shessa

@ faycel nd renee ,Congrat. On your approval, if i may ask how long was ur AOS process from filling to approval? Pls.

Hi VJ
I thought it would be useful for other people to be aware of Additional Processing (also known as Administrative Processing or just AP). I had a smooth process for the K1 filing. There is a fantastic guide on here that tells you EVERYTHING you need to do in order for your K1 visa petition to go through first time (http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1flow). The key thing is follow every single step of it to the word. I did this and sailed through the first part of it.
Ok, so I sailed through the first part of the K1 visa process, so what happened you may be wondering? My petition came back in 3 and a half months, earlier than the 5 months we expected. In this time I had already obtained my police certificates from 2 countries and my military records, as well as filled out all of the necessary forms that I would need to send to the embassy, once they asked for them (found these online). I was prepared like you would not believe. Everything went smoothly, I attended my medical and when I arrived for my interview at the US Embassy in London on April 16th, the first person was appreciative for my well organised pack, which made her job a lot easier (i just put the paperwork in a logical order. Anything to help).
The next step of the interview was to answer some questions. This person wasn't as friendly as the first and asked me lots of questions about our relationship. These went fine and then it went down hill.
I was told they didn't need anything else from me and that my case just required some additional processing which would take 2-3 weeks. I thought "fair enough" and took the blue piece of paper they gave me and walked out. When I looked at the blue piece of paper when I walked out, it said that I had been refused a visa and that my case was under additional processing. This was a shock to me because the lady at the embassy said nothing to me about a refused visa, she indicated everything was fine. Now, for those of you in Additional Processing, this is where my experience may help you.
I got home and immediately googled what this all meant. The message boards were all negative, horror stories of things taking over 6 months to be sorted out etc. I didn't panic too much though because my application was all neatly assembled, with more evidence than they needed, not a single mistake on the forms, so I must have been different.
At the end of the 3 week period, I called the London Embassy to find out what was happening, as I had not heard back. The call was not helpful at all. The operator was unfriendly, unsympathetic and just told me that my case was in additional processing, they can't talk about my case, and it will take anywhere from 2-3 up to 16-22 weeks. This wasn't good. I wasn't given this impression at the embassy and this totally screwed up many plans we had made.
We tried many things. I called the embassy a couple more times, including Washington to see if they could tell me more. Nothing good came of it, I got the same message, time and time again. My fiancee contacted her Congressman who enquired on our behalf, with his office also contacting members of the Department of State they knew. Again, they got the same response as us. The case is in AP and we just have to wait.
Further research showed us that you are most likely to be put in to AP for the following:
- You didn't submit documents (don't panic too much, this is a quick AP process for you guys)
- They don't believe your story (so they'll inform you of this and tell you they are sending the pack back to USCIS to do further checks)
- You have a surname that originates from a country, predominately in the Middle East and North Africa (doesn't matter if you've never lived in those countries, it's just the name)
- You have a background in Science, IT or other special interest areas that the US feel could be a threat
- You have served in a foreign military other than the US
There are probably other reasons for finding yourself in AP but they are the most common. From my understanding, when your paperwork is shown at the first window at the embassy, they gather it all, go through it and one of the final steps is to run your name through several security systems. if there is a potential name match with a person of interest (muslim names are obviously common in the current climate) the system prevents the visa being approved and manual checks have to be carried out by people back in the US. How long this takes depends on the agency/departments dealing with it.
If I had known about this before this whole process had started, I would have factored more time in to my plans (so my hopes didn't get dashed) and prepared myself mentally for the fact that it could take up to 22 weeks. I'm writing this post so that others can pre-empt this and prepare emotionally. I didn't know and it made my life hell. PLEASE, if you feel you have any of the above things that could put you in AP, just prepare yourselves for the fact that it could happen to you.
So, why do I care about your emotions. Well, the first reason is because as you'll find out, the embassy doesn't give a damn. You can't blame them really because they need to take emotion out when they are dealing with serious matters. In saying that, there is a line between distancing emotions and treating people with respect and understanding when calling for updates on their case. I had a dealing with an embassy rep just 2 weeks ago and just being polite on the phone and explaining things to me, it made a huge difference. I was actually happy when ending the call, not angry and frustrated like previous times.
