-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES MEMO ON PROCESSING NEW V AND K VISAS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a recent memo, the Visa Office of the State Department relayed the way it believes the new V and K visas, created as part of the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act, should be issued. Consular posts are not yet authorized to issue these visas, but this guidance is intended to help them prepare for when the visas can be issued. V visas will be available to spouses and minor children of permanent residents who have had immigrant visa petitions pending for more than three years, so long as the petition was filed before December 22, 2000. Because of this, V visas will be issued for only approximately three years, and will not be a permanent addition to the list of nonimmigrant visas. The State Department believes that V visa applications, because the V visa is designed to further family reunification, should be processed as if they were applications for an immigrant visa. V visas will be issued only at posts that currently issue immigrant visas. A new class of K visa was created by the LIFE Act for spouses and minor children of US citizens. The US citizen spouse must have filed an immigrant visa application for the foreign national spouse, but there is no amount of time that it must have been pending for the foreign national spouse to be eligible for the new K visa. The State Department notes that in these new K visa cases, it may not be able to issue the visa until the INS approves a petition filed by the citizen spouse and that the INS has not yet reached a decision in this regard. LIFE requires the K visa to be issued in the country in which the marriage occurred. In some cases, where immigrant visa processing for several countries is done in one central location, this will require posts that issue only nonimmigrant visas to issue K visas. Also, unlike the V visa, the new K visa is a permanent addition to the list of nonimmigrant visas. The documentary requirements for both the V and the new K visa will be much like the requirements for the current K fiancé visa. Applicants will be required to undergo the immigrant visa medical examination and present police certificates. They must also present evidence that they will not become a public charge after entry into the US, but will not be required to file the I-864 Affidavit of Support. Noting that the primary purpose behind the creation of the V and K visas was to promote family reunification, the State Department will instruct consulates to give priority to immigrant visas, then V and K visas, then other nonimmigrant visas. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------