THE processing time of US visa petitions - from filing to approval with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) - the subsequent immigrant visa processing at the National Visa Center (NVC) and finally, the scheduling of immigrant interview at the appropriate consular post (the US Embassy Manila for Philippine applicants) are mainly dependent on the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines.At the time of writing, the US Embassy explains that due to 'precautions and limited resources due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Embassy in the Philippines continues to operate on reduced staffing and is continually evaluating the conditions necessary to resume full services.'Should conditions improve, the embassy would be able to provide additional services, which could 'eventually culminate in a complete resumption of routine visa services.'However, the US Embassy 'cannot predict when the resumption of full visa services or a specific set of visa cases will resume.'Aware of the need for families to be reunited the State Department continues to process limited numbers of immigrant visa applications in the following preferential order:1. Cases for applicants previously interviewed and refused under Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 221(g) for additional document submission or processing. (A 221(g) is a temporary refusal wherein applicants are instructed to provide additional documentation or explanation before a final decision is issued.)2. Interviews for any case with a derivative applicant who is turning 21 years old and/or risks losing eligibility as a child or derivative. (This refers particularly to children who would age out (turn 21) and therefore would no longer be considered a derivative beneficiary. Under Section 424 of the Patriot Act, an alien whose 21st birthday occurred after September 2001, and who is the beneficiary of a petition or application filed on or before Sept. 11, 2001, will be considered a 'child' for 45 days after the alien's 21st birthday.)Then there is the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), which allows an opportunity for a child who has aged out to still qualify for derivative visa beneficiary status.Under a uniform formula used by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State, a child may still qualify for the derivative visa if at the time the child applies for the visa, his or her age would be considered below 21.The key ingredient is the time the petition was pending from the time the petition was filed (called the 'priority date') until the time the petition was approved. Most people believe that the first notice they receive from the National Visa Center (and in recent months, the date on the NVC letter assigning the case number and invoice ID number) - is the date of approval.The case creation letter or the first NVC letter is simply a confirmation that the visa petition has been approved by the USCIS. The consuls normally require the CSPA applicant to present the actual approval notice from the USCIS instead of the NVC letter.This belief that the approval of the petition is when NVC sent the letter usually leads the principal applicant and/or petitioner to think that the petition has been pending for longer than it has been.For example, an F3 petition filed on Oct. 28, 2010, approved on Jan. 29, 2015, would have been pending for approximately four years and three months.However, the NVC may not issue the case creation letter for another one to two years leading the principal applicant or petitioner to believe that the petition has been pending for five or six years instead of only four years.Then there is the continuing aging of the applicant from the receipt of the creation letter to the completion of processing with NVC to be considered documentarily qualified (DQ) - which could add another six months on the average.Finally, should the US Embassy remain unable to resume visa operations, what happens to the principal applicant and the child who will not be able to physically apply for the immigrant visa? We shall return to this after the next category of preferred case for immigrant visa scheduling.3. As capacity allows: interviews for IR-1, CR-1, IW-1, IR-2, CR-2, IR-3, IH-3, IR-4, K-1/2, IH-4, IR-5, SB-1 and I-131A applicants whose cases are already at post for processing. (This means immigrant visa applicants in the aforementioned listed categories whose visa interviews have been scheduled from NVC to the US Embassy.)4. Visa interviews for all other immigrant visa categories remain suspended until local conditions and capacity allow.This last category applies to 'all other family-preference categories - F2A (spouse and minor children of lawful permanent residents); F2B - over 21 unmarried son/daughter of lawful permanent residents (LPRs); F3 - married sons/daughters of US citizens; and F4 - adult sisters and brothers of US citizens); and then there are the five employment-based categories.Nonimmigrant visa cancellations of appointments renew on a monthly basisIn recent months, the US Embassy has announced the cancellation of visa appointments for nonimmigrant visa (NIV applicants: 1) B-1/B-2 temporary visitors for business/pleasure; 2) F-1/M-1 and J-1) students and exchange visitors; and 3) all other nonimmigrant visa applicants.In fairness, 'the embassy continues to prioritize travelers with urgent travel needs, foreign diplomats and certain mission-critical categories of travelers such as those coming to assist with the US response to the pandemic, followed by students and exchange visitors (F-1, M-1, and J-1) and temporary employment visas (H-1B, H-2B and L nonimmigrants).Routine visa appointments and processing for B1/B2 (business/tourist) remain suspended with the exception of interview waiver cases.'Nonimmigrant visa fee validity extendedBefore a tourist visa applicant (for business or pleasure) is able to get an appointment date, the visa fee must first be paid in any Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch. This fee is usually valid for one year from the date of issuance.In consideration of the cancellation of appointments due to the pandemic, the US Embassy has 'extended the validity of the payment (known as the MRV fee) until Sept. 30, 2022 to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule a visa appointment as a result of the suspension of routine consular operations an opportunity to schedule and/or attend a visa appointment with the already paid fee.'NIV expedite appointment requestExpedite requests for emergency travel may be submitted via our website at http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visaapply.asp. The applicant must first have a scheduled appointment to be able to expedite or get an earlier date than the one initially obtained after payment of the visa fee.A similar extension for the no-appearance visa application (NIV Interview Waiver) has also been announced, available at https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-updates.Immigrant visa processing at NVCThe interview priority list announced by the US Embassy in Manila refers only to immigrant visa applicants who 1) have completed their documentation and 2) priority dates are current.Note that even if an immigrant visa applicant meets both requirements, the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines will still affect the actual visa interview.In previous reports, the State Department has announced a huge backlog of immigrant visa applications brought about by the pandemic and the immigrant admission ban of former president Donald Trump.The May 2021 immigrant visa waiting report issued by the State Department (see last week's column) shows 481,965 documentarily qualified applicants still waiting for their interview schedules.Meanwhile, the approved petitions from the USCIS continue to be forwarded to NVC adding to the current hundreds of thousands of cases being archived or issue case creation letters.As of June 2021, NVC's case files are created for cases received from the USCIS on May 19, 2021:Currently, NVC sends the case creation/welcome letter to the principal applicant's email address on record. At this point, the speed or delay in processing depends on how the principal applicant complies with the instructions on NVC's case processing page.After the applicant (or his/her designated agent) pays the fees, completes the forms, uploads the documents and complies with any review note instructions, the documents must be submitted online before NVC can review his/her case. After review, the applicant is then considered documentarily qualified.The visa scheduling remains dependent on the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines and resumption of visa operations by the US Embassy in Manila.As of June 1, 2021, NVC is currently reviewing cases submitted by applicants on April 24, 2021.To sum up, 'before the National Visa Center reviews your case, you must pay all fees and submit all required documents, such as: petitioner's affidavit of support; supporting financial documents; applicant's DS-260; and applicant's civil documents.If an applicant's case is marked as documentarily qualified - and applicant notified of said status - but has not received any notice of interview, the applicant may submit a query through NVC's public inquiry form:As of June 1, 2021, the NVC is responding to inquiries received on May 18, 2021.Wait, is there more?Yes, wait some more until the pandemic situation 'vanishes' or the required number of people have been vaccinated allowing for more mobility, lifting of quarantine protocols and resumption of US Embassy Manila operations.So, stay safe, observe quarantine protocols, or face the possibility of delayed visa applications.
