The U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez has advised AILA’s State Department Liaison Committee that it plans to resume processing of some nonimmigrant visas for third country nationals (“TCNs”). The consulate plans to re-open TCN processing for all types of visa renewals for which the initial visa was issued in the home country, as well as for TCN applicants who obtained a change of status from DHS (INS) from one nonimmigrant class to another, unless that initial class was B-1 or B-2.

Ciudad Juarez WILL process those who arrived in the U.S. with a B1/B2 visa with a "prospective student" annotation, but will NOT process those who seek to change to another nonimmigrant status from an un-annotated B or who arrived in the U.S. with a B visa with no annotation and later obtained a change to another nonimmigrant status. Ciudad Juarez indicates that, for workload reasons, it does not intend to process E applications, nor will it accept cases with “special processing requirements.”

Ciudad Juarez will begin allowing applicants to make appointments in the near future, probably during the third week of April. Generally, appointments must be made two weeks in advance.

Posted on AILA InfoNet at Doc. No. 03041443 (Apr. 14, 2003)