Anyway, I digress. The next reason I am typing this is to tell you what you will go through if you do not prepare for AP:
- A whole lot of not knowing. This was the worst thing for me because I had played the game, filled in their lengthy forms and done everything right, so why was it taking so long. My advice, don't take it personal. It's just a process that you unfortunately may have to go through
- Depression. I am one of the most confident and easy going people you will meet. I am able to cut off my feelings so I don't get hurt....until it came to this. I think because the love of my life was waiting for me and they were playing with my life now, it got to me more than anything has before. I lost all motivation to do things, found it hard to work out and had a constant negative attitude towards things. This was not me and this is the biggest reason i'm writing this post. Just accept you'll be waiting in this process and plan for the full 22 weeks. It's the only way to stay sane.
- Calling the embassy and contacting your congressman etc....it does not work. Save yourself the time, money and future dashed hopes when you hear nothing back and just wait for the visa to come through. If you have nothing to hide, you have a genuine relationship, all will be fine. This remember is a bureaucratic process that you unfortunately got caught up in. It's not personal, it's just that a system forced manual checks to take place.
- Don't think your individual circumstances can change things, they can't, I tried. My frustration came with the fact that the I not only served in the military during 9/11 and the Afghan and Iraq conflicts, but I was also security cleared with the NSA (National Security Agency of America). Yes, if they can trust me with sensitive information, surely that should speed up a visa security check, right? WRONG!!! It does not matter. Although you see yourself as special and unique, you're not in this process. You're just in line and you have to.....yes, you're getting it now I'm sure.....WAIT!!!!
- I was told not to travel to the US because I would get turned away due to the visa having been refused. Although the embassy do not class this as a visa refusal (so why give us a refusal form?), the Border and Customs people do. If you can't give a reason why you got refused, they just won't let you in, simple.
- Leading on from the above point, I was unable to travel to the US to see my fiancee. This was really hard, so what we did was we brought our honeymoon forward and had a pre-wedding honeymoon. Hey, we can't leave the country for 3 months after we're married until I get Advance Parole, so we figured we'd do this. It worked for us because it was a much needed time where we forgot about everything bad and focussed on us.
There are probably more things but this post is dragging on a little now. You'll be glad to hear (I don't mean to rub it in people's faces) that yesterday (15 weeks and 5 days after going in to AP) that I received an email from the embassy telling me to send in my passport so they can issue the visa. I am not exaggerating when I say it was one of the happiest days of my life. Having felt so low to finally knowing we can carry on with our lives, it was an amazing feeling.
So, to sum up, here are my steps to surviving AP if you find yourself in it:
- Just wait and do not call the embassy, it does not help and just costs you money
- Do not call your congressman, it does you no good
- If you have a muslim sounding surname, expect to be in AP for up to 16 weeks or so and add this to your plans (better to be safe than depressed, believe me)
- Try and carry on with your life (it's easier if you already know you may be put in AP)
- Have a strong support network around you who can keep you busy and not thinking about this
- Set yourself things to aim for. The worst thing of this for me is that I felt like my life was on hold and I was powerless in moving forward. Take the time to take up a new hobby, where you do something maybe 3-4 weeks down the line. Goal setting will help.
- Last of all, just accept that this process has many flaws, the embassy aren't there to be your friends and lastly, it's not personal. They system forces checks and if you end up in it, your'e just unlucky.
I hope this helps those in AP, prepares those who could get put in to AP and makes those that didn't go in to AP realise that you were so damn lucky haha.
This is just my view, from my experience and from the information I came across. All cases are different and we can only speculate as to what happens inside the embassy and their processes. This is my best effort at trying to make sense of it though.
Feel free to comment and especially if you are in AP and are finding it hard, please feel free to comment or message me. If I can help just 1 person feel slightly better, this post will have served its purpose.
Thanks
Kam