expired within 24 months were eligible for an interview waiver. The Secretary has temporarily extended the expiration period to 48 months.
This allows an alien who is a legal resident of the United States to reenter the United States without the alien’s passport and/or visa.
In this case, what happens is that certain nonimmigrants present in the United States admitted for a specified period of time, or their petitioners, may request an extension of their admission period in order to continue to engage in those activities permitted under the nonimmigrant classification in which they were admitted.
What it’s really needed to truly reopen the United States to immigrants, is to expand the interview waiver and visa waiver options or provide another alternative to speed up visa issuances abroad.
Only then will the U.S. effectively clear the visa application backlog, allowing families to be reunited, and getting things back to normal.
If you need help with your immigration case, call our office to speak with an experienced immigration attorney in New Jersey. We can help you file your green card application, prepare your affidavit of support and other required documents, assist you in applying for citizenship, and dealing with the complicated green card and visa requirements USCIS requires. If we can’t help you, we won’t take your money.
Share This Post!1065 US-22 Suite 2B
Bridgewater Township, NJ 08807
Copyright 2022 Provencher and Flatt, LLP - All Rights Reserved. Powered by Advantage Attorney Marketing & Cloud Solutions