Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Immigration processing going from worst to worser. I'm just going to stick this headline up on screen; this is from The Hill, thehill.com, the article is titled: Trump 'border Czar' says Administration will conduct workplace Immigration raids. Quoting directly: "Incoming Border Czar Tom Homan said Monday that President-elect Trump's Administration will crank up workplace raids as part of its broader Immigration crackdown."

This would not seem to directly impact the K-1, K-3, CR-1 or IR-1 Visa process which are generally for Fiancés and Spouses of American citizens or lawful permanent residents who are legally trying to immigrate to the United States. But it is worth pointing out that first, unlike the first Trump Presidential term which took about 2 years for us to see real concrete changes to not only Immigration processing but Immigration enforcement, I think we're going to see this from the get-go with the new Administration. And I think this is evidenced by the fact that since the last Administration, Mr. Trump has become more sophisticated with his appointments. For example, it's kind of tactically brilliant that he has brought Mr. Homan on board as the "Border Czar" because I believe this is something he can appoint in the Trump transition team to get started on work before they even get into office. Meanwhile this is also someone who, to the best of my knowledge, is appointed directly by the Executive without the need for Senatorial confirmation. This is also significant because these policies can start being implemented from the get-go. 

What's the point for those who are looking at Fiancé or Marriage Visa applications moving forward? Well long story short and the way I look at it is I think we are going for worst to worser. What am I talking about? Well quite frankly, the Biden Administration has not been the easiest thing to deal with in terms of Immigration; the bureaucracy is just completely off the chain. I'm getting denials on cases where they are denying because they say so, literally, that is their legal logic chain; we're denying because we say so. I can get into it but unfortunately, well not unfortunately, but attorney-client privilege precludes me from that, have to deal with that case, so that is what it is. I'm also seeing denials on picayune just nonsensical stuff: Request for Evidence, RFEs, for the same stuff. Generally speaking, the Biden Administration has been no particular friend to legal immigrants. I don't care really what they say. 

That being said, under Trump we saw things like the tightening up of the Affidavit of Support requirements which I could see totally coming back. They also sort of tried to, and in my opinion it was illegal, but tried to deprioritize the K-1 Visas, the Fiancé Visas. Again, why were they messing with legal Immigration? To the Administration, I'm gung-ho with going after the illegals but why are you messing with the people that want to play by the rules, stand in line correctly, and do the process right? Why mess with them? I'm hoping you learned from the last Administration and from the administration in the interim that that's probably not the best idea. Let's concentrate on going after illegals and frankly I think the appointment of Mr. Homan is a good sign in that direction - that they are looking to prioritize illegal Immigration - but can we please, please, please stop hassling and haranguing people that have legally gotten into the system and are processing through the system. 

Meanwhile, for those who are not in the system yet but looking at a K-1 or K-3 or CR-1 or an IR-1 Visa, this would probably be the time for me to tell you, it's good to get in early and often in these situations. What am I talking about? Nothing can particularly change legally speaking while the current Administration is still sitting there although after the Administration is gone, and Mr. Trump takes back over, and we start seeing these policy shifts things will have changed. So, getting on file sooner rather than later is probably just a good idea generally speaking. Meanwhile, the other thing to bear in mind is the fact that yeah, these categories could be changed in the aftermath and if you get in, you are sort of grandfathered in and processing through under the laws and the regulations as they sat at the time that you processed in or at least the Visa category itself will survive if you pay the fees associated with processing it. 

Long story short and something that again is concerning to me is if this Administration makes legal Immigration more problematic. For those that are worried about such things, getting on file prior to the changeover would not be a terrible idea. And bear in mind, this doesn't stop on a dime. It's like a big boat, you sort of stop the engine and then it kind of continues by momentum moving forward. So, what's been going on in the present Administration will probably have that same momentum, but the thing to keep in mind is it won't last very long and it will last I think far less time than the last Trump Administration did where it took about 2 years before I started really seeing major changes to the overall system. So again, it probably won't be instantaneous, but if you are looking to get someone into the United States legally, probably better to get on file sooner rather than later.