Embassy Didn’t Put Visa in Passport

[celugelda 0]

My fiancé got approved for his K1 visa a few weeks ago, received it in the mail, got his flight. He’s currently at the airport for his flight that was supposed to take off in 10 minutes. At check in, they asked for his visa number. He was confused since he thought it was in the sealed envelope. An hour later, on the phone with a USCIS office in Miami who gave authorization to open the envelope, they admit that the US embassy in Santiago must’ve messed up and not put his Visa in his passport.

 

i don’t even know what advice I’m asking for or where to even begin. The US embassy in Chile is closed since its 9 pm. At this point, he’s missed his flight, obviously. He has to apparently go back to the Embassy to get this passport stamp. I’m googling and I can’t even find this type of situation ever happening before. I’m devastated as I was supposed to have my fiancé here tomorrow after a year of waiting, and now we don’t know what’s going to happen. Has anyone ever heard of this situation before? The US Embassy somehow approving of your Visa and then.. sending you your passport without it? How long it takes to rectify the mistake? Just feeling so lost right now. 

[payxibka 10,044]

A new one for me.  Sorry to hear

[Just Paul 4,591]

It happens rarely.  Normally caught when the petitioner looks at the passport and either finds it wrong or missing.  He will go back to the Consulate and they will attach the foil and reseal the packet.  

 

You are very close!  Almost there. 

 

[Cryssiekins 976]

Oh boy - I’m sorry you have to go through this.  Definitely human error. 

 

Shouldn’t take a terribly long time to rectify, but I certainly understand your frustration and devastation.  

[celugelda 0]

Just now, Paul & Mary said:

It happens rarely.  Normally caught when the petitioner looks at the passport and either finds it wrong or missing.  He will go back to the Consulate and they will attach the foil and reseal the packet.  

 

You are very close!  Almost there. 

 

Do you know how to go about this process? I’m just confused if he will need another appointment or not. It took 4 months for us to get an interview appointment. Then 2 weeks from interview to get the Visa in mail. Will they resend in mail or do it on the spot? Just don’t know wen to reschedule flight.. I don’t want to reschedule for next week and have to wait another month for visa.

[Cryssiekins 976]

1 minute ago, celugelda said:

Do you know how to go about this process? I’m just confused if he will need another appointment or not. It took 4 months for us to get an interview appointment. Then 2 weeks from interview to get the Visa in mail. Will they resend in mail or do it on the spot? Just don’t know wen to reschedule flight.. I don’t want to reschedule for next week and have to wait another month for visa.

Definitely don’t reschedule until he has something in his passport.  

[celugelda 0]

2 minutes ago, Cryssiekins said:

Definitely don’t reschedule until he has something in his passport.  

I just am so depressed.. flight was more than 1000 dollars and looks like they aren’t doing anything for us since it was the governments fault and not the airlines.

[bestluck 71]

1 minute ago, celugelda said:

I just am so depressed.. flight was more than 1000 dollars and looks like they aren’t doing anything for us since it was the governments fault and not the airlines.

I am sorry that happen to you , you guys should contact to Embassy  as soon as possible there should be an emergency phone number to call cos i know that will hold you guys until fix this problem.

 

Best wishes  

[p-ana 933]

Now it’s water under the bridge.  

 

but just a reminder to everyone that you should never book anything if you don’t have the visa in hand... and even when you have it in hand you need to check and make sure everything is alright. 

 

The only thing to do now is contact the embassy, most likely send passport and sealed envelope back and they will sort things out from their end. The faster you act the faster the outcome 

 

good luck

[celugelda 0]

Just now, p-ana said:

Now it’s water under the bridge.  

 

but just a reminder to everyone that you should never book anything if you don’t have the visa in hand... and even when you have it in hand you need to check and make sure everything is alright. 

 

The only thing to do now is contact the embassy, most likely send passport and sealed envelope back and they will sort things out from their end. The faster you act the faster the outcome 

 

good luck

We just truly didn’t understand that there was supposed to be anything in his passport that was missing. We were under the assumption that everything needed was in the envelope, including the Visa. It took me googling in this moment for me to realize there was supposed to be anything in his passport, all the information online just seemed to reiterate the sealed envelope. 

