Administrative Processing.....NIGHTMARE

[HarelD 1]

Hello everybody,

My name is Steven, this is the first time I am posting something in a forum, I appreciate your time for reading it. I guess when you are back to the wall you are trying desperately to find anything to rescue you or make you feel a little bit better.

So this is our story, I am a US citizen leaving in Israel for several years, My wife Neomi and me get married in 2014, we have three kids (8,6 and 2), two before the wedding and one child after.

I want to precise Neomi used to have a Green Card following her previous marriage to a US citizen in Florida, she divorced in 2012 and left back to Israel. so all our kids are US citizen as well, two were born in US and one has been Naturalized at birth.

Neomi Green Card has been cancelled/revoked more than three years ago since she left US in 2012.

I work for an American company with a branch in Israel, last year I had a job opportunity in US that brought us to start in October 2016 an IR-1 Visa process to my wife.

The process was very long, months after months till finally we get confirmation from USCIS that our case is at NVC, since we have a child with special needs, we requested to expedite our case to the US Consulate in Jerusalem. Our request has been approved and less than a month after, out case was ready at the Consulate. We are now middle of June 2017, waiting for the US Consulate to send us a date for the interview.

In the meantime, I flew to US for two weeks to prepare everything, I rented a house, registered the kids to school and even made a copy of the offer letter the HQ in US provided me.

Three weeks later, we had "THE" date we were waiting for so desperately. July 28th we came to the US Consulate for Neomi interview, the consulate asked for all the paperwork include a copy of the lease for the house, a copy of the registration school and a copy of the offer letter. The consulate focused most of the questions to Neomi life in Florida and asked a lot of questions about her previous relationship with her ex husband. At the end of the interview, the consulate said the Visa is refused, that our case will remain in Israel for further administrative processing and also we have three documents are missing. She also said she understands our situation and asked us to bring the missing documents as soon as possible. Two weeks later, all the missing documents have been provided and we received an email saying "Our case is currently being reviewed by a consular officer. Once a decision is made, we will contact you for the next step". I replied thank you very much and also since our kids are registered in a school in US, they don't have any school arrangement in Israel and that we would appreciate if they could answer before school starts. We also explained them that our child with special need MUST start a treatment in US as soon as possible.

Yesterday, I get this email below that completely devastated us, my wife cried for hours, the kids were completely lost and I fell like the ground just collapse under my feet.

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for contacting us.  Your visa application is refused for administrative processing. Typically, this process takes at least 9 months to complete, but on occasion it does take longer.  We are not able to take any further action on the case until proper authorization is received.  Once this authorization is completed, a consular officer will review the case again to determine if the case is documentary complete and to verify that none of the documents are expired.  Please see the time line below for further information about the validity period of documents:

1.            Israeli criminal register certificate: valid for one year from the date of issuance.

2.            Palestinian non-conviction certificate: valid for six months from the date of issuance.

3.            DS-260: valid for one year from the date of signature.

4.            Medical report: valid for six months from the date of the exam. 

Please check on the status of your pending immigrant visa application online by visiting the Department of State’s Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website.

Best Wishes,

Immigrant Visa Unit (RMH)

Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem

 

So my questions are.

Is anyone already went through this specific AP?

Why us? We are regular and normal people without any criminal record, never been arrested, never did something illegal and we don't belong to any political/terrorist/communist group.

All we want is to seize this job opportunity and move back to US, a country we love so much.

We will appreciate your advises.

Steven and Neomi

God bless US

[Coco8 1,039]

I don't think this means it is going to AP. I think it means it was refused to it is being sent back to USCIS/NVC, they will send it back to the consulate (the 9 month timeline they mention), and it will be get a consular office to review it again.

 

I don't know what it was. 

 

Are some of the kids with her ex husband? Or were you together before she got divorced? I think you've been together for so long that I don't think there is something here, but you did mention she got a lot of questions about her previous green card.

 

I'd contact your senator and they have people working with them that only focus on immigration. It'd be good for you to build a relationship with one of them in case they can do something now or in the future, particularly because you have a child with special needs, they might be able to speed up the process for you.

 

 

[HarelD 1]

Hi Coco8, thank you for your fast reply.

We also though our case will go back to USCIS but she kept saying it will remain at the consulate for Internal reviews.

None of the kids are from her ex-husband, we were together before she get divorced. Probably that was the cause the consulate asked a lot of questions about her previous relationship.

How should I contact the Senator? I mean is there any website? How does it work?

[Auds 223]

It does seem like the kids situation is the issue. Also, was there a point where she had her green card conditions removed last time claiming marriage but in fact at that time she was separated?  Any other benefits availed as a result of being married to US citizen when in fact she was actually separated?

