The U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal will not interview any person without an appointment letter. Appointments for backlogged cases began April 6, 1999 and are scheduled through April 30. If an applicant is unable to attend the appointment, the U.S. Embassy in Dakar must be notified so the appointment can be rescheduled in May or June. Due to the summer rush workload for Senegal, no Sierra Leone appointments will be rescheduled from July 1 to August 30. Rescheduled appointments will begin again in the autumn. No Sierra Leonean should travel to Dakar without an appointment.

Relatives in the United States should be prepared to financially support the immigrant visa applicants during their appointment visits in Dakar. Neither the government of Senegal nor the government of the United States can pay for food or lodging of interviewees.

U.S.-based relatives should be prepared to accompany minor children who receive immigrant visas to the United States. There will be no special program for issuing non-immigrant visas to other adults to accompany children. Petitioners should make arrangements with the chosen airlines for travel of "unaccompanied minors." There may be extra fees for this service.

The Department of State believes that by following these procedures, relatives of Sierra Leonean-born American citizens and legal permanent residents will receive more efficient and professional service. By reviewing documentation in advance, we hope to prevent persons from becoming stranded due to inadequate documentation. If the petitioner has followed the National Visa Center instructions carefully, the case should be scheduled for interview. Interviewees must bring all original documents such as marriage or birth certificates as well as other evidence of the claimed relationship to the interview.

After the backlog of Sierra Leone immigrant visa cases is finished, the U.S. Embassy in Dakar will continue to regularly interview documentarily qualified cases sent by the national visa center. Petitioners will still be responsible for contacting and locating their relatives and making sure the documents are in order. Appointment letters will be sent to the petitioner as well. No future case applicants should travel to Dakar without having completed the National Visa Center phase of processing first.

Petitioners and beneficiaries are warned that if an applicant presents false documentation, his/her application could be denied.

Please be aware that beneficiaries without documentation will not lose the opportunity for an eventual immigrant visa interview. All immigrant visa cases for Sierra Leone beneficiaries who are not documentarily qualified will be held on file at the National Visa Center until the beneficiary can obtain the necessary papers or the U.S. Embassy in Freetown reopens for visa services. However, there are no plans to resume visa services in the near future.

Most of the immigrant visa files that were in Freetown have been safely moved to the National Visa Center. Petitioners may contact the National Visa Center in writing at 32 Rochester Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801, or by fax at 603-334-0879 to reactivate former cases. Please include the beneficary's name, date and place of birth and case number as well as a current address for the petitioner.