DV 2011 Interview at Montreal in October - placed in administrative processing 221g - how long wait?

[aquamarinebeach 1]

Both my wife and myself had applied for the DV2011 lottery. We were common-law in Canada when we applied in 2009. When we applied for the lottery, we included each other as spouse even though we were not legally married as there was no option for common-law in the lottery and we did not think we were single.

A few months back my wife won the lottery. So, while filling up forms we sent to Kentucky (we entered our marriage date as the date on which we had our common-law marriage - i.e. November 2008).

Also we got legally married in July 2010. We went to our interview in Montreal in October 2010 and we provided evidence of both the common-law and legal marriage.

The interview with the consulate officer was okay except a few small things that I found weird

- for e.g. he asked us to provide an address where we would be living in the USA and an address where we would have the PR card mailed out (we had entered N/A on the forms) - and asked us to email that info ASAP (I emailed them the info of a friend the very next day - but come on - how do they expect people to have a US address?...if for e.g. you know no one in the USA or have never been there - which I am sure is the case for the majority of Diversity Lottery applicants)

Also the second thing I found weird was the way he was referring to everything categorically according to US laws...for e.g. saying categorically that the US does not recognize a common-law marriage....I mean come on....given that he works in Canada.....where common-law is legally recognized....and given that he is bound to come across different types of marriages especially when it comes to Diversity lottery applicants (i.e. mostly originating from countries with legal systems that are vastly different from those of the USA) - i.e. some countries only have religious weddings, some countries have same sex marriages.....and obviously when these people get married they are not concerned whether the USA recognizes their marriage or not....

Other than that he asked the generic questions - i.e line of work, expected moving date, checked checked documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, bank statements…).......All went smoothly.

Finally the consulate officer said he could not approve the visa right away because he would need to do check the validity of our common-law marriage in Canada in the context of US laws - he said that he would forward it to Washington...because he is not sure if (under US laws) my wife would be considered married or single when she entered the lottery.....as at the time she was not legally married.

And that's why he was placing it under administrative processing and gave us the white sheet of paper with 221(g) checked off - and with the comment "administrative processing". Also he kept our passports and asked if we had registered for the DHL delivery - to which we replied "yes" and he said – good, and that they have till September 2011 to process DV2011 applications and that it should take around 2 weeks to get our passports back. But it's been more than a month now and still no sign of the passports or no updates on the usvisa-info.com website. Also we did not get a DHL waybill number.

Also, the very next day after the interview (although I was not asked to submit any documentation) I both emailed and faxed Montreal info that I found from official US Government websites regarding common-law marriage:

The first website is: Immigrant Visa for a Spouse (IR1 or CR1)

travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2991.html

“What is a "Spouse"?

A spouse is a legally wedded husband or wife.

* Merely living together does not qualify a marriage for immigration.

* Common-law spouses may qualify as spouses for immigration purposes depending on the laws of the country where the common-law marriage occurs.

* In cases of polygamy, only the first spouse may qualify as a spouse for immigration.

* Same-sex marriages are not recognized by immigration law for the purpose of immigrating to the U.S.”

The second website is: Glossary of Visa Terms

travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/glossary/glossary_1363.html#commonlawmarriage

“Spouse:Legally married husband or wife. A co-habiting partner does not qualify as a spouse for immigration purposes. A common-law husband or wife may or may not qualify as a spouse for immigration purposes, depending on the laws of the country where the relationship occurs.”

So far I have emailed them asking about the status of the case given that I was told I would receive passports back in 2 weeks

. And I got the short reply below.

"Your case and documents you have sent in are still in review, we will advise you once a decision is made on your file. "

[Abdul2 10]

The Counsular Officer needs some clearance from his Superiors at NVC. However the average time taken for an AP is 4 months , so as long as you have provided all genuine information , you can sleep tight and wait for a response

[aquamarinebeach 1]

Thanks for the comforting information man. May I ask how you know that the average time is 4 months, i.e any websites you can point me to.....?

Cheers

[nakaria 0]

Hello,

I am sorry to hear that you and you wife had to go through AP.

