Lana Chumley, the chief of the nonimmigrant section of the US Consulate in Juarez, Mexico, has announced that as of April 1st, the consulate will not process E visa applications for non-Mexicans. This is a departure from the established policy of the Juarez consulate to handle all out-of-jurisdiction non-immigrant visa cases. The moratorium may be lifted before the end of the summer, but this is not certain. This news is highly significant, because very few consulates routinely handle out-of-jurisdiction non-immigrant visa cases. The Juarez consulate’s availability is quite convenient because it is located just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Ms. Chumley explained the new policy by noting that the workload of the consulate has increased dramatically in recent years and the E visa cases take the most time to handle. She did note, however, that the consulate will consider accepting emergency cases.
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