Where Does Your Spouse Have to Interview for a Green Card? The Rules Just Changed.

Effective November 1, 2025, the State Department requires immigrant visa applicants to interview at the consulate serving their place of residence. If you or your spouse are planning for consular processing, here is what you need to know before you make any decisions.

Call KVisaXpress at (800) 650-9097 before making any travel or filing decisions.

The Old Rule vs. The New Rule

For many years, immigrant visa applicants had some flexibility in choosing where to interview for their green card. A Mexican national living in Canada, for example, might have been able to choose between interviewing at the U.S. consulate in Mexico City or the U.S. consulate in Toronto, depending on availability and personal circumstances.

That flexibility is largely gone.

Effective November 1, 2025, the State Department issued new guidance requiring immigrant visa applicants to interview at the consular district designated for their place of residence. The National Visa Center now schedules appointments based on where you actually live, not where you are from. If you want to interview in your country of nationality instead, you can request that, but the NVC controls the scheduling and the default is now your country of residence.

This sounds like a procedural change. For many families it is anything but.

Why This Change Matters Right Now

This rule change arrives at an already complicated moment for immigrant visa processing. The USCIS policy memorandum issued May 21, 2026 instructed immigration officers to treat adjustment of status inside the United States as extraordinary relief and to direct families toward consular processing abroad instead. In other words, the administration is actively pushing couples toward consular processing.

At the same time, the State Department is telling those same couples that consular processing will now happen at a specific consulate based on where the foreign spouse currently lives, with limited ability to choose something more convenient or strategically advantageous.

For couples who had a plan, that plan may need to change. For couples who are just starting to think through their options, understanding the new rules before taking any steps is essential.

What This Means for Expats and Third-Country Residents

This change is particularly significant for couples where the foreign spouse is living in a country other than their country of birth or nationality. This describes a large portion of Chelsea's clients -- expats, professionals working abroad, people who have been living in a third country for years.

Under the old system, an expat living in Dubai who was a national of Egypt might have had options. Under the new system, that person interviews at the U.S. Embassy in the UAE, their country of residence, unless they specifically request their country of nationality and NVC approves it.

If they want to transfer their case to a different consular district after NVC has already scheduled the appointment, they must contact NVC through the Public Inquiry Form. They cannot contact the consular section directly.

And if they are living in a country where routine visa operations are suspended, they are assigned to a designated processing post, which may be in an entirely different country than where they live.

Designated Processing Posts for Countries with Suspended Operations

For applicants who reside in countries where routine visa operations have been suspended or paused, the State Department has designated specific alternative processing locations. Here is the current list as of the December 2025 guidance:

What this table means practically is that if your spouse is a Yemeni national living in Yemen, they do not interview at a U.S. Embassy in Yemen. They interview in Djibouti. If your spouse is Iranian and living in Iran, they interview in Abu Dhabi, Ankara, or Yerevan. The logistics, travel costs, and documentation requirements for those interviews are now part of your family's planning process.

What About Existing Appointments?

If your family already has an immigrant visa appointment scheduled, the guidance states that existing appointments will generally not be rescheduled or cancelled as a result of this change. That is important. If you have a date, protect it.

However, if circumstances change and you need to transfer your case to a different consular district, do not contact the embassy or consulate directly. All transfer requests must go through the NVC using the Public Inquiry Form on the State Department website.

Exceptions Are Rare

The guidance acknowledges that exceptions exist, but it describes them as rare. Humanitarian emergencies, medical emergencies, and foreign policy reasons are the categories listed. Personal convenience, logistical preference, and the fact that a different consulate has shorter wait times are not listed as qualifying grounds.

If you believe you have a legitimate basis for an exception, that argument needs to be made carefully and with supporting documentation. This is precisely the kind of situation where having an attorney in your corner makes a meaningful difference.

How This Connects to Everything Else Happening Right Now

The State Department's country of residence rule, the USCIS adjustment of status memo, and the 75 country immigrant visa freeze are three separate policies that are landing on families simultaneously. A family navigating all three at once is not dealing with one problem. They are dealing with a layered and rapidly shifting legal landscape where a decision made without full information can foreclose options that would have otherwise been available.

Before your spouse departs the United States for consular processing, you need to know where that processing will actually happen. Before you file anything, you need to know whether the consulate you are planning on is currently operational. And before you assume that consular processing is even available for your family, you need to know whether the 75 country freeze applies to your situation.

These are not questions with simple answers. They are questions that depend entirely on your specific circumstances, your spouse's country of residence, their country of nationality, their visa history, and how far along in the immigration process you already are.

Do not guess. Call KVisaXpress at (800) 650-9097 today.

What You Should Do Right Now

If your spouse is abroad and you are planning for consular processing, confirm which consulate will handle your case under the new country of residence rule before you make any travel decisions or submit any filings.

If your spouse is currently in the United States and you are being told by an attorney or by online research that consular processing is your only or best option, make sure that advice accounts for the new residence-based scheduling rule and the current operational status of the relevant consulate.

And if your family's situation involves any of the countries listed in the designated processing post table, understand that the interview location may be significantly different from what you expected, and plan accordingly.

The rules are changing faster than most families can track them. That is exactly why having an attorney who is watching this landscape every day matters more right now than it has in years.

How much do you love each other?

If the answer is enough to figure this out, we want to help you do exactly that.

Call KVisaXpress at (800) 650-9097 or visit kvisaxpress.com to schedule your consultation.

About Chelsea E. Walker

Chelsea E. Walker is a federal immigration attorney and the founder of Walker Legal Service LLC and KVisaXpress. Licensed in West Virginia and practicing federal immigration law nationally, she maintains offices in Charleston, WV; Alexandria, VA; and Sacramento, CA. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Charleston Area Alliance.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. This blog post is published by Chelsea E. Walker, Attorney at Law, Walker Legal Service LLC, (800) 650-9097, kvisaxpress.com. This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this post. Chelsea E. Walker is licensed to practice law in West Virginia only. This firm practices federal immigration law nationally under federal statute. This firm does not practice state criminal law or state family law, including divorce, in jurisdictions outside of West Virginia. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.