A Russian friend of my wife's had her I-601 interview in Moscow early in December. She is halfway through a 10 year ban for overstay, and her husband is terminally ill. They kept her passport. Today she got it back in the mail, with no visa and no explanation. When she phoned the Embassy, she was told that the I-601 was still being processed by Homeland Security. She is frantic with worry because she thinks that return of the passport indicates that she is going to be rejected. I told her that it is still early for a decision, but I can't explain to her why they kept her passport for 3 months and then suddenly returned it.

Has anyone else had this experience? Does it 'mean' anything?

Thanks for any advice.

I doubt that the return of the passport is an indication one way or another what the decision will be. I suspect they felt that the passport should be returned to the person, in the event they may wish to travel while waiting for the waiver.

I agree with YuandDan. I don't think that the return of a passport is an indication of what their decision will be, it simply means that the embassy recognizes that the processing may take a little bit longer than they initially thought and wanted to return the passport in case the person needed to use it. When the embassy decides to grant the visa, they should contact the beneficiary so that the passport can be sent to the embassy for a visa stamp.
Good luck in your waiver application and please keep us posted.
Have you tried contacting the embassy via email, or the State Department via phone to get an update on the case?

My wife gets the credit for figuring out the answer to this one. Her friend phoned the Consulate several times and was told only that her petition was still being considered. There was no explanation for the passport being returned. My wife suggested looking at the expiration date on the passport, and lo, it expires in less than six months. So, someone in the Consulate was just trying to do her a favor.