70 days in Administrative Processing-London

[Bizzo840 3]

I had my IR1 interview at the US Embassy London on 17th April and have been in Additional Administrative Processing ever since. It’s been 70 calendar days since the interview.

Is there anyone else that is in this situation?
 

They said that there is no additional paperwork or information needed from me and they have retained my passport. On the green slip they handed me, it just has the box ticked that reads “Additional Administrative Processing” and nothing else. I do have an arrest when I was 17 which was over 23 years ago and I was issued a reprimand for that so have a “No Live Trace” Police certificate. I feel like if I was going to be refused outright they wouldn’t have retained my passport. What could they possibly be doing for the past 70 days with the case? 

Anybody who is or has been through this process with a similar case I would be grateful for your thoughts. Or anyone else that may have an opinion. 
 

I know of one other person that is currently going through AP from the same day but their circumstances are slightly different. 
 

Thank you all for reading. 

[mam521 2,102]

Is the UK your place of birth?  How common is your name?  Have you visited and MENA countries?  Do you have an occupation that perhaps can bring to question national security concerns?  

 

AP will look at all of these things.  If you tick any of these boxes, that could explain it.  

[Bizzo840 3]

43 minutes ago, mam521 said:

Is the UK your place of birth?  How common is your name?  Have you visited and MENA countries?  Do you have an occupation that perhaps can bring to question national security concerns?  

 

AP will look at all of these things.  If you tick any of these boxes, that could explain it.  

Thanks for the insight.
I can confirm I am born and bred UK and I have lived here my whole life, my name is not a common one. I have been to MENA countries but only because I was military and after over 22 years service I left in March this year. I have friends who have been through this process with no issues on the MENA front so I’m not sure it’s that but you never know. I have worked with the US military both in the States and abroad and never had any clearance issues getting onto US bases etc. 

I’ve been married for over 8 years and have two young boys with my wife. They left to go back in Dec 23 so this AP is very frustrating, especially as they didn’t give me any reason whatsoever as to why or any indication of a timeline. 

[bonkane 9]

1 hour ago, Bizzo840 said:

Thanks for the insight.
I can confirm I am born and bred UK and I have lived here my whole life, my name is not a common one. I have been to MENA countries but only because I was military and after over 22 years service I left in March this year. I have friends who have been through this process with no issues on the MENA front so I’m not sure it’s that but you never know. I have worked with the US military both in the States and abroad and never had any clearance issues getting onto US bases etc. 

I’ve been married for over 8 years and have two young boys with my wife. They left to go back in Dec 23 so this AP is very frustrating, especially as they didn’t give me any reason whatsoever as to why or any indication of a timeline. 

I think the military background will trigger a deeper background check its normal should be done usually in 90 days approx.

[Boiler 45,646]

I have seen plenty of Armed Forces cases that have not involved longer than usual AP

[Bizzo840 3]

@Boiler @bonkane So you think it’s the Military background and hopefully will be done by around 60-90 days?? Is that’s what’s considered normal AP? 

[Boiler 45,646]

Normal AP is a few days.

[Bizzo840 3]

43 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Normal AP is a few days.

Thanks. That’s what I thought. I have a few friends that didn’t have any issues and everything progressed normally. 

[wallflowers 4]

In regard to your No Live Trace Police Certificate - did you provide further information/a Subject Access Report detailing your conviction during your interview? Sometimes they need to verify this information with ACRO. Though, for this you would need to provide consent to ACRO to share your information with the embassy.

[Bizzo840 3]

On 6/26/2024 at 10:52 PM, wallflowers said:

In regard to your No Live Trace Police Certificate - did you provide further information/a Subject Access Report detailing your conviction during your interview? Sometimes they need to verify this information with ACRO. Though, for this you would need to provide consent to ACRO to share your information with the embassy.

I provided the one that comes with the certificate, uploaded it and showed her the original. I did have a full SAR from the PNC but that was never asked for. I probably should have uploaded that but I figured the one that comes with the certificate would have been sufficient enough as that was the reason for the ‘No Live Trace’. It just said the offence and ‘reprimand’ with the year. 