My husband and I where also preselected for the DV2011 and put on administrative processing (AP) buuuuuuuu.

In order to know if AP has cleared you can call once a week at the Department of State’s visa Information phone number: 202-663-1225.

In this phone number you will be able to talk to a Visa speciallist and he/she can tell you if your process has already cleared.

Hope by the time you read this message you already had your visa on hand.

Good luck to you and to all of us.

Finger crosses.

N. A.

Please keep in informed of you visa process.

[nakaria 0]

READ MY POST IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH / LEE ESTE POST EN ESPAÑOL O INGLES

Hi everyone,

I am writing this post to help people that has win the diversity lottery / green card lottery but has been place in administrative processing. I am writing this because i wish i could have read and email like this when i pass through this situation. I hope this note helps you out.

Me and my husband were pre-selected a the DV2011. We had our interview at the US embassy in May 2011 and everything went really well. The vice consul told us we were approved and that we will receive our visas in 3 weeks aprox. We were very happy that day and we patiently waited for 1 months for the visas to arrived but our visas never arrived.

We emailed the embassy and where informed that our case was place in administrative processing. At that time we ignore what administrative processing was.

Well, administrative processing in when someone (we never now who, so we cannot blame anyone!!!) places a note in your case saying that they have to investigate your background further at the US Department of State (in Washington DC) before they issue a visa. This can be because you have a very common name that can match the name of someone that has done something really bad (that was our case) or because you come from a country that they might consider of risk or because they have seen something in the documents that you presented that they want to confirm or further investigate. Bottom line is that they wont issue the visa immediately and the time for them to review you case can take months. (important: not all DV lottery cases end in administrative processing, most visas are given inmediatelly. In this matter we had bad luck)

Bad news: there is not a time limit (deadline) for them to investigate your case. They are not obligated to respond you on time (before the visa lottery due date SEPTEMBER 30th) however they always say they now about your situation and would try to finish the investigation on time. But heyyyy THEY ARE NOT OBLIGATED BY LAW TO DO SO, something that i fine quite unfair. If you win the visa they should be obligated to replay to you on time. Well, they are not.

Reviewing a case can take aprox 2 to 3 months. In our case it took 4 moth but at least this story had a happy end : ) WE GOT OUR VISAS.

This are our suggestions:

1) call often to the Department of the State (001-202-663-1225)and give them your case number explaining there it is a Diversity visa case number so they can find it on their computer system. In this number they can only tell you if you case is still en process our has clear and it is ready for the visa to be issue. In our case they told us our case had clear aprox on Sept 15. five teen days before Sept 30th. ufffff to tie. Ahh don´t try to get more information from the US department of State about you case (why is in administrative processing, how long the process will take, can you talk to anyone to explain the situation) they won´t give you more details that "the case has cleared or is still in process".

2) visit the US embassy our email them often explaining them your situation. They are the only ones that can request to the US department of State that the investigation is resolve on quickly. they are not obligated to do so, but if you maintain a good relation with them they can help you out. In our case they email the US embassy about 3 time to request a expedite/quick resolution of our case. Talking to the embassy regularly so they don´t forget your situation is the best thing you can do to improve your chances of getting your visa on time.

3) if you don´t get help from the embassy try talking to a congressmen in the US to help you out. For this you must have someone that lives in the US and can request help from the congressmen in your name. What the congressmen will do is try to force people at the department of state to reply to your case on time.

If nothing of this works and you are traveling with other relatives (my case) you can always ask the US Embassy to issue your visa (if you are the winner and is one of your relatives the one that is been checked) and them apply for him/her when you become a permanent resident in the States.

Well, we wish you GOOD LUCK in your case and hope it has a happy end : ) just as ours : )

Hola a todos,

Escribo este post para ayudar a quienes como nosotros hayan ganados la DV lottery (loteria de la diversidad o loteria de la green card) y sus casos hayan sido puestos en proceso administrativo. Lo escribo porque a mi me hubiese encantado poder leer un email como este cuando pase por esta situación. Por eso espero que les sirva de ayuda.

