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Bern: F4 visas issued

Immigrant visa: Brother or sister of U.S. citizen at least 21 years of age, and their spouse and children

Immigrant visa interviews may be delayed
News reports only; no State Department notice

News reports say many U.S. embassies delayed immigrant visa interviews from August 2026, while officers trained on new rules. We do not know if this has ended, so watch your email for any change to your interview.

Details

In August 2026, U.S. embassies and consulates reportedly postponed immigrant visa interviews while their consular officers were trained on new public charge guidance: rules on whether an applicant is likely to depend on public benefits. They emailed applicants with interviews booked that the interviews would be rescheduled. The State Department acknowledged the pause in a statement on August 25, but it has posted no notice about it on its website.

On August 26, a State Department statement quoted by Fox News said its training initiative started in early August. On August 27, the Associated Press quoted a State Department official saying that the pause began in early August and was not expected to last beyond early to mid-September. The official said the interviews affected, most of them scheduled for August, would be rescheduled for September, October and November.

The latest report we have found, from Reuters on September 8, said that processing had started again for Hungary and Poland while the pause continued elsewhere, and that it could last months, according to a person familiar with the matter. Reuters also said that the pause came after the August 21 court ruling against the 75-country pause, and that the government told a court interviews were rescheduled through August 31. We have found no report on whether the pause is still in effect.

If your interview was postponed, or is coming up, check your email and the embassy's website: NVC and embassies may reschedule interviews, including ones already booked.

Sources: Fox News: Trump admin pauses visa appointments worldwide amid heightened screening for applicants (August 26, 2026); Associated Press, via NBC News: Trump administration pauses all immigrant visa applications amid new screening policy (August 27, 2026); Ogletree: State Department Pauses Immigrant Visa Interviews for New Public Charge Guidance Training (August 31, 2026); Reuters, via Yahoo News: US resumes immigrant visa processing for Hungary, Poland as pause remains elsewhere (September 8, 2026).

Last checked Sep 25, 2026.

Interview scheduling at Bern

NVC is scheduling most interviews for cases that became documentarily complete in these months, in the State Department’s update of Oct 7, 2026:

All three categories: immediate relatives, family preference and employment

Current

October 2026, the month of the update

“Current” can also mean the post is not scheduling immigrant visa interviews at all. Check the embassy’s own website, listed at usembassy.gov.

Compare this with the month NVC emailed you that your case was documentarily complete: that NVC had accepted all your documents.

What this month means

It is not a wait time. It is the month most interviews are being scheduled for now, and it can move backwards. “Current” means the cases NVC is scheduling include the month of the update itself. The State Department says it cannot predict exactly when a case will be scheduled.

Family preference and employment cases also need a current priority date in the Visa Bulletin.

Source: State Department IV Scheduling Status Tool, updated Oct 7, 2026.

From Mar 2025 to Feb 2026, Bern issued 4 F4 visas, compared with 28 in the 12 months before.

This counts visas issued, which shows how busy the post is, not how long you will wait. The State Department data here ends in February 2026, so it cannot show what has changed since then, such as pauses that started or ended later.

Visas issued per month
02468202420252026
Source: the U.S. Department of State’s monthly immigrant visa issuance statistics.
The monthly counts are stored in JSON lines files on GitHub.