Pending Administrative Processing Before Interview?

[Loueikun 5]

I called DOS again and now they have the case "pending administrative processing and no interview date set"

It has been 20 days since GUZ received the case, I searched and only find "administrative processing" as a situation at NVC when they need to take more time to approve the case, or one after the interview has been conducted already.

But I have not found any information about administrative processing between GUZ receiving case and scheduling an interview?

Maybe what DOS meant is that they are just still in process to schedule interview? or is this a different situation?

[Palladin 18]

It was a mistake for you NOT to use NVC electronic processing. Had you used electronic processing the files will go from NVC to GUZ at a push of a button and they can immediately schedule an interview about a month later.

Now since your case file arrives at GUZ, they will have to have some one look at the paper files and put some stuff into the computer etc., and while doing that they may spotted a few minor issues that needs to be taken care of. That must be the pre-interview AP they are talking about.

[Loueikun 5]

Not a mistake, cause she has job in China and still making money while waiting, and she wants to stay in china to spend CNY 2012 with her family before moving over here.

[Robby999 1,024]

Here is some information about " AP " , I copied this from the WIKI section on this site!

Administrative Processing

From VjWiki - The Immigration Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search Administrative Processing/Security Advisory Opinion may be requested for a variety of reasons, below is some information to help inform an applicant of the process.

When is a Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) requested?

An SAO may be required of a visa applicant for a number of reasons: a "hit" during a name-check; being a "national" of certain countries; studying or researching an academic field on the Technology Alert List (TAL); or, based on the "intuition" of the interviewing officer.

NAME-CHECK… Every applicant for any visa must undergo a name-check through the Consolidated Consular Database (CCD). If the applicant's name matches a name on the database as a 'problem', an SAO is required.

NATIONALITY… Being a "national" of certain countries is all that is needed in order to require an SAO. "National" may mean that the individual has dual citizenship, once was a citizen of one of those countries, OR was born in one of those countries. The only way to avoid this is if proof of renunciation of that citizenship is in writing (whether in fact the applicant was ever a citizen of the country).

TAL… Many of the fields of study listed on the TAL are very broadly stated which results in a number of SAOs. Detailed (but not lengthy!) explanations of the specific research that the applicant is engaged in may obviate the need for an SAO, if the research is clearly not of strategic importance, but this is not guaranteed.

INTUITION… Consular officers are asked to use their own impressions to request an SAO if they are at all unsure of whether it is necessary or not.

How long does an SAO take?

SAOs are a referral to "Washington agencies;" note the use of the plural form. Several agencies check the individual's background through their own systems and pass the results back to a central point. It is never possible to find out exactly where the SAO is at any one point in time.

The U.S. Department of State claims that 80% of all SAOs are cleared within two weeks. There is no prediction ever made of the length of time it will take. Some posts may tell applicants the "average for an SAO is X weeks/months", but this is anecdotal and only an AVERAGE for the recent experience of their post.

Anecdotally, many in the academic community have reported waits of two, four, six months and longer. If 80% are indeed cleared in two weeks, then 90% of the remainder are student and scholar SAOs. Reports of delays of eight months and more, while possible, are uncommon.

[Darnell 8,478]

ya, is the start of the next round of name checks, i think so.

see http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/SecurityNameChecksAndAdministrativeReview.html

study the bit that applies at the consulate, prior to setting the interview date.

[gougou 2]

Hmm, this may just happened by chance, but I was told that my son's case was also "pending administrative processing" at the consulate Guangzhou too.

Last Wednesday, 12/14, the consulate called my son(the beneficiary) to verify mailing address only, nothing else. Then I called DoS last Thursday and was told that the case was pending administrative processing, no interview date set yet. Same status as of my last call to DoS this Monday.

I believe that my son's case should be one of the simplest immigration cases: he is just 17 years old, a high school student who never worked, never changed resident address since born, and, my son's first name is very special, at least I don't believe that his case may match any of the criteria that requires a deep background or security check.

My guess: the consulate may not have enough slots available to arrange interviews in Jan. for all applicants as there are many holidays in Jan., and it looks like that the visa available #s in the Visa Bulletin moves faster in recent 1-2 months.

My bet: your wife and my son will all receive the P4 in Jan. for a Feb. interview date.

I called DOS again and now they have the case "pending administrative processing and no interview date set"

It has been 20 days since GUZ received the case, I searched and only find "administrative processing" as a situation at NVC when they need to take more time to approve the case, or one after the interview has been conducted already.

But I have not found any information about administrative processing between GUZ receiving case and scheduling an interview?

Maybe what DOS meant is that they are just still in process to schedule interview? or is this a different situation?

[Loueikun 5]

Well the Consulate has not called my Wife or sent anything out yet. I did actually send an address confirmation note to GUZ IV to verify that they had the format of her address right. (NVC had the numbers backwards, and I had sent a correction to NVC) GUZ IV replied within just 30 minutes from my online form submit, and said they have the same english and chinese address on file as what I gave in my note. Sounded like a quick access response. But as now DOS still says pending administrative processing.

Well I hoped from early to mid Jan, but I guess not, so February is more likely, better be a little bit after CNY, because ticket prices will drop.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Loueikun

[Darnell 8,478]

what's the reported date from DoS, for GUZ IV 'open the casefile' ?

[Loueikun 5]

what's the reported date from DoS, for GUZ IV 'open the casefile' ?

December 5th

[Loueikun 5]

DOS updated now, interview is February 7th. I will confirm with GUZ IV too (but they are reluctant to tell people the dates usually)

Kind of a plus with my normal days off (I am off Wednesday Thursdays) so this looks like a mid weekend stay, because I doubt Id want her to do medical on Monday or Saturday, cause document intake seems to be

a Tuesday (February 7th)

[Darnell 8,478]

Yay! GoGoGadget CallDoSHotline !

[Loueikun 5]

GUZ IV replied to me and did tell me the exact times and dates of 7 (intake) and 8 (formal interview), unlike some others where they refused to give date or confirm it.

It was kind of strange I got response email from them today (4am Saturday China Time) (I would assume the office is closed for the weekend and holiday)

[gougou 2]

Congratulations!

I called DoS this afternoon, still no status change, this time the DoS lady told me: "Your case is still pending, no interview date set, you need to contact Guangzhou". Not sure why she asked me to contact Guangzhou, maybe she was trying to encourage people sending inquiries to Guangzhou instead of calling DoS? Anyway I filled in the online inquiry form asking Guangzhou if there is any specific reason for putting the case under administrative processing.

GUZ IV replied to me and did tell me the exact times and dates of 7 (intake) and 8 (formal interview), unlike some others where they refused to give date or confirm it.

It was kind of strange I got response email from them today (4am Saturday China Time) (I would assume the office is closed for the weekend and holiday)

[Loueikun 5]

DOS never told me to contact Guangzhou everytime, they just said "your case is pending, no interview date set, please call back in a week to check for update" every time I called till they finally had update, but often DOS would just simply ask me. "what would you like to know?" as the first response when I call them and validate my security questions.

[gougou 2]

Funny, I sent inquiry to GUZ last Saturday, just received their reply, saying that my case is not under administrative processing, so I guess that it should be "no longer under administrative processing" :

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This case is not under administrative processing. We have received the petition from the National Visa Center on December 14, 2011 and put your beneficiary's name into the waiting-list of visa interview appointment. According to our current schedule, we predict that your beneficiary is most likely to be scheduled between March and April 2012 if the priority date is still in current. A visa interview appointment packet (Packet 4) will be mailed to your beneficiary two to four weeks ahead of the actual interview date.

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