In this video, I'm going to focus on a few topics. First of all, we're going to talk about
a new lawsuit that was filed against the State Department, specifically focusing on the issue of
unlawful suspension of visa processing, essentially limiting people's ability to enter
the United States if they were residing in the Schengen area, and a few other countries that were
prohibited from entering into the United States. Remember, the visa processing, the visa issuance
in those countries should have never stopped, but it did stop unlawfully by those embassies
and consulates, and therefore, they are being sued right now. It is important for you to understand
the scope of the lawsuit, and how it could potentially help your case if you're now currently
stuck in waiting for your visa interview. In the second part of the video, we'll talk about the
news that the State Department has expanded eligibility for national interest exceptions
to the travel ban in places like Brazil, Iran, Republic of China, Ireland,
and the Schengen Area countries, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, specifically,
for nationals that are applying for immigrant visas and fiance visas, are going to be able to
enter the United States without quarantining for 14 days abroad, is subject to these exceptions.
Now, we're going to talk in this video, how exactly it’s going to work and how this change
will impact the current visa backlog that we're all experiencing right now in different embassies
and consulates abroad. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to our Immigration channel. This is a place we get
the most up-to-date immigration news, immigration updates, and everything else you need to make your
immigration journey less stressful. My name is Jacob Sapochnik, and I'm an immigration attorney
located in San Diego, California. If you're here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to our
channel, click the notification bell so you don't miss any of our videos. And also, give us a big
like so YouTube will be able to share this video with more people just like you. In this video,
we're going to talk about some very important topics, specifically the most recent litigation
that is challenging the State Department their lack of interest or intention to issue visas
blaming it on the various proclamations. So, this recent lawsuit is called Kinsley versus Blinken.
And you'll be able to follow that on Twitter and all the other places where there will be updates
from the attorneys that are pursuing this litigation. Let's see what this complaint states.
In essence, it states, “The following defendants have unlawfully relied on certain suspensions
on entry that apply to individuals who are physically present in the Islamic Republic
of Iran, the People's Republic of China, the Federative Republic of Brazil, South Africa,
the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Schengen area of Europe during the 14-day
prior to seeking entry. These regional entry bans based on presence allow for entry,
after the individual has remained outside the designated countries for 14 days.
However, defendants have refused to issue visas to plaintiffs, which would allow them to quarantine
in a third country for 14 days prior to seeking entry.” As you can see, despite the fact that
if a visa would have been issued to somebody from Ireland or from South Africa, or from China, they
could have chosen to quarantine in a different country for 14 days, and then enter the United
States. They had their choice. Yet, the State Department refused to give them their choice,
and completely deny them the option to get a visa. And that's exactly what this lawsuit
is about. As of now, April 12, 2021. We hear that CBP pre-clearance units, C unit in London,
specifically authorize K1s to travel the United States, despite the travel ban still enforced,
but they respect the exceptions that were just issued last week. So, remember that if
you are traveling from any of these countries, you should be able to safely enter the United States,
if you already have a visa. And if you don't have a visa, you should be able to request a visa to be
scheduled at the moment if you are traveling from any of these countries. But again, the purpose of
the lawsuit is clearly to put the State Department on the spot and to show that what they've done
was not right. It was illegal. And hopefully, I'll be able to update you further once we have
more progress on this litigation. Remember, CBP confirmed this week that you can travel even if
you have a visa that says, for example, K1 subject to a proclamation, you should be able to still
use that visa and enter the United States because it's now under an exception. Overall, it’s great
news. And of course, as we have more information about what's happening in this litigation,
I promise to update you right here on this channel. Let’s talk about the State Department’s
expanded exceptions to the regional travel bans. Now, I've done a YouTube live about this.
We talked about it briefly, but I wanted to kind of expand that more in this video
because I get a lot of questions from you, guys. So, this video is created just for you.
Let's summarize actually what happened. So, the State Department has expanded
eligibility for national interest exceptions to the regional COVID-19 travel bans in the following
areas, Brazil, China, Ireland, Schengen area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. What it also
means is for nationals entry or immigrant visas, or K 1 fiancee visas are now qualified under the
national interest exceptions automatically. In addition to that, certain Exchange Visitor
programs typically entered on a J1 visa are also subject to these exceptions including,
J1 au pairs, J1 interns, trainees, and specialized training J1. Remember that this policy became
effective immediately last week. However, quite a few of these embassies and consulates
are still operating in a reduced capacity, with short staffing, and the inability to see people on
regular basis. Therefore, you should definitely be expecting a lot of delays in the next few months.
So, what does it mean for you, the foreign national, that is waiting overseas trying to
get in here. Let's talk about immigrant visas and fiance visas first. So, while they are subject to
this exception, which is great, remember that the processing capacity of these embassies,
whether it's in the Schengen countries, whether it's in Brazil, or South Africa, is still
quite limited. This means that even though they are supposed to be issuing those visas right now,
as far as we know, visas are not being issued yet. Therefore, as I mentioned at the beginning of this
video, the Kinsley lawsuit is important because that lawsuit will essentially force embassies
or consulates to start issuing visas. Right now, these exemptions are definitely a good start. But
it's not going to guarantee that people are going to start getting their appointments and visas
tomorrow. Again, this is because of the backlogs, the large amount of cases that are still pending.
And the fact that these consulates and embassies are not yet fully reopened. How about certain
exchange visitors coming on a J1 visa? If you come in as an au pair, you definitely have to come for
a purpose of caring for some minors of US citizens or LPRs, or typically, to help parents like
medical doctors, people in the medical industry that need to be working and they need somebody
to help care for their children. The J1 au pair program has been very, very popular to help bring
those people to help relieve the healthcare workers, so they can go out there and help
fight COVID-19, and all these related issues that come around it. So, definitely, J1s are a
priority right now. And also for trainees, and for interns that are working in different industries,
they're going to be able to enter now under these exceptions. Finally, these exceptions apply for
pilots, and aircrew, traveling to the United States for training. So, finally, as a reminder,
it is important to be aware that these exceptions are in place, and also, to be in touch with your
individual embassies and consulates. We've seen cases where interviews were scheduled,
and then they were canceled within a week or two. After that, it's your responsibility to contact
the consular and try to find the easiest, quickest way to get your appointment rescheduled. Again,
we feel that the only solution to this will be definitely working with the embassies or
consulates pushing them to reopen more and more, as country conditions obviously enable them to
do so. We know that they continue to train more staff. We need to continue to expand our local
facilities. It is important to know that it's different for each embassy. And it's up to you to
follow up with your individual posts to see when they reopen and when you can get that interview
scheduled. But they can't use the proclamation anymore to not issue those visas. Hopefully,
this information was helpful. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions,
if you’re impacted, and what other videos you would like for me to make on these related topics.
And also, if you’re here for the first time, do not forget to subscribe to our channel.
Click the notification bell to be notified when new videos come out. And also, when we go live.
Give us a big like so you will be able to share this video
with more people just like you. And again, a reminder, if you want to talk about your case,
if you need help with your immigration matter, please text me at 619-483-4549
this number was created just for you, guys, to be able to connect with me
set up a consultation and I'll be able to help you move your case
further. So, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.