Mi esposo y yo fuimos preseleccionados para la DV2011. Tuvimos nuestras entrevistas en la embajada americana de nuestra ciudad el 11 de mayo de 2011. En la entrevista todo fue genial y se nos dijo que nos habian aprovado la visa y que en un plazo de 3 semanas la recibiriamos por correo en casa. Esperamos pacientemente 1 mes completito pero las visas nunca nos llegaron.

Contactamos por email a la embajada para ver que habia sucedido y nos informaron que nuestro caso habia sido puesto en un tramite administrativo un proceso que nosotros desconociamos que existia.

Para que todos los sepan un proceso administrativo ocurre cuando alguien (nunca sabras quien, por lo que no le puedes echar la culpa a nadie) pone una nota en tu caso diciendo que antes de que te den la visa el Departamento de Estado Americano en washington te debe investigar mas. Las rasones para que te investigen pueden se varias: puede que tu nombre sea muy comun y que por lo tanto coincida con algun delincuente, puede que vengas de un pais que ellos consideren peligroso, o simplemente tienen que revisar mejor o comprobar la veracidad de algun docuemento que presentaste. El resultado de todo esto es que la embajada no te podra dar tu visa inmediatamente y que el proceso de revision de tu caso puede durar meses !!! (importante: no todos los casos terminan en proceso administrativo, a casi todo el mundo le dan la visa inmediatamente. Nosotros en ese aspecto tuvimos mala suerte).

Malas noticias: no existe un limite de tiempo para que investigen tu caso. El Departamento de Estado no está obligado a responderte a tiempo (antes de que el tiempo para emitir la visa expire y esto sucede cada 30 de Septiemrbe). Sin embargo ellos siempre dicen que son concientes de la situación del aplicante y que trataran de resolver tu caso a tiempo. Pero heyyy NO ESTAN OBLIGADOS POR LEY, algo que a mi me parece totalmente injusto. Si tu ganas la visa ellos deberian estar obligados a responderte a tiempo. Bueno, desgraciadamente no lo estan.

Revisar un caso puede tomarles aprox. unos 2 o 3 meses. En nuestro caso les llevo 4 meses pero por lo menos nuestra historia tuvo un final feliz y OBTUVIMOS NUESTRAS VISAS : )

Estas son nuestras sugerencias para las personas que se encuentren en nuestra misma situación:

1) Llama regularmente al Departamento de Estado (001-202-663-1225)y dales tu numero de caso explicandoles que es un caso de la loteria de la diversidad para que te encuentren en sus sitemas informaticos. Realmente en este numero de telefono ellos solo te podran decir si tu caso sigue en proceso administrativo o esta aprovado o denegado. En nuestro caso nuestra visa fue aprovada aprox. el 15 de sept. a solo 15 dias de que se nos acabara el plazo para que se emitira. Ufff super ajustado. No intentes dialogar mucho con el agente que te atienda, ellos solo te pueden decir en que proceso esta, no te diran nada mas.

2) Visit regularmente la embajada o enviales emails explicandoles tu situación, ellos son los unicos que puede solicitarle al departamento de estado que acelere la resolucion de tu caso para que la rspuesta te llegue a tiempo. Tampoco estan obligados a hacerlo, pero si mantienes una buena relacion con ellos te podran ayudar. Este es de todos los pasos el mas importante. Hablando con ellos es la mejor forma de mejorar tus chances de que obtengas una respuesta a tiempo.

3) Si la embajada no te ayuda trata de contactar a un congresista de los Estados Unidos. Para ello necesitaras de la ayuda de alguien que viva en los estados unidos y lo contacte en tu nombre. Lo que hara el congresista es intentar hablar con sus contactos en el Departamento de Estado para que le ayuden en la pronta resolucion de tu caso.

Si nada de esto funcion y tu estas viajando con otro familiar, tu siempre podras pedirle a la embajada que te de tu visa a ti como ganador de la visa (si la persona que esta siendo investigada es tu familiar: tu esposo o tu hijo) y una vez que estes en los Estados Unidos de America como residente permanente lo pides.

Bueno, les deseamos BUENA SUERTE a todos y que su caso tenga un final feliz : ) como el nuestro : )