Edited June 29 by Bizzo840

[wallflowers 4]

On 6/29/2024 at 10:39 AM, Bizzo840 said:

I provided the one that comes with the certificate, uploaded it and showed her the original. I did have a full SAR from the PNC but that was never asked for. I probably should have uploaded that but I figured the one that comes with the certificate would have been sufficient enough as that was the reason for the ‘No Live Trace’. It just said the offence and ‘reprimand’ with the year. 

Hey, did you ever hear back? It may be worth considering contacting ACRO and providing them consent to confirm your certificate results with the embassy if you haven’t already as this could delay your AP. I’ve heard that the embassy sometimes needs to contact ACRO to confirm the information on your police certificate, but ACRO cannot share this information without your consent. Though usually the embassy would advise you of this. 

[Bizzo840 3]

13 hours ago, wallflowers said:

Hey, did you ever hear back? It may be worth considering contacting ACRO and providing them consent to confirm your certificate results with the embassy if you haven’t already as this could delay your AP. I’ve heard that the embassy sometimes needs to contact ACRO to confirm the information on your police certificate, but ACRO cannot share this information without your consent. Though usually the embassy would advise you of this. 

Hi, thanks for the post. I emailed the embassy on 25th June and had a response yesterday.

This was the response:

 

“We are providing the current status of your case. Embassy records confirm that the review in your case remains ongoing. We understand your concern, however, please note we are not able to provide a specific timeline for the completion of the review process as it varies in every case. Please be assured that our Immigrant Visa Unit will contact you directly as soon as they have any news about your case.”

 

I understand they can’t give a timeline as it varies in every case but I’m not asking about other varied cases, I am asking specifically about my case. It’s seems like a generic response that didn’t answer any questions I posed to them and very similar to the response I received mid May. It’s been a few days short of 90 days now. What review could possibly be taking 90 days?! It’s frustrating that they won’t give any details of what work has been done on your specific case and what they’re waiting for in terms of what will help them make a decision for whatever the outcome may be. Just an update such as “we’re waiting to hear back from….” Or “it is currently with….and they’re checking….” Just sat in limbo blind with no knowledge or end isn’t great! They haven’t advised they need anything from me at all. 

[appleblossom 2,675]

3 hours ago, Bizzo840 said:

Hi, thanks for the post. I emailed the embassy on 25th June and had a response yesterday.

This was the response:

 

“We are providing the current status of your case. Embassy records confirm that the review in your case remains ongoing. We understand your concern, however, please note we are not able to provide a specific timeline for the completion of the review process as it varies in every case. Please be assured that our Immigrant Visa Unit will contact you directly as soon as they have any news about your case.”

 

I understand they can’t give a timeline as it varies in every case but I’m not asking about other varied cases, I am asking specifically about my case. It’s seems like a generic response that didn’t answer any questions I posed to them and very similar to the response I received mid May. It’s been a few days short of 90 days now. What review could possibly be taking 90 days?! It’s frustrating that they won’t give any details of what work has been done on your specific case and what they’re waiting for in terms of what will help them make a decision for whatever the outcome may be. Just an update such as “we’re waiting to hear back from….” Or “it is currently with….and they’re checking….” Just sat in limbo blind with no knowledge or end isn’t great! They haven’t advised they need anything from me at all. 

They may not even know - if it’s been sent to DoS for background checks they won’t be aware of what’s going on behind the scene. It could be your military background, or your criminal record, or a combination of both.

 

The criminal record wasn’t drugs related was it? 

 

 

[Bizzo840 3]

5 hours ago, appleblossom said:

They may not even know - if it’s been sent to DoS for background checks they won’t be aware of what’s going on behind the scene. It could be your military background, or your criminal record, or a combination of both.

 

The criminal record wasn’t drugs related was it? 

 

 

As always, thanks for the post. I can confirm that it wasn’t drugs related at all. If it’s a DoS check then I’ll have to wait longer. Standby to Standby and carry on waiting. Not much else I can do I guess. I’ll email them again in 4-6 weeks just to let them know I am still here! 

[Bizzo840 3]

So my case date was updated on the tracker 2 days ago but the status hasn’t changed and I’ve had no correspondence at all. Generally, what does it actually mean when the “case last updated” date has changed?