What’s Happening

The Department of State (DOS) issued an updated policy via its website on Saturday, September 6th stating that, effective immediately, they are updating their policy on Third Country National (TCN) nonimmigrant visa processing. Until now, all consular posts were able to accept TCN nonimmigrant visa applications, with specific policies varying across posts regarding wait times, adjudication procedures, and eligibility criteria for TCN processing. While DOS has always preferred applicants to apply in their home country where possible, this new policy marks a significant departure from that long-standing practice of allowing applicants to apply wherever they are able to get an appointment if there is not good availability in their country of nationality or residence.

At this time, it appears that the guidance was issued without advance warning to individual consular posts and, as of Monday morning, the immigration bar is seeing a large amount of inconsistency across posts with respect to TCN visa adjudications, with some posts continuing to process already-scheduled TCN appointments and others (most notably the U.S. Embassy in London) completing interviews but declining to take passports for visa stamping and placing applications in administrative processing until they receive further implementation guidance from DOS leadership. 

We have summarized below the main points covered in the updated guidance along with some commentary on what we do and do not know at this time based on the unclear wording of the new guidance, which leaves open questions as to whether TCN processing is now completely prohibited unless an individual can establish residency in the consular jurisdiction, or whether it is being discouraged but still ultimately a practice that will be allowed to continue with increased restrictions.