The Consular Practice Handbook
| Release Date: 02/09/2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Format | Size | ISBN |
| Print* | 426 pages | 978-1-57370-816-6 |
| eBook | 426 pages | 978-1-57370-817-8 |
The Consular Practice Handbook is the essential guide for lawyers navigating today’s rapidly shifting consular landscape. With significant policy and regulatory changes under the new Administration and a marked increase in scrutiny at posts worldwide, consular practice requires deep preparation and a command of evolving expectations. The new, 6th edition equips both new and experienced practitioners with the practical guidance needed to meet those demands.
Worldwide, consular officers are applying more intensive vetting and gatekeeping measures. This edition helps practitioners navigate these pressures, prepare clients, and respond effectively. To that end, some of the topics covered in The Handbook include:
- A comprehensive update on consular processing of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas
- Some of the most pressing changes that have occurred with visa services under the second Trump
- Administration, which have been covered in an article new to this edition
- Significant restrictions on third country national visa processing
- Newly updated information on security checks and administrative processing
Other topics include:
- Interview preparation
- Visa‑specific issues for B, E, K, L, and student/exchange visitor categories
- Consular processing for family members
- Inadmissibility and waivers
- Expediting strategies
- Strategies after refusals or denials
- Post‑approval steps and expectations
- Services for U.S. citizens
Concise, authoritative, and grounded in real‑world practice, The Consular Practice Handbook remains the trusted reference immigration professionals rely on to guide clients through complex, high‑stakes consular processing—strategically, efficiently, and with confidence.
*Interested in a bulk purchase? Contact us to receive a bulk discount when purchasing 5 or more copies.
Aaron P. Karnell is Senior Counsel at Lepore Taylor Fox (LTF). Prior to joining LTF, Aaron served as a Consular Officer in the U.S. Department of State (DOS) for more than eleven years. His Foreign Service posts included Dar es Salaam, Gaborone, Guadalajara, Matamoros, Belfast, and his last assignment for DOS was a detail to U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C. During his career in Foreign Service as a line officer and as Section Chief, he adjudicated thousands of nonimmigrant visa applications (including L-1, H-1B, O-1, B and F) and both family- and employment-based immigrant visa applications. From 2021 through 2023, Aaron practiced business immigration law at a global law firm based in Arlington, VA, where he focused primarily on temporary and permanent visas for intracompany transferees and professionals.
Aaron has dedicated his post-Foreign Service career to helping clients understand DOS’s visa process, the visa interview experience, the way consular officers are trained and approach the law, and how all of this impacts their immigration journey.
Aaron became a member of the California Bar in 2014 and the Maryland Bar in 2020. Prior to joining the DOS Foreign Service, he was a Democracy and Governance Officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development and an Asylum Officer for USCIS. In addition to holding a B.A. in Government, Aaron holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Political Communication.
