Mouse click to break a curse
I
N 2023, US embassies and consular posts worldwide issued 413,900 immigrant visas, or a monthly average of 34,491.
Given almost 36 months of waiting for visa interviews, imagine close to a million clicks visa applicants have subjected their mice to each time they receive a notice from the National Visa Center (NVC), hoping that it would be the actual interview notice when the email opens.
The 413,900 total represents the number of visas in all preference categories issued during America’s fiscal year 2023, which starts Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 1, 2023.
The NVC states that in calendar year 2019, on average, 60,866 applicants were pending the scheduling of an interview each month. Assuming all these applicants were issued visas, the total number issued annually would have been 730,392.
Based on the monthly reports from NVC, the 2023 total mirrors the three recent years after the pandemic —1,655,600. Had the same number of visas been issued from 2020 to 2023, this four-year total would have been 2,921,568.
Until October 2023, the F2A category (spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents, or LPR) remained “Current,” meaning immigrant visas are available for the principal applicant and minor children.
Editha, spouse of Charlie, an LPR in Dallas, Texas, is one of 16,601 F2A applicants from the Philippines reported by the State Department in November 2022, waiting for their immigrant visas. She was waiting for her “case creation letter” from NVC, which would provide a case number and invoice ID number, two essential requirements to start her visa processing.
Charlie did not apply for naturalization as a US citizen because he was afraid that changing his immigration status would also automatically convert the category of Editha and their two minor children, ages 19 and 20. Once Charlie is issued his certificate of naturalization after being sworn in, Editha’s category would have changed from F2A to IR1 — spouse of a US citizen.
Theoretically, Editha should have been elated since the spouses and minor children of US citizens are not subject to the annual quota. Beneficiaries under the F2A category, on the other hand, are limited to 77 percent of the 114,200 total allocation for the second family preference category (approximately 87,934).
But Charlie would have to file a new petition each for Editha and their two children, creating a new priority date and another period of waiting.
Charlie’s F2A petition for Editha was received and acknowledged by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Feb. 1, 2018. On that month, the Visa Bulletin shows the final action date for F2A spouses and minor children as “1-Mar-16.” They were hoping that in two years’ time, Editha and their minor children would receive their interview notices.
Under Chart B of the Visa Bulletin, Editha’s priority date would not have allowed her to start processing with NVC. In February 2018, the chart B dates for filing of family-sponsored applications was only “01NOV16.”
Charlie was issued his F2B visa in 2000. As an F2B beneficiary, Charlie must remain unmarried. And he did. However, when their children were born, owing to the parental concern to save their kids from the stigma of being born out of wedlock, Editha indicated that they were “married.”
The birth certificates of their two children show marriage dates indicating both were legitimate offspring of Charlie and Editha.
By June 2019, Editha’s priority date in chart A advanced more than a year to “15-Jul-17.” Her priority date in chart B also moved forward to “08MAR19”.
Charlie called up the NVC and patiently waited for a live customer representative to ask when he should expect to receive a case creation letter for him to start Editha’s visa case processing. Charlie was also religiously checking his personal checking account to make sure that he had enough funds to pay for the affidavit of support fee and the visa fees of Editha and their two minor children.
After more than 20 minutes of waiting, going through the series of voice messages instructing him which number to press on his landline home phone in Dallas — a human voice picked up his call, verified his identity, immigration status, and dates of filing and approval.
The excitement in Editha’s voice warmed Charlie’s heart as he instructed Editha to start getting the civil documents from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) so he could upload them to his case file with NVC. These documents include their children’s birth certificates, Cenomar (birth, death and marriage certificates), and NBI clearance since both are past the age of 18.
The major obstacle was the dates of marriage on their children’s birth certificates in 2000 and 2001, indicating that both were legitimate. Confronted with the need to correct their record of marriage and birth certificates of their children with PSA, Charlie returned home the next month — August of 2019. Getting married was the easy part. Charlie returned to the Philippines in August 2019 and married Editha in a civil ceremony at the mayor’s office in Bangued, Abra. Through their contacts, Editha was able to request that the Local Civil Registrar forward their record of marriage to PSA.
By then, the PSA had two records of marriage for Charlie and Editha.
The prickly problem of requesting to have the birth certificates of their children annotated to reflect the actual and correct marriage date in August 2020 instead of 2000 and 2001 appeared like a Hexenbiest, a type of Wesen in the TV series “Grimm” that “resembles zombies and are one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures.”
The PSA cannot unilaterally cancel the previous birth certificates of their two children and annotate said certificates to indicate the legitimation by virtue of the subsequent marriage in 2019 unless there is a court decision ordering the PSA to do so.
Because Charlie only had a twoweek authorized leave of absence from work, he left Editha with the funds to have a lawyer handle the court proceedings by filing a petition to correct the records with the PSA.
The entire procedure took three years.
By the middle of April 2023, Editha received the annotated birth certificates of their children, showing the court order establishing the correct date of marriage as well as declaring both their children as legitimate offspring.
Anxious that her priority had been current for more than two years, from July 2019 to April 2023, Editha uploaded the documents to NVC. The same week, she received an email that she had been considered documentarily qualified.
As DQ applicants, Editha and her two kids are eligible for scheduling for their immigrant visa interview.
In April 2023, NVC shows the total number of DQ applicants at NVC waiting to be scheduled at consulates at 453,797. For the 2023 fiscal year, the US embassy issued only 3,701 family-second preference visas: 2,991 FX visas and 710 F2A visas.
In the same month, the dagger of oversubscription for F2A Philippines struck. The category retrogressed from “Current” to “September 8, 2020,” signifying a three-year wait for an interview date!
Five months later, Editha’s priority date was moved back almost two years to Jan. 1, 2018.
October this year, her priority date became current again. The F2A category showed the cutoff date as “08FEB19.”
However, instead of receiving her interview date, Editha continued to receive notification of being DQ, to prepare for the interview but received no interview date.
NVC shows the visa backlog of DQ applicants for January 2024 at 337,870.
In addition, Editha and Charlie’s kids have aged out, turning 21 before a consular interview.
The curse of being considered no longer eligible as derivative beneficiaries shadows Editha’s every waking moment.
The only chance of breaking the spell and evading the curse is the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), which may deem the children qualified to be issued their immigrant visas.
But the CSPA counter-curse can only be performed during the actual consular interview, a notification that makes Editha and Charlie’s hearts skip a beat every time they receive an email from the NVC.
The question they want answered when they click on that email notice is: “Will it be another notice to prepare for the interview as a DQ applicant or the actual appointment date?”
Mouse click.