Need Urgent help / advise

[isitasham 1]

My fiancee had her K-1 interview last week at the New Delhi consulate. I was present at the interview alongside my fiancee. The interview went well.........questions asked were expected and things were going well till the point my fiancee was asked whether this was her second passport. The answer was no as my fiancee had never applied for a passport before the one she currently has. After that point the consular officer started to type a letter. Here are the contents of the letter:

Please bear with us as case is under mandatory Administrative processing.......... you will get your passport and visa as soon as the processing is completed.........if you need your passports before that please contact us........

This letter was typed on a white paper unlike the 221(g) format.

They have'nt asked for any more documents from us.

Ours is a second time refile of K-1 visa for the same fiancee - last year our case was denied for not having sufficient evidence to establish a credible relationship and also that our petition had expired. This time we had everything taken care of over 90 photographs, receipts, emails, cards etc.......etc.

My Questions:

1. What does this mean? Mandatory Admin Processing is a very vague and standard terminology the CO's use.

2. I am suspecting it could be a name check issue as her name is quite a common one. Are my suspcions valid? Does it have to do with security check or is it something else.

3. One of our fears is could we again run into the same issue of petition expiry. Admin processing can sometimes take a long time - what if it takes more than a month? Will the CO extend the petition or are they using this (AP) as an excuse to again let the petition expire? I am very suspicious of New Delhi consulates modus operandi.

Please provide any suggesions as to what we should do - just wait and see or contact the CO, congressman, state dept.?

[Danu 19]

My fiancee had her K-1 interview last week at the New Delhi consulate. I was present at the interview alongside my fiancee. The interview went well.........questions asked were expected and things were going well till the point my fiancee was asked whether this was her second passport. The answer was no as my fiancee had never applied for a passport before the one she currently has. After that point the consular officer started to type a letter. Here are the contents of the letter:

Please bear with us as case is under mandatory Administrative processing.......... you will get your passport and visa as soon as the processing is completed.........if you need your passports before that please contact us........

This letter was typed on a white paper unlike the 221(g) format.

They have'nt asked for any more documents from us.

Ours is a second time refile of K-1 visa for the same fiancee - last year our case was denied for not having sufficient evidence to establish a credible relationship and also that our petition had expired. This time we had everything taken care of over 90 photographs, receipts, emails, cards etc.......etc.

My Questions:

1. What does this mean? Mandatory Admin Processing is a very vague and standard terminology the CO's use.

2. I am suspecting it could be a name check issue as her name is quite a common one. Are my suspcions valid? Does it have to do with security check or is it something else.

3. One of our fears is could we again run into the same issue of petition expiry. Admin processing can sometimes take a long time - what if it takes more than a month? Will the CO extend the petition or are they using this (AP) as an excuse to again let the petition expire? I am very suspicious of New Delhi consulates modus operandi.

Please provide any suggesions as to what we should do - just wait and see or contact the CO, congressman, state dept.?

You are probably correct, they are probably running name/background checks at the moment. They tend to do it with people with common names as well as randomly selecting other people for it. They could be looking at all your evidence as well based on the fact you had a denied petition last year for the same fiancee, just to make sure everything is in order. As you have already had your interview they shoulod automatically extend your NOA2 as you are in AP, but you can always email them/mail them a request to extend the experation date pending your AP. You might try contacting your congressman with your fears and a copy of the letter for extension just incase something fishy happens, but hopefully everything will go well

[isitasham 1]

Hi All,

Do I need to post this on another forum? I just got one response. I am looking for help any suggestions please.

The reason I am suspicious of the Delhi CO is that last time there was no mention of a second passport. Are they just trying to delay it till the petition expires?

Thanks in advance.

[az110965 252]

I understand your trepidation due to your past experience with the Consulate, but your fiancee having a common name most likely is the trigger for the administrative processing (especially if someone with the same name is flagged in the DOS system for a prior passport issue).

The Consulate would have most likely denied you on the spot if there were grounds, so unfortunately this is most likely a simple AP and what sucks is that you have to wait it out.

The Consulate WILL extend the petition while the AP is in process...

I wish you a speedy AP and success.

Alan

[HeatDeath 430]

I would either repost in, or ask the admins to move this thread to the India sub-forum. What you are asking is very specific to the New Delhi embassy.

In most consulates, as far as I know, petition validity is not normally used as an administrative weapon to contrive a denial. I believe it's more commonly used as an excuse to close cases in situations where they send out a Packet 3 and never hear from the beneficiary again. The normal practice in most embassies seems to be that the petition validity is automatically and transparently extended if they are in communication with the beneficiary and the case is actually processing.

In most of the more "unfriendly" embassies and consulates, if they want to contrive a denial, they usually seem to do so by denying the validity of the relationship, and subsequently making themselves unavailable to receive evidence to the contrary. That seems to be a much more common "blanket excuse" for denial.

Post-interview AP is very common and is not, in itself, anything to worry about.

In the absence of any specific knowledge of any of the particular shady tactics of the Delhi embassy, what you're describing sounds pretty normal, and not particularly worrisome. The extra delay, with no stated timeframe, is obviously frustrating and it takes it's toll, but nothing here sounds particularly ominous or unusual yet.

If you're really worried about the petition expiry issue, email the embassy expressing your concerns, and make an official request to extend the petition validity. I would not expect it to be a problem. Regarding the AP: as I said, that's pretty normal. All you can do right now is wait. When the delay becomes excessive, several months from now, it may be time to go through your congressman's or senator's immigration liaison, but until then, there isn't much to do but wait them out.

Edited April 11, 2010 by HeatDeath

[isitasham 1]

az110965 and HeatDeath,

Thanks for your response. I am waiting it out for now but will soon have to start moving things.

[TracyTN 237]

Moving thread from K1 process forum to India subforum.

[sachinky 464]

It's New Delhi.

It's your second K-1 refile.

AP is to be expected.

Don't worry about it. Just regular background/name checks.

Unfortunately, there is no timeframe. Could be 1 day, could be 1 week or 1 month or 1 year.

[isitasham 1]

Thanks Sachinky,

I can understand one week or a month............. but one year sounds excessive/ridiculous. Are they just doing it so the petition expires?

Any thoughts?

[Twisted K 2]

no worries...this is the exact letter my husband received from delhi on january 4. he received his visa on february 4 (print date 2/3)

[isitasham 1]

no worries...this is the exact letter my husband received from delhi on january 4. he received his visa on february 4 (print date 2/3)

Hi Twisted K,

Thanks for your response. It is encouraging to know that you received a similar reply and got approved.

Did you do anything during that month of waiting? Like any follow-up contact with the embassey.

In your case the petition expiration was not a concern but ours is a K-1 petition with 4 month validity. That's why I am a little concerned.

Thanks.

[Twisted K 2]

we contacted DOS on a weekly basis. emailed the embassy once a month (amounted to one time) and we kept checking the vfs website.