So is there any real rhyme or reason to AP?

[spectheintro 18]

Hey all--I'm not a regular poster in the MENA forums, but since we seem to be in the same boat when it comes to this, I thought you guys might have an idea.

My wife has her interview in Abu Dhabi on January 4th. We met each other through my extended family (my aunt gave me her e-mail address last year), and after a period of six months I flew to Iran and we were married there. When I came back, I filed the I-130 and front-loaded it with evidence: affidavits, e-mails, chat logs, photos of our wedding, etc. All of my paperwork for the NVC is in order, I have a solid co-sponsor, and I'm bringing more phone bills, e-mails, ticket stubs and etc. from a vacation we took together in Dubai in August. We're both young (I'm 26, she's 24) with no previous marriages, she's been outside of the country once, and has never worked.

The thing is, I see a whole lot of variation here in who gets AP and who doesn't. I can't seem to make any sense of it: some people get to the interview and have mountains of evidence, and are put on AP; others go to the interview, get asked two questions, and are given the visa. I'm just trying to get a handle on what to expect: I am praying every night that my wife and I will be an open-and-shut case, but for the life of me I can't seem to find any indication either way. Some Iranians are approved immediately, others are put on AP, male/female, young/middle-aged, first-marriage/divorced; none of it seems to be a good indicator.

Does anyone have any insight on this? I'm finding myself growing increasingly nervous as the interview approaches. Thanks.

[Der Bücherwurm 1]

I think they have a dart board in back with case numbers on it and when they throw the dart and miss they decide to put you on AP.

Seriously, maybe the consular staff are being instructed to dole out AP more often due to the economy. I don't know. Our interview resulted in AP in Ankara and I suppose we should be happy because all of the Iranians ahead of us got AP and some got an RFE or a denial. They just told us there was some additional processing necessary. My husband has a rare name so it isn't name check, the CO didn't have any problems with our paperwork or co-sponsor and didn't doubt our relationship. There are no red flags in our relationship. We are the same age and educational level. We have both lived together for a little over 2 years and will have been married for a year the day after christmas. I even included a letter from my parents saying they are aware of our relationship and that we will be staying with them initially. Still we got AP.

[Donna A 4]

im not sure females get it alot but the men do almost always.

[zahrasalem 114]

I agree that it seems that some of us that brought a mountain of evidence and the CO did not doubt our real relationship still got AP, while others evidence weren't even looked at and did not get AP.

Our interview was last Sunday the 13th, the CO looked at everything, family pics, skype logs.......said he beleives we have a real marriage, but still needs to put us on AP for routine document verification, etc.................why can't they do all that before the interview???????

Sometimes I wonder if they have already decided on who gets AP before they even see us at the interview........does anyone know if that happens?

Good luck to all of us for a short AP

[spectheintro 18]

zahra, I'm beginning to suspect the same, honestly. I think the DoS determines it beforehand, and the consulate only has the power to deny the visa based on its discretion. I think I may call the State dept. tomorrow to see what they say about this. I'm having my Senator write me a letter of introduction for when I go to Abu Dhabi, and I'm bringing a police certificate (even though it's not needed) with me for my wife to her interview, and I hope those two things help.

[Elham 1]

I believe they make up their minds before the interview!

[sachinky 464]

I think most men from the "hot spots" get it. I'm not sure about the women, really.

Red flags most certainly do. A lot of it is for name checks and background verification or additional document processing.

It's tough luck.

[Artmin 0]

i think they have a golf room in their offices and hole for each case number =))

[Der Bücherwurm 1]

I believe they make up their minds before the interview!

I do too. It says on the Ankara embassy website that most Iranian applicants will have to go through some additional AP. I suspect that maybe they are told to put a certain percentage on AP. So maybe they just randomly assign AP til they fill their quota.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I think it's best to go into the interview expecting the worst (months and months of AP). Then you can be pleasantly suprised if you have little or no wait, and not devestated if you do.

[spectheintro 18]

I think it's best to go into the interview expecting the worst (months and months of AP). Then you can be pleasantly suprised if you have little or no wait, and not devestated if you do.

The problem is, it's really difficult to do that. The last thing I want to do when I get an interview letter is tell my wife: "don't get excited, we're probably going to be put on AP." These past months have been miserable, and frankly I don't know how much more of this ####### I can take. Our relationship is awesome but between school, work, and the time difference, I'm stretched paper-thin. I don't know if I'm emotionally capable of accepting more uncertainty and an indefinite timeline.

