AP 90 DAYS AND COUNTING

[Big Baby 11]

It has now been 90 days since Li passed her interview at GUZ ("Congratulations! You are approved."), and we are still under "administrative processing" (blue slip received 2 weeks after congratulatory letter) for undisclosed reasons and indeterminate time-frame. Interview was 3/19/2012. Li, like many/most single females, had been turned down for a tourist visa to visit cousins in Los Angeles four years prior. She accurately reflected this on her application. But they never asked her anything about it at the interview. Criminal record was spotless. No dependents will be accompanying her. Her previous work for the past five years was as a cost accountant for a transportation company. She is not a Communist Party Member. All of her paperwork (birth certificate, divorce decree, etc.) was flawlessly prepared and notarized. My fiancee has always lived in the same 10 kilometer radius in downtown Chengdu. I spent a couple of hours visiting her parents first house (her mother has since died), her primary school (now demolished), her secondary schools, and visiting several of her colleagues - now, former colleagues but still close friends. So, why does it take GUZ greater than 90 days to verify what I was able to see first hand in a few hours. If they distrusted the paperwork, they could have since rented a car, driven there and back, and had everything verified within 48 hours. Sometimes I feel frustrated when I see so many illegal immigrants being granted amnesty while the legal immigrants are held up without basic human rights like the right to hear the "charges" against them.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Big Baby

[bigdog 376]

Oh yea brother, join the club. their is always your congressman (mine was worthless) and USCIS has an ombudsman to assist if you are unnecessarily delayed. Hang in there. You will see the scam's and read some of the questionable postings, they delay all the rest of us. Did you email or call?

[Big Baby 11]

Thank you.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Big Baby

[Big Baby 11]

Thanks. It helps to know we are not alone. There probably are some scams that consular officers see. Probably, there are some consular officers at certain embassies who have tendencies to hand out blues indiscriminately also. Quasi-refusal codes don't require evidence; they just require "haunches." We'll never know, since there is no transparency or accountability built into the system. I've emailed the Embassy and called DoS weekly. All the Embassy will say is that they are not done doing whatever it is they are doing, but when they are they'll process the visa expeditiously. So, I guess that if they are done in 6 months or a year, that we'll have the passport back in 6 months or a year plus about 3 or 4 weeks.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Big Baby

[Darnell 8,478]

Big Baby - there's a queue. She got in the back of the queue once her stuff was received.

You can keep calling DoS Hotline every few days and see if any casefile status change.

A great set of questions to ask:

1. what date did GUZ IV receive the Blue Slip evidence?

2. What date did GUZ IV put the evidence into the casefile?

3. How soon do you forecast a Visa Officer to review the casefile?

---

alas - email to GUZ IV can be useful - but keep in mind that No USCitizen Employee answers the emails - it's all PRC folk working there.

[Ryan H 3,813]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports; topic is a status update.

[Big Baby 11]

Big Baby - there's a queue. She got in the back of the queue once her stuff was received.

You can keep calling DoS Hotline every few days and see if any casefile status change.

A great set of questions to ask:

1. what date did GUZ IV receive the Blue Slip evidence?

2. What date did GUZ IV put the evidence into the casefile?

3. How soon do you forecast a Visa Officer to review the casefile?

---

alas - email to GUZ IV can be useful - but keep in mind that No USCitizen Employee answers the emails - it's all PRC folk working there.

[Big Baby 11]

Thanks, Darnell. You are always very empathetic and knowledgeable. Most DoS clerical workers say they are not allowed to answer any questions. A few say they do not know the answer. A very few do not seem to have a good handle on the difference in visa types and differing requirements of each. One DoS worker asked me why I thought that it would take years to get a response, to which I replied, "If you don't tell me what the average time is, then how do you expect me to know how long is above average?"

Edited June 18, 2012 by Big Baby

[Big Baby 11]

Thanks, Darnell. You are always very empathetic and knowledgeable. Most DoS clerical workers say they are not allowed to answer any questions. A few say they do not know the answer. A very few do not seem to have a good handle on the difference in visa types and differing requirements of each. One DoS worker asked me why I thought that it would take years to get a response, to which I replied, "If you don't tell me what the average time is, then how do you expect me to know how long is above average?" Imagine if you paid several thousand dollars for a diamond ring. The ring did not arrive, and almost a year went by. You called every week, of course, but the company just told you, "We can't tell you the reason for the delay" and "we can't tell you why." "You are welcome to call back as often as you like, if that will make you happy." So you ask how long you will have to keep calling back. They respond, "We can't tell you how long. But, why do you think it will take years instead of months?" Good grief! Talk about rhetorical questions!! National security? Give me a break! GUZ is now keeping the US safe from housewives? I know that in the "old days" people waited much longer & some got all

[Darnell 8,478]

I can feel yer pain, but I beg of you -

please remember she's in a new queue.

There were others before her, and she has her place in the queue.

At the most (IMO), you can write (via email) the IV Unit and ask for a Consular Officer to review the stuff sent back in response to the 221G/blue slip.

and that's about the best you can do, alas.

[Big Baby 11]

Here's the answer to three questions:

From US Embassy:

"Unfortunately, all Freedom of Infomation requests must be presented to the Office of Information Programs and Services, Department of State, Washington, D.C. The U.S. Consulate can only respond to the Department of State regarding Freedom of Information requests."

From DoS phone line:

"We are unable to answer your questions."

Reality:

By the time you get a snail mail response back to your snail mail FOI request with all appropriate Privacy Act releases, etc., it could actually take longer than action on your AP.

[Big Baby 11]

Our Administrative Processing at GUZ lasted 100 days: March 19 (interview approval date) - June 27, 2012. Yesterday, I received an e-mail response to my website inquiry to GUZ that our AP is now finished and that Li will be receiving a letter in the mail shortly with directions for the completion of her K-1 visa processing. I believe that the Medical Exam is good for 6 months, so I don't think we will need to renew paperwork which is a blessing. The wait was incredibly difficult. Darnell was right: about 2 to 4 months. Also, looking back, I don't think that our case was mishandled. I do think that the hundreds of thousands of cases they see yearly has them swamped. I also think that the system needs to be improved to give petitioners and beneficiaries a reasonable estimate and general reason for delay. But that is up to the politicians, not the office workers. Keep the faith, those who are still in AP. Your time will come.

Edited June 30, 2012 by Big Baby

[Darnell 8,478]

look at the date of the medical exam - as that date will shift the dates of visa usage, much.