approved, but where is my visa?

[treehugger 23]

My POE is this Sunday.

Have you called DOS? It's so strange how some get their passport back after 3-4 days and others have to wait weeks after an "approval". I was told by DOS that I'd been put into AP. If I was then I guess I'm lucky it only held things up for a couple of days. I really hope you get yours back soon.

I just called the embassy, and they told me that my application has been suspended!! Now what do I do????

On a lighter note, I hope that your trip to the US goes well, and I wish you the very best of British

[Justine+David 218]

Did you ask why your application was suspended?

[treehugger 23]

Did you ask why your application was suspended?

Yup, but the man didn't know, he told to me to send an email and what references to put in it etc, to which I got an automatic reply stating that anything pending less than 90 days would not be answered. Even the man on the phone was surprised that it had been suspended, especially when I told him the interview lasted all of three minutes, the man said I was 'good to go', told me all about the sealed envelope and the X-ray, pay for my passport and expect it back within a week. What's even worse is that my husband has already booked a trip to Europe for us later this month, and our flights back to the US, and of course I have no passport!!

And before anyone says we shouldn't have booked anything, I was told I HAD been approved for the visa :(

[Justine+David 218]

Hopefully the e-mail will tell you something; the 90 days thing is blowing smoke, I think, because people generally get much quicker answers than that from what I've read. Have you tried calling DOS to ask as well?

Sorry about your flight tickets...most people say to wait until you have the visa in your hand as ###### like this happens

Edited March 11, 2010 by Justine+David

[h1a1 5]

That's awful. I hope it's something you can quickly sort out.

[treehugger 23]

Thanks guys

I just called DOS, and to be honest now I'm confused. All I did was give her the case number, she said 'the young lady interviewed on the 22nd, it was a good interview, and her visa is being processed'. I told her that I was the beneficiary, and that I was told I'd get my passport etc back within a week, and that when I called thinking my passport had been mislaid I was informed that my application has been suspended. She asked who said that, apologised on their behalf, said no, it's just normal processing, it always takes this long. (No comment, but that doesn't seem to be the case by people's experiences on here.) She was actually very sweet and helpful.

On the other hand, the embassy replied to my email with another bog standard reply, and told me that I was put into AP. So, who do I believe??

[Justine+David 218]

Okay, now it's time to get your Congress person involved, you have two state senators and one house rep. Go to their official pages and they should have an immigration page. Send them your info, call them up, and get this figured out! Tell them about all the misleading answers you've been getting and you want to know exactly what's going on.

Generally, the USE has more accurate info than DOS, unfortunately for you, but it might still be a mistake.

Question: Did your case have any red flags? Was the beneficiary born outside of the UK and wasn't a UK citizen by birth? Generally those folks do get AP even if they've been a citizen most of their lives.

THIS SUCKS! I am SO sorry for you! Keep us posted!

edit: Oh, and I believe that it has to be the U.S. citizen that makes the inquiry with their congress person.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Justine+David

[h1a1 5]

I think we maybe had a similar thing happen, except it was DOS who told me about AP and the Embassy told me that was nonsense and not to worry. It could be just a name check on one of us... that's what I was told. Although both myself and my fiance have really normal names (Richard and Hayley and our surnames are just as average) and have lived really boring lives so I dunno why it took so long. I was only held up by about 2/3 days though.

Edited March 11, 2010 by h1a1

[treehugger 23]

Okay, now it's time to get your Congress person involved, you have two state senators and one house rep. Go to their official pages and they should have an immigration page. Send them your info, call them up, and get this figured out! Tell them about all the misleading answers you've been getting and you want to know exactly what's going on.

Generally, the USE has more accurate info than DOS, unfortunately for you, but it might still be a mistake.

Question: Did your case have any red flags? Was the beneficiary born outside of the UK and wasn't a UK citizen by birth? Generally those folks do get AP even if they've been a citizen most of their lives.

THIS SUCKS! I am SO sorry for you! Keep us posted!

edit: Oh, and I believe that it has to be the U.S. citizen that makes the inquiry with their congress person.

I really do appreciate your help

I agree, I would imagine that the USE knows more than DOS, especially as the final decision is made by them. I'm the beneficiary, and I was born and bred in the UK, and have been a citizen since birth. What really worries me is that they didn't even tell me I was in AP...it's only because I called that I found out!