 

I am guessing kids birth records are correct.

 

Looks like a lawyer, senator contacts possibly waivers are in order.  If no benefits were made etc, did you submit a timeline with your application?

[Latonia 29]

The CO kept asking about the previous marriage so it seems possible that the previous marriage is what made the CO make that decision but im so sorry for the bad news because its hard when someone else has to make a decision for your life and family but the good thing is by you being married...I think you can appeal or something like that as long as the file is still at the embassy before they return it back to the states.

[HarelD 1]

Hi Latonia and thank you for your comments.

You are definitely right, the feeling of someone else taking a decision  for your life and your family is very hard. All this process suppose to join or keeps family together, the CO recommended me to fly, with or without the kids, to US for an unknown amount of time and my wife will join us once the process will be done. We explained her our child with special needs need 24/7 assistance and every small change is an emotional challenge for him. Separate the family may affect him so hard that god knows what would be repercussion of this move on his mind. Beside, who will take care of the kids while I'm at work. Right now my wife and me barely eat and sleep.

Instead of keeping us unified how it should, this process makes my family falling a part and there is nothing I can do....

I understand they have laws and rules and they have to make them work but in our case, they take good people and treat them like criminals. With Roller Coasters emotional changes when they reply to emails with "Cold and Generic" answers and when they don't care about all the preparation, time, energy and money you spent to get everything done and ready for this move. USA has been built by Immigrants, they should embrace good people that want to work legally, pay Taxes and contribute to the economy.

[Latonia 29]

Yes the immigrants did help build the USA and has added a lot of wealth to this country I do agree and now its becoming hard for immigrant families like my husband was attacked in Morocco and hit in the head now everyday im worried....i wish that this process was more in depth knowing  the good people from the bad people because we here on VJ that have good intentions are being suffered the consequences of actions of bad people...but I pray that all will be well soon because a child with special needs has to have both parents because my son is Autistic and as a single mother at that time before I married it was hard and you can't trust everybody to take care of your child that has special needs while you work. 

[Auds 223]

5 hours ago, HarelD said:

Hi Latonia and thank you for your comments.

You are definitely right, the feeling of someone else taking a decision  for your life and your family is very hard. All this process suppose to join or keeps family together, the CO recommended me to fly, with or without the kids, to US for an unknown amount of time and my wife will join us once the process will be done. We explained her our child with special needs need 24/7 assistance and every small change is an emotional challenge for him. Separate the family may affect him so hard that god knows what would be repercussion of this move on his mind. Beside, who will take care of the kids while I'm at work. Right now my wife and me barely eat and sleep.

Instead of keeping us unified how it should, this process makes my family falling a part and there is nothing I can do....

I understand they have laws and rules and they have to make them work but in our case, they take good people and treat them like criminals. With Roller Coasters emotional changes when they reply to emails with "Cold and Generic" answers and when they don't care about all the preparation, time, energy and money you spent to get everything done and ready for this move. USA has been built by Immigrants, they should embrace good people that want to work legally, pay Taxes and contribute to the economy.

I understand the personal tragedy and have been in a very similar situation - didnt know at that point if i would survive the pain.

 

do keep in mind - good and bad people is relative.  Any talks about what immigrants did etc will get you no where.  If your wife did gain immigration benefit while she was 'seperated' from her ex or other benefits or there was any claims of being married while she was seperated - this will be a long saga.  You did not have to answer this question in the board but this is what will need resolving.

 

I know someone who had a fraction of a similair issue - just a fraction and it required a lot of work.

[Coco8 1,039]

To contact your senator, look for the 2 senators from your state. You can contact them through their website and you have to specify which issue it is about. They should call you back. I'd contact both of them or the one that has been a senator longer. 

 

You can also call or send them a fax. 

 

I've seen them help a lot of people on VJ. It is kind of their job to help people navigate the bureaucracy -- though it also benefits them to have the bureaucracy be a pain in the a** because it allows them to do constituency service and get votes. 

[Villanelle 4,121]

2 hours ago, Coco8 said:

To contact your senator, look for the 2 senators from your state. You can contact them through their website and you have to specify which issue it is about. They should call you back. I'd contact both of them or the one that has been a senator longer. 

 

You can also call or send them a fax. 

 

I've seen them help a lot of people on VJ. It is kind of their job to help people navigate the bureaucracy -- though it also benefits them to have the bureaucracy be a pain in the a** because it allows them to do constituency service and get votes. 

Their case is in AP. There is nothing a congressperson can do about it. They are just going to have to wait. AP can take days, weeks, months or years. 

 

Im not saying they shouldnt contact the congressperson. They can be helpful to keep an open line of communication with the Embassy while its processing in AP. And if they issue is some document that they were required to submit and did after the fact -the congressperson can help ensure its marked as received.  But thats about it.

