American Visa Guide: IL Drop Tracker & Community Data
IL drop figures reflect Immediate Relative (IR) visas, based on the volume of data submitted. Family-Sponsored Preference cases follow the same London process but are currently tracking about a month behind IR. This tracker can only count people who submit their information, for the broader official picture, see the NVC immigrant visa scheduling status tool, or read more on the guide page.
Pipeline Status
Current status across all three processing stages.
Updated 30 August 2026. Two things changed at the London end. First, the embassy is sending interview cancellation notices covering all immigrant visa categories, now reaching appointments up to and including 30 September 2026: extended from an initial window that ran to 16 September. Same-day embassy document checks are canceled alongside the interviews; medicals appear to be unaffected. The notice gives no new date, tells applicants not to appear at the consular section until directed to, and says the new appointment will be confirmed in a separate email, but no timeline has been offered. The same wording is going out from other posts, so this is not London-specific. Full notice on the guide page → Second, the court in CLINIC v. Rubio entered partial final judgment on 24 August 2026 under Rule 54(b), formally vacating the 75-country immigrant visa suspension and any refusal based solely on it, and making that ruling immediately appealable: what the decision means for London cases.
IL Drop History
Interview Letter drops from the US Embassy London. Most recent first.
| Drop Date | Day | Time (London) | DQ Dates Covered | Interview Dates | Gap Since Previous | ILs Issued |
|---|
DQ Backlog: Awaiting Interview Letters
Tracked members who are Documentarily Qualified but haven't received an Interview Letter yet, grouped by DQ month with the drop expected to reach them.
| DQ Month | Members Waiting | DQ Dates | Expected Batch |
|---|
IL to Interview Scheduling
The month your Interview Letter arrived and the month interviews have been scheduled. IL → interview is typically ~2 months. Observed pattern from London community members.
| IL Received | Interview Scheduled |
|---|
DQ → IL Wait Time Trends
Median days from Documentarily Qualified to Interview Letter. A downward trend means the queue is moving faster.
What we're seeing: IL drops have stopped. Nothing has landed since 14 July 2026: the 6–16 August window we projected passed with no drop, and the gap is now longer than any in our recorded drop history. Members waiting at other posts report the same silence, so this does not look like a London-specific problem. The trend figures above describe the period up to that last drop, when the wait from DQ to Interview Letter was already lengthening. The last six months ran longer than the all-time median. Until drops resume, treat those numbers as a record of what happened, not a prediction of when your letter will arrive.
Interview Outcomes
Community-reported results at the US Embassy London.
Passport Return Times
After visa approval at interview: median days to receive your passport with visa stamp.
Median Stage-by-Stage Timings
Community-reported median times for each leg of the London immigrant visa process. Individual experiences vary.
| Stage | Median (days) | Median (months) |
|---|
Timeline Calculator
Based on community data from 200+ cases at London Embassy. Select a date and we'll predict the next milestone using median timelines from real cases.
DQ → Interview
When will my interview be?
Interview → Passport
When will I get my passport?
Please don't sue Erin. This is about numbers, not magic balls, and I am too poor to be held liable for playing with data and having you take it as a promise