To address an earlier post, I do know someone who interviewed at Abu Dhabi who was put on AP for their K-3 but approved immediately for their CR-1. But, I think the AP was consulate-initiated: the officer wanted information outside of the scope of a K-3. So I think there's definitely something to be said for the idea that this is decided PRIOR to the interview; I suspect that if her consular officer had not been so antagonistic, they would have received the K-3 immediately.

My senator's been involved for a while now, so in the event of AR I'm not waiting at all--I will call that day and see if my case worker can get any traction while I am still in the UAE. The Senator's writing me a letter of introduction and I hope that helps, but I just don't know. It bothers me that I can't cover these bases--I would have gladly gone to each govt. agency and initiated the name checks myself if I knew that would help. I completely respect the US's desire to keep itself safe, and don't think that looking into my wife's background is unreasonable. I do think it's unreasonable to not better coordinate it so that this process is quick and transparent. There's no reason to not have an ETA; this is all computerized now.

[Der Bücherwurm 1]

My senator's been involved for a while now, so in the event of AR I'm not waiting at all--I will call that day and see if my case worker can get any traction while I am still in the UAE. The Senator's writing me a letter of introduction and I hope that helps, but I just don't know. It bothers me that I can't cover these bases--I would have gladly gone to each govt. agency and initiated the name checks myself if I knew that would help. I completely respect the US's desire to keep itself safe, and don't think that looking into my wife's background is unreasonable. I do think it's unreasonable to not better coordinate it so that this process is quick and transparent. There's no reason to not have an ETA; this is all computerized now.

The intro letter from your senator was a good idea. Let us know if it helped.

I agree about needing an ETA. We have to give our landlord a months notice or risk losing part or all of our deposit which amounts to two months rent and would more than cover one of our plane tickets home. But since they won't give an ETA, notice is impossible.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I think it's best to go into the interview expecting the worst (months and months of AP). Then you can be pleasantly suprised if you have little or no wait, and not devestated if you do.

The problem is, it's really difficult to do that. The last thing I want to do when I get an interview letter is tell my wife: "don't get excited, we're probably going to be put on AP." These past months have been miserable, and frankly I don't know how much more of this ####### I can take. Our relationship is awesome but between school, work, and the time difference, I'm stretched paper-thin. I don't know if I'm emotionally capable of accepting more uncertainty and an indefinite timeline.

I think just about everyone on this board has been in similar situations, and 99% of us have survived at least some time on AP. I once went 18 months without seeing my husband. It just goes with marrying someone from the MENA region. If you don't think you can handle it, browse back through some threads from 3 years ago, when there were waits after interviews of more than a year. Then, settle in for the ride, because this rollercoaster doesn't end with visa in hand. It goes on for years and years after the spouse gets there

[Y's_habibitk 2]

My senator's been involved for a while now, so in the event of AR I'm not waiting at all--I will call that day and see if my case worker can get any traction while I am still in the UAE. The Senator's writing me a letter of introduction and I hope that helps, but I just don't know. It bothers me that I can't cover these bases--I would have gladly gone to each govt. agency and initiated the name checks myself if I knew that would help. I completely respect the US's desire to keep itself safe, and don't think that looking into my wife's background is unreasonable. I do think it's unreasonable to not better coordinate it so that this process is quick and transparent. There's no reason to not have an ETA; this is all computerized now.

The intro letter from your senator was a good idea. Let us know if it helped.

I agree about needing an ETA. We have to give our landlord a months notice or risk losing part or all of our deposit which amounts to two months rent and would more than cover one of our plane tickets home. But since they won't give an ETA, notice is impossible.

Our congressmans office rep emailed the consul a few days before Y's interview also and I believe it cant do anything but good.

[spectheintro 18]

I think just about everyone on this board has been in similar situations, and 99% of us have survived at least some time on AP. I once went 18 months without seeing my husband. It just goes with marrying someone from the MENA region. If you don't think you can handle it, browse back through some threads from 3 years ago, when there were waits after interviews of more than a year. Then, settle in for the ride, because this rollercoaster doesn't end with visa in hand. It goes on for years and years after the spouse gets there

Yeah, I don't even want to wrap my head around the nightmare that will be AOS. I know people have survived AP, and we will too, if needs be, but I really couldn't have picked a worse time to fall in love and get married. I don't know if you can ever plan these things out but man, if I'd only known the hoopla involved with getting her over here, I'd have probably thought twice about where and how I wanted to start this process. It's the separation that kills.