[p-ana 933]

1 minute ago, celugelda said:

We just truly didn’t understand that there was supposed to be anything in his passport that was missing. We were under the assumption that everything needed was in the envelope, including the Visa. It took me googling in this moment for me to realize there was supposed to be anything in his passport, all the information online just seemed to reiterate the sealed envelope. 

It’s very basic info you missed out. But it won’t do you any good to dwell over this. Going forward though please get acquainted of your next steps so you don’t face any more hiccups. Knowledge is power. It’s very important to know everything about the process.

 

best of luck 

[Cryssiekins 976]

9 minutes ago, p-ana said:

It’s very basic info you missed out. But it won’t do you any good to dwell over this. Going forward though please get acquainted of your next steps so you don’t face any more hiccups. Knowledge is power. It’s very important to know everything about the process.

 

best of luck 

It’s true, but sometimes the excitement takes over.  I was 110% in excitement mode that I totally missed CBP misspelling my maiden name on my i94, until I went to SSA and was unable to get an SSN.  Of course, my fault, and it caused me 8-ish hours (over 3 visits) at the SSA office, so definitely a less costly mistake as this, but it happens.

 

I’m sure @celugelda will be extra vigilant going forward, but man, it sucks, especially the loss of $1,000 and the stress involved with having to get everything in order, but a minor setback in the grand scheme of things. 

 

I did most most of my K1 visa without VisaJourney, and when I found this community I was so thrilled.  Has definitely saved my butt more than once. 

[celugelda 0]

1 minute ago, Cryssiekins said:

It’s true, but sometimes the excitement takes over.  I was 110% in excitement mode that I totally missed CBP misspelling my maiden name on my i94, until I went to SSA and was unable to get an SSN.  Of course, my fault, and it caused me 8-ish hours (over 3 visits) at the SSA office, so definitely a less costly mistake as this, but it happens.

 

I’m sure @celugelda will be extra vigilant going forward, but man, it sucks, especially the loss of $1,000 and the stress involved with having to get everything in order, but a minor setback in the grand scheme of things. 

 

I did most most of my K1 visa without VisaJourney, and when I found this community I was so thrilled.  Has definitely saved my butt more than once. 

Honestly we were just so focused on having issues when actually getting into the USA. When he came to visit 2 years ago there was a misunderstanding (they called me while holding him at the airport asking if we were getting married and I said “not right now” thinking they meant during his trip while he said “yes” referring to the future, they thought he was planning to pressure me into marriage, all one big misunderstanding)  and immigration officers ended up taking his phone away and looking through months worth of messages and photos, most of which were, without need to elaborate, very very personal and doing like an hour of interrogation that left us super shaken up. We have literally never had a visit without some type of situation. 

 

Ill definitely be be careful going forward. I’m 22, a student, and trying to do this all on my own with someone I’ve been with since I was 16. I’m just hoping there’s nothing else that’s falling through the cracks like this.

[Just Paul 4,591]

59 minutes ago, celugelda said:

Do you know how to go about this process? I’m just confused if he will need another appointment or not. It took 4 months for us to get an interview appointment. Then 2 weeks from interview to get the Visa in mail. Will they resend in mail or do it on the spot? Just don’t know wen to reschedule flight.. I don’t want to reschedule for next week and have to wait another month for visa.

They should be able to do it the same day or the next day.

 

I just PMed you.

[carmel34 3,527]

Good lesson for others to avoid this same situation in the future:  never book a ticket, sell property, quit a job, etc. until you have the passport with visa in it, in your hands.  This statement or something similar is all over the DOS websites.  My husband's interview is in two weeks in Brazil, if he's successful and his visa gets approved, it will take two weeks to deliver the passport to him, first thing he will do is look in the passport to see the visa there, make sure everything is correct, then and only then he will give a 40-day notice to quit his job (required as part of his work contract), start wrapping up his personal and financial affairs, packing up items, and we will book his flight to the US to leave after the 40 days.  It sucks to have to wait two months after his interview to travel here but that's the way it is.  We've already waited a year so more waiting is more of the same.  OP, I'm so sorry that this happened to you, I hope you can get it fixed ASAP and be reunited soon!  Congratulations on your upcoming marriage, you must be very excited!