B2 visa approved at interview but now been placed on admin processing?

[sb12aa 1]

Hello everyone.

 

This is mostly my own fault, but here's the story:

 

I went to an 8am B2 visa interview on August 22nd at the US Embassy in London. I am a Swedish-Iranian dual national, I went to a university in the US and lived there for three years on an F1 visa. I thought even though I'm an Iranian national and Trump's travel ban it should be fine since I'm a dual national. The interview was OK, the officer did ask a lot of questions about what I do when I'm in Iran (sightseeing, see family), have I ever worked there (no) etc. He also didn't seem to think I had enough money for the trip, but I pointed out I am staying with friends and family and I'm not planning to do anything extravagant (£1,500). He did end up saying something along the lines of "I'm approving your visa, you can expect it to be with you in a week." I was ecstatic, and I bought my flight tickets that day for September 17 - October 1st. Huge mistake clearly, and I have learnt my lesson. It's been 16 days, 12 working days since my interview and my visa is still in "Administrative Processing" and it says it can take several weeks. My flight is in 10 days, but if we include the weekends, I only have five days until my passport is sent back before my flight. I emailed them and they said my visa was in the "final processing stages" but obviously they did not give a timeframe so they can drag it out for however long they want.

 

I'm now thinking I should have applied for ESTA first, but I was led to believe that there was no point since I travelled to Iran in 2016 and 2017. So maybe they were right? No idea, but I'm feeling really anxious now because I spent £600 (yes quite cheap, check out Norwegian Airlines, but I'm only an NHS admin employee and we don't make much), and it's non-refundable.

 

Thankfully Norwegian's rescheduling policy isn't terrible, I'm just horrified at reading some of the AP stories online. People waiting months and even years. All I wanted to do was hang out with my friends and go to the beach, jeez. If it doesn't arrive in time, I'm going to have to consider heading off for a last minute trip to Scotland instead since I have time off work. But what do you think the probabilities are that I'll get it next week? Honestly, I'm regretting even thinking about going now.

 

Sorry for my long rant.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by sb12aa
I ranted

[Roel 7,191]

Well, too late for ESTA now.

And yes, AP can take weeks or months and there is no way to tell.

 

Also embassies ALWAYS advice to NOT buy or book any tickets until you actually have your visa in hand.

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

No one really knows how long AP could be; AP is open-ended. Travels to Iran (and dual-Iranian nationality) are likely sticklers. 

 

Based on your quote of what the CO said, you may have the visa soon. 

 

Never buy nonrefundable tkts until visa in hand. As a reference, we paid for our ticket in India after we had the passport+visa physically in hand. 

[sb12aa 1]

8 minutes ago, Roel said:

Well, too late for ESTA now.

And yes, AP can take weeks or months and there is no way to tell.

 

Also embassies ALWAYS advice to NOT buy or book any tickets until you actually have your visa in hand.

Thanks I guess for reiterating what I said haha. I am not talking about applying for ESTA now, I was just musing in general about the situation.

And I am aware of that now but this is the first time I've had to apply for a tourist visa so once he said I was approved and I'll get it in a week I just trusted him. I've already said in my description I have learnt my lesson.

Edited September 7, 2018 by sb12aa

[sb12aa 1]

7 minutes ago, WeGuyGal said:

No one really knows how long AP could be; AP is open-ended. Travels to Iran (and dual-Iranian nationality) are likely sticklers. 

 

Based on your quote of what the CO said, you may have the visa soon. 

 

Never buy nonrefundable tkts until visa in hand. As a reference, we paid for our ticket in India after we had the passport+visa physically in hand. 

I'm just bewildered why he said I would have it in a week if there's a chance it wouldn't be. I even said, "Really? In a week?" Because I was surprised. And he said, "Yes." So...

Yes I did say I have learnt my lesson.

Edited September 7, 2018 by sb12aa

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

It’s correct that you wouldn’t have been able to get an ESTA due to travels so you don’t need to kick yourself over that, unfortunately you missed the warning on the websites etc never to buy tickets until you actually have the visa in hand. And no you won’t get a timeline, party because they often genuinely don’t know. Good luck and hope it’s gets sorted out.... the upside is that if you do get issued hopefully it’ll be a 10-year visa and you won’t have to worry about going through this again for at least a decade.

[az2014 381]

You are right you are not eligible for VWP/ESTA.

 

Nobody knows how long AP takes, yes could be days/weeks/months/years.

 

Yes you made a mistake buying the ticket without the visa but its a (expensive) lesson learnt. We all make them.

 

Hopefully you get the visa in time but if I was you I would start making alternative holiday plans in case you don't.

[sb12aa 1]

25 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

It’s correct that you wouldn’t have been able to get an ESTA due to travels so you don’t need to kick yourself over that, unfortunately you missed the warning on the websites etc never to buy tickets until you actually have the visa in hand. And no you won’t get a timeline, party because they often genuinely don’t know. Good luck and hope it’s gets sorted out.... the upside is that if you do get issued hopefully it’ll be a 10-year visa and you won’t have to worry about going through this again for at least a decade.

Thanks for the luck! Yeah I totally missed that, even checking now it's buried under a pile of other information. I'm just bemused by the process of telling someone they are approved and they will receive their passport and visa in a week if there's a chance it won't happen, or at least say it's not guaranteed. Even on the website it says "Successful applications take 3 – 5 workdays to process before the passport is handed to the courier for delivery; at least a further 2 workdays should be allowed for delivery." But then three paragraphs down they contradict this.

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

29 minutes ago, sb12aa said:

Thanks for the luck! Yeah I totally missed that, even checking now it's buried under a pile of other information. I'm just bemused by the process of telling someone they are approved and they will receive their passport and visa in a week if there's a chance it won't happen, or at least say it's not guaranteed. Even on the website it says "Successful applications take 3 – 5 workdays to process before the passport is handed to the courier for delivery; at least a further 2 workdays should be allowed for delivery." But then three paragraphs down they contradict this.

Are those quotes from the wording on the London website?  I reckon those timelines apply to a majority of British applicants, but with Iran (nationality/trips) in the mix, it's anyone's guess. 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, sb12aa said:

Thanks for the luck! Yeah I totally missed that, even checking now it's buried under a pile of other information. I'm just bemused by the process of telling someone they are approved and they will receive their passport and visa in a week if there's a chance it won't happen, or at least say it's not guaranteed. Even on the website it says "Successful applications take 3 – 5 workdays to process before the passport is handed to the courier for delivery; at least a further 2 workdays should be allowed for delivery." But then three paragraphs down they contradict this.

Sometimes it happens that an interviewing officer thinks it all looks good and then something comes up in what seems to be the final check done after the interview. Hanging out in the forums for a while, I’ve seen this for both visit and immigrant visas. This is why they give the warning about waiting till visa is in hand. I understand it’s frustrating to be told all is ok and then it takes longer, but I’m assuming the officer genuinely thought you were about to be issued and didn’t intend to mislead you... not that that changes the outcome. 

[sb12aa 1]

Hello everyone! Just wanted to give an update. I logged into the tracker and it said it's been issued  hopefully I'll get it this week.

Edited September 10, 2018 by sb12aa

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Great news!