[HarelD 1]

Thank you so muck guys for the precious information you gave me, it helps to see other people went through this process and give you some tips.

We will contact the senators during this week, we hope one of them will be able to assist us.

I will keep you posted with the development of our situation.

Thank you again everybody

God Bless

[HarelD 1]

16 hours ago, Auds said:

I understand the personal tragedy and have been in a very similar situation - didnt know at that point if i would survive the pain.

 

do keep in mind - good and bad people is relative.  Any talks about what immigrants did etc will get you no where.  If your wife did gain immigration benefit while she was 'seperated' from her ex or other benefits or there was any claims of being married while she was seperated - this will be a long saga.  You did not have to answer this question in the board but this is what will need resolving.

 

I know someone who had a fraction of a similair issue - just a fraction and it required a lot of work.

Hi Auds,

I am not aware of any benefits she get while she was separated, but just by curiosity, do you remember how long was your friend's AP?

And also what he did or they did in order to solve it?

Thank you so much for your concern.

[HarelD 1]

22 hours ago, Latonia said:

Yes the immigrants did help build the USA and has added a lot of wealth to this country I do agree and now its becoming hard for immigrant families like my husband was attacked in Morocco and hit in the head now everyday im worried....i wish that this process was more in depth knowing  the good people from the bad people because we here on VJ that have good intentions are being suffered the consequences of actions of bad people...but I pray that all will be well soon because a child with special needs has to have both parents because my son is Autistic and as a single mother at that time before I married it was hard and you can't trust everybody to take care of your child that has special needs while you work. 

I feel your pain Latonia, our son is also on Autism spectrum and I perfectly understand what you are saying. According to what you say, I understand you are in US and your husband is in Morocco? I wish he will get the Visa ASAP and everything will be fine with him. Be strong...

[EstelaHdz 0]

Hello guys,

 

I'm going through AP as well with my husband. He's been in the US since childhood and went to Mexico for the interview, but was placed in AP. He's the sole provider of our family of 5. Now I have to use our savings while they decide on his visa. I'm so devastated because our family has been split. My kids ask for their dad everyday and I just lie to them saying he's working. I cry every single day, multiple times a day. It hurts to know that your country will split families and not care. To them, you're just another case. I'm trying to stay strong, but this is such a scary time. I love my husband very much and we've been together for 8 yrs. Now I have to care for the family while a full time student in pharmacy school with NO JOB. I pray that this country changes it's laws and stops separating families. I don't want to use up all my savings.

[HarelD 1]

On 1/16/2018 at 8:00 PM, EstelaHdz said:

Hello guys,

 

I'm going through AP as well with my husband. He's been in the US since childhood and went to Mexico for the interview, but was placed in AP. He's the sole provider of our family of 5. Now I have to use our savings while they decide on his visa. I'm so devastated because our family has been split. My kids ask for their dad everyday and I just lie to them saying he's working. I cry every single day, multiple times a day. It hurts to know that your country will split families and not care. To them, you're just another case. I'm trying to stay strong, but this is such a scary time. I love my husband very much and we've been together for 8 yrs. Now I have to care for the family while a full time student in pharmacy school with NO JOB. I pray that this country changes it's laws and stops separating families. I don't want to use up all my savings.

Hi Estla,

I feel so sorry to hear that, as you well said, for them we are just a case and they don't care about the tragedy and pain they cause to the people. We are in Administrative Process for six months now, in December 2017 I was obligate to leave my wife alone with our three little kids in Israel and relocate to Atlanta to start my new job. It was a very hard decision to take, at one point I almost gave up on this process to stay in Israel but we finally came to the conclusion that if we want a better future to our family and specially to our kids, we have to go through this process, fight and overcome all obstacles. Thanks god and smart people for the invention of "Whatsapp", we use it every time we miss each other, several times a day. I saw many and many times my wife crying and  my kids asking me to come back, it's literally killing me little by little and i mean it. 

This process is a real nightmare and make people Suffering everyday and every night, I often wake up in the middle of the night.

We all understand and agree USCIS must check deeper every case if some security concerns popped up during the visa process for the safety of the United State. But this process is a nightmare not because of the background screening, but because nobody is able to provide any logical answer to any question about the time, the status or what are they checking. Our attorney advised us to get assistance with a congressman. Three weeks ago I asked our congressman in Atlanta to check our case and he received the exact same answer. Unfortunately with the new president, the immigration process seems to be even tougher. My only advises for you is to use "Whatsapp" a lot and keep faith. One day, when your family will be reunited and all of this will be way behind you, you'll find happiness again.

God bless.

Edited January 21, 2018 by HarelD