The Department of State (DOS) has reduced the options on where an immigrant visa applicant can consular process. Applicants must now select the U.S. consulate located either in their current place of residence or in their country of nationality. Effective Nov. 1, 2025, the National Visa Center (NVC) will schedule immigrant visa applicants in one of those places. Existing immigrant visa appointments will generally not be rescheduled or cancelled.

Applicants residing in the United States will no longer be able to select a U.S. consulate in the country where they last resided. Under the new policy, these applicants would need to ask NVC to transfer their case there and provide a hardship justification.

Hardship cases

If an applicant would like to transfer their immigrant visa case to a new consular post after the NVC has scheduled the appointment, the applicant would need to contact the NVC using the Public Inquiry Form. The applicant is advised not to contact the consular post. All requests for post-to-post transfers must be submitted to the NVC, regardless of whether the case has already been sent to the post for interview scheduling. The NVC may request additional information to confirm that the location is an applicant’s current place of residence or whether an exception may be made. Exceptions may be made for humanitarian grounds, medical emergencies, or foreign policy considerations.

Examples of humanitarian grounds include the following: urgent need to reunite with immediate family due to medical crisis, situations of personal danger in the country of residence or nationality, or cases where the applicant cannot safely travel back to their nationality/residence country (e.g., conflict zones).

Examples of medical emergencies include the following: the applicant is undergoing ongoing treatment in a third country and cannot travel, or a medical disability or condition makes it impossible to travel to the designated consulate.

Foreign policy considerations are not applicant-driven but occur when the U.S. government determines it serves U.S. diplomatic or policy interests to process a case outside the normal framework.

The following are examples that would not qualify as a hardship: personal convenience (e.g., shorter wait times at another consulate), past ties to another country, employment or study abroad unless it is tied to current residence, financial considerations, or “forum shopping” for consulates perceived to be more lenient.

Homeless cases

For “homeless cases,” where routine visa operations are suspended or paused, the applicants will be interviewed at a specific immigrant visa processing post designated by DOS.