My beautiful fiancee and I have been together for 688 days today. We've lived together, laughed together, cried together. We've been engaged for over a year, and as a requirement for him to come to the USA, I had to return here to show US-based income and housing sufficient to sponsor and care for him after we marry and wait for his green card.  As such, I left my job and home abroad and returned to the USA 354 days ago to restart life again here in the US. I was fortunate to sneak in a 2-day visit in February before embassies halted all visa processing and borders closed in early March. Today marks 216 days apart from each other with no end in sight. His petition has been processed, vetted, and approved by USCIS (Immigration and Homeland Security) and only awaits an interview at the local embassy to verify admissibility.

This petition is not just about us. There are THOUSANDS of couples and families separated by this ongoing policy. This has become an act of family separation, now as we see embassies processing visas and interviews for students and other non-immigrant/non-family applicants, leaving bonafide families separated by oceans and miles of despair.

In early to mid-March, the US Department of State and US embassies globally stopped the processing of visas in response to the global pandemic. As responsible citizens and sponsors of applicants, we understand this was a just and required action to protect the health and safety of not only applicants but embassy staff around the world.

Now, more than six months later, messaging from the state department and embassies is misdirected and chaotic at best. Meanwhile, thousands of US Citizen sponsors and visa petitioners, foreign applications with USCIS approved petitions, some with expiring medical exams who have paid hundreds, and some thousands of dollars in fees are stranded away from their loved ones, unable to see their husbands, wives, fiancees, and children because of the ongoing chaotic and inconsistent messaging from embassies.

Aggravating this already sensitive issue, the State Department has refused to act or make exceptions for family-based visas, however, embassies are making exceptions and even scheduling interviews for non-family, non-immigrant visas, even allowing these applicants on humanitarian flights to the US which are generally only available to US Citizens and permanent residents, yet leaving our fiancees, spouses, and family behind to wait.

Today, we implore Sec Pompeo and the State Department to require all US Embassies abroad to either permit our USCIS & NVC-APPROVED applicants to immediately schedule their interviews and complete their processing or provide an alternate means of processing, such as waiving the foreign interview in exchange of enhanced admissability interviews upon arrival with CBP and, if needed evidence of a medical exam within 60 days of arrival.