Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the K-3, CR-1 and IR-1 Marriage Visas for the spouses of presumably American citizens and/or possibly Lawful Permanent Residents and the impact of a very recent Proclamation from the White House regarding Visa processing and possible restrictions associated therewith.

It's important to note that we here from our office here in Bangkok, Thailand, process a number of Visa cases every year back to the United States. Generally speaking, those pertain to Thai nationals, but it's not uncommon for me to process, and it's primarily me that processes these cases; I am an American Immigration Attorney. I do have assistance here in the office. My assistants are very capable of helping me but at the end of the day, it is me processing these cases. We primarily handle caseload out of Thailand. That said, we oftentimes will handle Lao nationals as well as Myanmar passport holders in processing casework for them as well. 

It looks like under this new Proclamation there may be changes but that said there's reason to be optimistic in my mind. I thought of making this video after reading a recent press release from the White House, that is whitehouse.gov, titled: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Further Restricts and Limits the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States. Quoting directly: "Strengthening National Security through Common Sense Restrictions Based on Data: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a proclamation expanding and strengthening entry restrictions on nationals from countries with demonstrated persistent and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats." Quoting further: 

• “The proclamation continues the full restrictions and entry limitations of nationals from the original 12 high-risk countries established under Proclamation 10949." and noted there is Burma. Now Burma is still the name, diplomatically, that is used to refer to what is now referred to as Myanmar, so that's important to note, and by diplomatically, I mean that's the way the US refers to it. Quoting further though: 
• "It imposes full restrictions and entry limitations on 2 countries that were previously subject to partial restrictions: Laos and Sierra Leone." 

I've done videos in the past discussing the fact that Laos and again Myanmar, may have issues with regard to Visa processing based on changes under this Administration. That said, heretofore, I have not been overly concerned that we would see issues associated with family-based cases. That said, based on this proclamation which came out the end of December, hard to say how this is going to play out moving forward, but there is reason to be optimistic. Quoting further: 

• "The Proclamation includes exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing Visa holders, certain Visa categories like athletes and diplomats, and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests. 
  • The Proclamation narrows broad family-based Immigrant Visa carve-outs that carry demonstrated fraud risks, while preserving case-by-case waivers."

So it looks like it may be possible, depending on the underlying facts in the case, to see a family-based Immigrant Visa case, that would be something akin to a CR-1 or IR-1 Visa, and as we have discussed in other videos, even the K-3 Visa which is technically Non-immigrant and pertains only to the spouses of US citizens, again that's a Marriage Visa and both of the K category visas - the K-1 and K-3 - are effectively treated as if they were Immigrant Visas even though, especially in the case of the K-1, it is a Non-immigrant dual-intent Visa. That said, they are handled by the Immigrant Visa unit, they are treated as if they are Immigrant Visas, so I think there's reason at least for now to be cautiously optimistic that it will continue to be possible to process cases involving spouses of American citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents from Myanmar and Laos into the foreseeable future. 

That said, I don't think it's a foregone conclusion based on what I'm reading as of the time of this video, and again we're going to find this out as we go along here. We're going to find this out in practice, we're going to find out how the rubber hits the road as we're going down the road if you will, to use a metaphor. So it remains to be seen exactly what this means. Again, I think there's reason to be optimistic with regard to again issuance of visas for family of American citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents who happen to hold a Lao or Myanmar passport. That being said, we will certainly be keeping people updated on this channel as the situation evolves.