Third Country National Visa Applications – An Option for APAC Residents Heading to the US
January 16, 2015
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In our globalised world, the traditional notion of “country of residence” is harder to define as people now live and work in countries other than where they were born or hold a passport. This creates challenges for employers and governments, whose policies are often unable to keep up with businesses’ need to quickly move employees to other countries as work demands.
This has always been particularly difficult in the context of US immigration, where a fundamental tenet requires non-immigrant visa applicants to apply for their temporary visas from their home country. From a practical perspective, it makes sense for consular officers to be trained to process nationals in the country in which they are based, and presumably there is a desire to limit “consular shopping.”
However, this has made it very difficult for third country nationals, that is, people who are neither a US national nor a national of the country in which they are applying for a US visa, to move to the US at short notice.
Temporary residents on assignment and residing in a particular consular district have always faced a dilemma: go to the expense and time of travelling to their country of nationality to apply for a US visa, or stay and apply from their temporary country of residence and expose their application to administrative delays and, in some cases, refusal.
Fortunately, the situation is changing. US Embassies and Missions are responding more positively to individuals and companies that need to promptly move people of different nationalities to the United States for temporary stays.
Applying as a third country national can be a legitimate option for residents of Asian countries wherein the US Missions recognize the importance of third country nationals to their consular workload.
While US Embassies and Missions across Asia have become significantly more flexible towards third country national applications, it is important to keep in mind that there are variances from country to country and to check with the consular post in your place of residence prior to filing.
Fragomen’s US Consular Practice team in Sydney, Australia is experienced with the requirements of individual US Consular posts across Asia. We regularly assist third country nationals and their employers in the APAC region with their movements to the United States focusing on understanding their individual, and company requirements. For information or assistance relevant to your situation, please contact US Attorney, Nikki Dryden at [email protected].
