The State Department has sent a cable to all consular posts describing how to handle visa processing for third country nationals who had immigrant visa applications lost or destroyed or are otherwise unavailable due to an evacuation in their home country. The State Department states that such evacuated individuals are supposed to process at designated posts, but that if an affected person shows up at an undesignated post and can remain in that third country for the duration of visa processing, then the post should go ahead and process the visa.

The cable notes that some of the files can be reconstructed. The National Visa Center maintains database records of all I-130s for which it has sent out Packet 3 notices or has forwarded the petition to a consular post. A consular post may request NVC to send out a printout of its database record. The visa applicant has the burden of proving his or her identity including providing proof of the relationship to the petitioning relative. The visa applicant also has the burden of providing any supporting documents required to process the visa. Since many applicants may have fled their country without the necessary documentation, replacement documents may need to be obtained from the petitioner in the US. Consular posts are permitted to accept faxed copies of documents unless their is a concern relating to fraud.

Applicants without passports may obtain passport waivers if there is a good cause for not having the document. A waiver request is filed on Form I-193 and costs $95.

Consular posts will need to resubmit name checks that were in the lost file. The same holds true for any other security checks normally required.