It's normal that wait times to "Issued" status after approval at interview vary from applicant to applicant, right?

[Hemutian 68]

Fiancee's interview was Aug. 26. It went great. CO was very friendly. Only asked her a few questions. Said she was approved and gave her the standard approval letter, with instructions that visa would arrive by mail in ~2 weeks. 

 

There are two different websites where we can check the status. I'm a little confused which one we should be paying more attention to.

One is ustraveldocs.com, which says that her passport is still at the consulate. Seems normal, given that they said it wouldn't arrive until ~2 weeks.

The other is the ceac.state.gov site, which currently lists her case as "Administrative Processing" with the last date updated as today Aug. 29. 

 

Now I, having scoured this site and read countless threads from people who have gone through the whole process already, know that being in "Administrative Processing" for a few days after being told you're approved at the interview is normal, nothing to worry about.

 

However, my fiancee is starting to freak out, because another Chinese woman in her Wechat group was interviewed a day later than her, and her status has already changed to "Issued" as of today. Adding to her worry, she previously had a tourist visa approved at the same consulate, only to have it get stuck in "Administrative Processing" and then be cancelled outright (the CO at the time thought she was lying about her work unit; she wasn't, and it was all misunderstanding, but she never did get a tourist visa because she didn't have enough money in the bank). I've told her a million times that the Guangzhou consulate is much stricter on tourist visas, and that she's not going to get her visa cancelled this time.

 

I have to admit, it seems like this other woman in the Wechat group went got her "Issued" status unusually fast. In most of the other cases I see on VisaJourney, it took anywhere from 5 days to 18 days for the status to change from "Administrative Processing" to "Issued". This is what I told my fiancee...that it's normal that everyone's case is processed differently, that it's only been 3 days since the interview, this doesn't mean anything is wrong, that she has nothing to worry about, this is all normal, and she should get her visa in about 11 days, give or take. 

 

Am I right to tell her this? Is it normal? Is it normal that someone else who was interviewed after her has already changed to "Issued" when my fiancee's still in "Administrative Processing"?

I'm just looking for some positive affirmation here that I can pass on to her and say, see, all these good people went through this too, and it's totally normal, nothing to worry about. 

I told her maybe different COs have different workloads and her case is simply buried under a thicker pile of cases and thus will take a few extra days. Or maybe it's because my Affidavit of Support had a lot of supporting documents, giving her CO more paperwork to process, adding to the time. Does this reasoning make sense?

[Crazy Cat 39,218]

11 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

The other is the ceac.state.gov site, which currently lists her case as "Administrative Processing" with the last date updated as today Aug. 29. 

There is no reason to worry.  Every case is different, and every consulate is different..every case case goes through administrative processing......some cases change to "issued" after a few hours......others change to "issued" after days, weeks, months, or even years..........The only official indication of approval is when the status changes to "Issued"......

 

There are even cases which were refused and returned to USCIS after administrative processing.

Edited August 29, 2019 by missileman

[Hemutian 68]

8 hours ago, missileman said:

There is no reason to worry.  Every case is different, and every consulate is different..every case case goes through administrative processing......some cases change to "issued" after a few hours......others change to "issued" after days, weeks, months, or even years..........The only official indication of approval is when the status changes to "Issued"......

 

There are even cases which were refused and returned to USCIS after administrative processing.

Thanks. I'm not worried. I'm going to take the CO at his word that we should be expecting a visa around ~2 weeks.

 

But, just out of curiosity, are the cases you speak of where it takes months or even years to change to "issued" also cases where the CO told the applicant "you should expect your visa in 2 weeks"?

[Crazy Cat 39,218]

2 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Thanks. I'm not worried. I'm going to take the CO at his word that we should be expecting a visa around ~2 weeks.

 

But, just out of curiosity, are the cases you speak of where it takes months or even years to change to "issued" also cases where the CO told the applicant "you should expect your visa in 2 weeks"?

Generally, they are from other countries, if I remember correctly......The point is that there is just no way to accurately predict how long administrative processing will last.....chances are that your fiance's visa will be returned in a couple weeks........

[RandyW 149]

" the cases you speak of where it takes months or even years" are usually cases where CCP or National Security is involved.

 

They DO NOT take the passport unless they intend to put a visa in it. 

[Hemutian 68]

2 hours ago, RandyW said:

" the cases you speak of where it takes months or even years" are usually cases where CCP or National Security is involved.

 

They DO NOT take the passport unless they intend to put a visa in it. 

That's what I wanted to hear. I'll let her know. Thanks, @RandyW. 

[samnrong 52]

6 hours ago, Hemutian said:

That's what I wanted to hear. I'll let her know. Thanks, @RandyW. 

The AP that you are seeing is normal processing. Technically what happens is that up until this point you have been processed in the Immigrant Visa channel. Once approved, they need to switch everything into the Non-Immigrant Visa channel since K-1 is technically a NIV. The IV unit will send the visa to AP and transfer it over to NIV. Once it gets into NIV it will again undergo normal AP while they prepare everything. It will then state issued under NIV channel when it's ready to go out.

 

Check on the USCIS website. Is the visa showing as NIV yet? That's a good indication that it is close to being sent out.

[visafrompa 9]

On 8/29/2019 at 11:45 AM, Hemutian said:

because another Chinese woman

No offense, just my observation as a long time laowai:

 

You married a Chinese women and are just NOW realizing that no matter what you say, if a Chinese person says otherwise THEY are right?

 

Man, you're in for a tough time.

Edited September 6, 2019 by visafrompa

[Hemutian 68]

As the OP of this thread, I want to post the following to bring closure.

As of today, status has changed to "Issued" so expecting visa in the mail any day. 

 

Here's the full timeline since the interview:

• Aug. 26 Interview
• Aug. 27 - Sep. 5 Immigrant Division "Administrative Processing"
• Sep. 6 - Sep. 9 Nonimmigrant Division "Application Received"
• Sep. 10 Nonimmigrant Division "Administrative Processing"
• Sep. 10 Nonimmigrant Division "Issued"

So in our case it took 15 days (11 business days) from interview to "Issued"

[Hemutian 68]

Visa just received.

 

Post-interview timeline:

• Aug. 26 Interview
• Aug. 27 - Sep. 5 Immigrant Division "Administrative Processing"
• Sep. 6 - Sep. 9 Nonimmigrant Division "Application Received"
• Sep. 10 Nonimmigrant Division "Administrative Processing"
• Sep. 10 Nonimmigrant Division "Issued"
• Sep. 11 UStraveldocs.com status "Origination scan" —> "Ready for Pickup"
• Sep. 12 Visa delivered to home address by EMS (cost 59 RMB)

Time from interview to visa-in-hand: 17 days (13 business days)