Do any of you know what it really means when the NVC says that your petition is in "Administrative Processing"? NVC has had our petition for about a week but has not forwarded it to Moscow. Does "Administrative Processing" mean that there is a problem with the security checks? How long can one expect their petition to be delayed at NVC if it is in "Administrative Processing"?

Any information would be much appreciated.........

Buck & Natalia

Something isn't right with your petition if you are on AR at NVC. Doesn't happen much with K1 petitions.
Difficult to say how long.
At the same time NVC has been taking about a month to forward K1 petitions to embassies lately!

The NVC said my case was in "Administrative Processing" a few weeks after they recieved it. I think it was approved the next week, or something like that. So it may just be their way of saying "its being processed"? Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it quite yet.

Whewwwwwwwwwww........ I hope so.

Thanks

Don't worry yet! A/R can mean nothing special. It's just a standard reply they give people. As I was told on the phone, our case was in A/R and it only took them 1 week in NVC! After I was told about A/R I freaked out and called again and another agent told me something else about 9/11 and blah blah, same thing but in different wording.

I would not panic at this stage. They consider any application that has been received but not forwarded to the embassy to be in Administrative Processing and everyone goes through that.

Administrative Review is something different. That is when there is a red flag of some kind and the beneficiary is put through name checks at the state department in Washington (FBI actually). This can be triggered by a previous k-1 application or a similarity in names to someone on a watch list or it can be totally random. A/R can be weeks, months or years. Ours was in A/R for 5 months and the record I have heard of is 8 years and there is nothing that can be done.

You are still in a normal processing mode as far as any info you have been given. If they tell you your file has been sent to the state dept then you need to worry.

Thanks for your response and CONGRATULATIONS on your pending wedding. When they told you that your file was in Administrative Review and referred to the State Department........... did they tell you this by letter..... or did an NVC Operator tell you?

Buck

They told me by phone when I inquired about my case. Actually I never heard anything by mail after my NOA-2. Usually you get a letter giving you your case number and saying your file has been sent to the embassy and they never even sent that.

Thanks for the congratulations. Planning a wedding is a real pain. I am beginning to think the visa process was easy by comparison.

Hahahaha..... planning a wedding would seem like absolute paradise to us right about now....... compared to just waiting waiting waiting with no certainty about the outcome. Have some fun with it. My fiancee would like a full-blown church wedding with all the trimmings too (which I am happy to give) since, if I understand correctly, Russian weddings usually consist of a small civil servant marriage certificate signing ceremony combined with 1 or 2 days of celebration with family and friends. Actually, we will have sort of a hybrid Russian-American wedding since we would like to combine the beautiful traditional American church service with a Russian-style reception where they play a lot "wedding games." The Russian version of the reception sounds a lot more fun.

Buck

The only serious snag I have left in the wedding plans involves another snafu by the government. Hopefully that will get resolved by the 15th.

We are just doing a small wedding with perhaps 35-50 guests tops. I would have like to add some Russian flavor to our wedding but my fiancee does not seem to want to do that. Neither of us look at is as something that needs to be the event of our life. We care more about the result than the process. If I had my way we would do some russian food, maybe some caviar, some Russian style favors, Russian music, etc but she wants it American style so I will be happy with that.

Yes, it is a hastle. Yes, I would rather deal with this hastle than the immigration part. We had a long wait to get here so we are just thankful that we are now at this stage.

35 - 50 guests....... that sounds good. We will probably have close to the same number. I agree that it is the result that counts most. We wish you the very best on your pending nupitals whether it is strictly American or if you decide to add a little Russian flavor.

Hahaha..........I will be a little tempted to drink vodka and dance on the tables (on the trumped-up excuse that it is a "russian tradition").... I will be so happy to be finally married to her.

Buck & Natalia

Our wedding was very easy to plan. A quick call to the court and we were booked, showed up, got hitched, and that was that.

Same here just called and set up the appointment. We actually had to go to a different court because the district we are in didnt have any openings for awhile but we live close to another courthouse and they took us without a course and within a week. Got married before the end of the year, tax advantage. IRS says you have to be married in the calendar year not for most of the year hehehehe