Do you have questions regarding deportation legal matters and have questions? Check out these consular processing tips, then give us a call.
Applying for Consular Processing
One of our clients was asking me that a colleague of his was in country in his home country of Colombia, and he was wondering how he could get over here, how he could apply for a visa, that would be done at the consulate in their home country. Consular processing is available to anyone that wants to immigrate or come to the United States, whether it’s for tourist visa or a work visa, a family visa, any type of a visa, and we believe anyone that makes it to an embassy is able to petition the United States to allow them to come into the United States.
Sometimes clients call and tell us they were injured in an accident due to somebody else’s fault; either they forgot, they were in a hurry, or some people are just opposed to it still. What we tell those clients is you are able to receive compensation for injuries sustained in that car accident as long as the seat belt would not have prevented them. For example, if you’re struck from the side and you break your arm against the door, you have a valid claim for that injury. However, if by wearing a seat belt you would not have struck your head on the steering wheel, for example, then you are not protected. It’s called the seat belt defense. What would happen is, although we would claim all of the injuries that were caused by the accident, the defendants are allowed to assert as a defense that because you weren’t wearing a seat belt those injuries should be either precluded or diminished because of your failure to wear that device.
Consular Processing Timeline
Sometimes we’re asked how long consular processing takes as opposed to things that are processed in house. Believe it or not, typically consular processing basically means where you apply in your home country’s United States embassy or consulate. You’re making the application to immigrate to the United States for whatever reason, whether it’s a fiancé visa, through marriage, it could be work based, you can do that in your home country at the United States embassy.
That processing is usually one or two months faster than it is doing it from the United States. The process is basically similar. It requires providing proof. There’s always lists and the immigration naturalization website has list of the documents that you need to present for your consulate, your passport, the application, some application fees, they’re going to be fingerprinting, there’s face mapping payment that you have to make for them to put you in the system. There’s certain requirements and certain fees associated with it. Basically, the consulate processing is what you’re going to be doing in the US but in your home country and for some reason, they’re usually one to two months faster than it is making an application here but for obvious reasons if you’re already here in the United States, it may be better for you to stay and file your application here and do everything here rather than go back to your home country, but because of the timeframe, sometimes it may be recommended for you to go back to your home country, go through the consular processing procedure, and then come back with a visa. It’ll depend. Like everything in immigration law, it’s very fact specific and situation specific.
Switching from Consular Processing to Adjustment of Status
Yes, if you’ve made an application for whatever type of immigration or visa that you wanted to in your home country and you made it to the United States either way, now you can go ahead and do an adjustment of status instead of waiting and going back to finish the consulate process in your home country. That’s possible, especially if you’re here and especially in marriage situations where you don’t want to leave your spouse or your fiancé or in situations where you have family here in the United States and you don’t want to leave them for extended periods of time, that’s certainly an option and it may be recommended but it may not.
It’s also going to depend on the types of visa and the timeframes that we’re talking about. Usually, the consulate processing is a little bit faster so it may be more beneficial and sometimes you may have to go back depending on the type of visa that you obtained to get here, whether it was a tourist visa or something of that nature, it’s possible you may have to return and you may not be able to adjust it. It depends, like with everything in immigration law, it’s going to be very fact specific and specific to your particular circumstances.
Consulate Denying an Immigrant Visa
Typically, the place where your process may not necessarily be the reason that an application is approved and denied, for example, in consular processing, they’re going to deny you based on whether or not you meet the criteria for the specific visa that you’re wanting to obtain. They’re going to want to interview you. They have an interview process. If you don’t do well in that or if they don’t believe that you were being accurate, if you give any false statements, if you write any false information in your application, if you don’t have all the documents that you need for a student visa, for example, if you can’t prove that you have sufficient funds to be able to pay for school and living expenses while you’re here.
There are many different reasons why you may or may not be denied. The location has less to do with the denials as the facts underlying whether you qualify or don’t qualify.
Do you have questions regarding deportation legal matters and have questions about our consular processing tips? Contact our experienced Orlando immigration lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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