My husband is still asleep in California, so hopefully by the time he wakes up I'll find out who his Congress person etc are so that he can chase this at his end. Hey ho, I'd better get cracking. Hopefully I'll be back with good news...thanks again

[treehugger 23]

I think we maybe had a similar thing happen, except it was DOS who told me about AP and the Embassy told me that was nonsense and not to worry. It could be just a name check on one of us... that's what I was told. Although both myself and my fiance have really normal names (Richard and Hayley and our surnames are just as average) and have lived really boring lives so I dunno why it took so long. I was only held up by about 2/3 days though.

Well, who knows with these things eh?

You must be very excited though!!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Just a little clarification:

Generally, the USE has more accurate info than DOS

Not really true. Calling up the DOS can sometimes give you even more accurate information than you would get on the extortion line, particularly when it's regarding the scheduling of interview dates and when Packet 3 has been sent out and the reply received. Calling the extortion line is preferable really only when you need to reschedule an appointment, relay time-sensitive information, or are, like here, in post-interview status, and even then it's really best for obtaining the weekly email code.

Was the beneficiary born outside of the UK and wasn't a UK citizen by birth? Generally those folks do get AP even if they've been a citizen most of their lives.

Also not really true. Many, MANY people who were not born in the UK have successfully gone through London without a whiff of AP. Those likely to get AP are those who would probably have received AP in their country of birth (i.e. where AP is a matter of course). These include Nigeria and certain other sub-Saharan African nations, Pakistan, India and MENA countries. Sorry, this is a recent myth that sprang from god knows where and I am trying to stamp it out. Obviously, if you have some other issue that might put you into AP (pending documents, etc) it doesn't matter where you're from.

To the OP -- you have my condolences. It has happened on more than one occasion that passports were held up unaccountably for very long periods of time for no apparent reason (I seem to recall Mags had a hold up of four weeks that was unaccountable). It may be difficult to get elected officials involved at this stage of the game because it is still actually within normal processing times. (Really. I know it doesn't seem like it compared to other people, but it is.) It's still worth having a go but don't be surprised if they come up with just as little info as you. It is possible that an enquiry could shake something loose though. The only other thing I can think of is emailing the other London email address which has been mentioned a couple of times -- LondonIV@state.gov -- with your case number in the subject line along with an annotation of "URGENT". No guarantees, but it's worth a punt.

Really hoping you hear some better news soon.

[Justine+David 218]

Um...DOS has given me incorrect information many times, as it has with many other members posting here on the UK board. Just look in the 2010 interview thread and the last few months of the 2009 thread. Maybe what you wrote was true in the past??

I suppose I should have qualified my answer for AP being in higher-fraud countries; I thought it was obvious, but not so with newer posters, I'll grant you.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Justine+David

[jkminney 30]

It's very strange why some get theirs right away and others wait. I told John that we should just plan on waiting about 2 wks to get it because I had been reading the posts on here of people waiting so long. I have NO idea how he had that interview on Friday and got the visa back on Monday....how's that even possible???

John isn't a UK citizen so I dont think that being a citizen of another country and just a resident of the UK makes that big of a difference unless you were originally from a high fraud country...that would make sense.

Hopefully everything will be sorted quickly and you can be on your way in no time at all!

[Darnell 8,478]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=3763380

[treehugger 23]

Calling up the DOS can sometimes give you even more accurate information than you would get on the extortion line, particularly when it's regarding the scheduling of interview dates and when Packet 3 has been sent out and the reply received. Calling the extortion line is preferable really only when you need to reschedule an appointment, relay time-sensitive information, or are, like here, in post-interview status, and even then it's really best for obtaining the weekly email code.[/color]

I have to say, the lady I spoke to at the DOS was ever so nice and helpful - all I'd done was give her the case number, no names or checks like NVC, and when she said normal processing etc, I pointed out the beneficiary was me. She then went into some detail, about how my interview was fine, they believed that it was a real relationship (hehe it might have something to do with me blushing at a certain point), that all the name checks were fine, the medical was fine, everything was fine, it was just normal processing and that the embassy should never have used the word suspended or that I'd get my passport back within a week, and that it was actually normal for it to take so long.

She also told me that I could call them anytime (it's certainly cheaper than calling the embassy!!) whenever I wanted, especially as they probably had more information than them anyway, and that I should expect my passport back in the near future. She never used the term AP, but she did say that they were still waiting for some processing from other agencies to be complete...but I thought that was all done before the interview, not after, and if they weren't satisfied they'd say so at the interview I thought it was all too easy...can you believe that on the day they didn't even ask me for the passport photos lol?