Visa Procedures for Interviews at U.S. Consulates
Prior to May 1998

The U.S. Department of State Visa Office has responded to several issues posed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and provided some useful information. The Law Office of Sheela has summarized those issues that we believe will assist and provide guidance for our clients and prospective clients:

New Telephone Number for Visa Appointments

Callers throughout North America may now book appointments for visa interviews by calling 1-888-840-0032.

The 1-888 number (even though 1-800, 1-888 1-877 are generally toll free numbers), the U.S. State Department telephone number bills the call to a credit card at the same per minute rate as the 1-900 number system. The advantage of the 1-888 number is that there is free access from offices and hotels, etc. unlike the 1-900 numbers.

H1B Visa Denials at Consulates

The U.S. Department of State Visa Office stated that in some cases, particularly in the computer software field, where the H1B Beneficiary claims additional qualifying education or experience which the consular officer has reason to suspect is fraudulent or otherwise inadequate/questionable, the Consular officer has the right to return the H1B Petition to the INS Service Center to revoke the H1B Petition or request reconsideration of the H1B approval.

Substitution of Beneficiaries in Previously Approved Labor Certifications

The U.S. Department of State Visa Office sent a cable to consular posts in December 1997, providing specific guidance on this issue. If the applicant says that they do intend to take up an offer of permanent employment, the consular officer should take that and other relevant factors into consideration in issuing the immigrant visa to the applicant in such cases. Of course, the applicant should be fully qualified in terms of education and experience to be substituted for the previous Beneficiary of the Labor Certification.

Fiancé Petitions and Form I-864

The U.S. Department of State Visa Office has clarified that the old affidavit of support (I-134) rather than the new form I-864 because the K-1 fiancée visa is a nonimmigrant visa. The I-864 will be required when the K-1 visa recipient.

Unlawful Presence for F-1 Students

The U.S. Department of State Visa Office in their December 17, 1998 cable regarding unlawful presence, indicated that students holding Duration of Status (D/S) student visas do not accrue unlawful presence until there is a finding by the INS or the Immigration Judge that the foreign student has violated status, irrespective of the amount of time lapsed since entry into the United States.

Issuance of F-1, M-1, J or H Visas

An F or M visa can be issued no earlier than 90 days prior to the designated registration date at the educational institution. The same standard applies to J visa applicants. H visa applicants may apply in advance but will only be admitted to the U.S. ten days before the validity of the petition begins. L visa applicants will only be admitted to the U.S. while their petition is valid.

Iranian Visas

As a general rule the remittance of investment or other funds from Iran to the United States does not constitute a violation of the Iranian trade sanctions, and therefore an Iranian resident in Iran is not precluded as a matter of law from obtaining an immigrant investor visa. However, there are other circumstances, where, for example, it would be a violation of sanctions for an Iranian to remit profits from an U.S. enterprise to Iran, and therefore a consular officer could require evidence that an immigrant investor has cutoff ties with business interests in Iran. The investor would also have to demonstrate that he or she would not engage in trade with Iran while in the United States.

Visa Processing in London

The U.S. Embassy in London was required to limit Nonimmigrant Visa interviews during February 1998s because the visa unit was converting to the modernized Machine Readable Visa system. This resulted in an interview backlog of approximately three weeks.

While London hopes to resume normal appointment levels in March and April 1998, conversion to at-the-window MRV processing may slow down interviews and may result in continued lower than normal appointment levels.

Due to the British Presidency of the European Union and a series of EU and G-8 ministerial and summit meetings that will take place this May, many of Embassy London's consular officers will be involved in supporting the visits of high-ranking U.S. officials. As a result, in the month of May 1998, London will be compelled to limit appointments to residents of the consular district. A resident is considered to be anyone living in Great Britain who has some British immigration status other than visitor with six months or fewer leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

Except in genuine emergency circumstances, appointments in May will not be available to third country nationals visiting the UK, including those visiting from the U.S., unless the applicant is a permanent resident of the UK with indefinite leave to remain (ILTR).

The U.S. Consulate in London advised AILA that it will accept for processing applications by residents of its consular district who are British citizens or permanent residents of the United Kingdom who are not physically present in the United Kingdom so long as they are in legal status -- other than VWPP status -- in the U.S. There is no need for these applicants to come to London and apply for a visa in person.

Vancouver: TCN Appointments and Phone Calls

Vancouver reports that it has a large number of appointments available for Third Country Nationals (TCN) through the 900 number system. Post currently opens 100 to 150 TCN appointments daily, but the majority are unfilled. Vancouver would like to fill up these unused slots.

An appointment can be scheduled within three days of the call, and up to one month ahead.

Vancouver reports that most applicants with straightforward cases require less than one hour in the consulate, with pickup the next day at 3:00 PM. In extraordinary cases, the consulate can issue the visa on the same day.

Applicants for Canadian Landed Immigrant Status

Several consular posts have noted the difficulty in adjudicating Nonimmigrant Visa applications from applicant's seeking to travel to Canadian Consulates in the U.S. for the purpose of applying for Canadian landed immigrant status. If at all possible, such applicants for landed immigrant status of Canada should process the case in the applicant's country of residence or nationality.