Mark A Ivener, A Law Corporation

Users Report Problems With New 9 FAM-e


Some users are reporting problems with the new 9 FAM-e, which replaced the legacy Volume 9 of the Foreign Affairs Manual (9 FAM) on November 18, 2015, and is the “authoritative source for visa guidance,” according to the Department of State’s (DOS) December 2015 Visa Bulletin.

DOS developed crosswalk tables correlating old citations with new, so that users could match new 9 FAM-e sections with former locations in the legacy 9 FAM. Users report, however, that the citations in some cases do not correspond appropriately. Also, some of the 9 FAM-e sections listed in the crosswalk do not yet show up in the online 9 FAM-e and are listed as “unavailable.” The legacy 9 FAM is no longer available online. There are also concerns about the cross-references disappearing over time. Users are raising these concerns with DOS.

The announcement is in Section F of the December 2015 Visa Bulletin.

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Mark A. Ivener, A Law Corporation, a nationally recognized law firm, has successfully assisted hundreds of clients in immigration matters.