virgo2012

my husband has been in AP for 8 months too it's just sooo hard not knowing how much longer it's going to take.

yes i know its painful time knowing nuthing that whats going on or still how long it will more take to get visa.just keep urself positive and prey from GOD leave everything to him,he will help all those who are stuck in this process..i prey from ALLAH that you and your husband will soon get good news(inshAllah)...

Husband is in AP for Eight loong months. Inshallah Allah will help all of us.

yes inshAllah ALLAH will help us.iam also in AP running my 10th month but i have strong belief in ALLAH that sooner or later ALLAH will reward us our visa..please dont be upset always be positive and prey and read namaz and leave everything to ALLAH and than see the results..

Ok thanks a lot for the info, I will let my husband know about this , I hope ALLAH blesses you with a visa before Ramadhan inshallah, and may ALLAH bless us to with a visa, let me know whenever you get some good news and by the way , where do you live in Pakistan ?

no problem thats why this forum is to help each other.thanks a lot for your prayer i really fell happy whenever some one pray you if you are facing hard times,because in hard times if some one is praying for you it means ALLAH is with you.once again thanks for your moral support and prayers.yes i will let you know when ever i will get the visa.and inshAllah i hope your prayers will work and i will get visa before Ramadhan.i live in hyderabad sindh not far away from karachi..what about you guys where abouts you guys live in pakistan?

I hope so man , I am really upset, if I knew about this I would have done a finance case, anyways how did your wife stay for 3 years , like in my passport I have only a one year stay in Pakistan, if I want to extend that , how do I do, and for how long more will the extend it

dont be upset cause it will be -ve for your health,to being upset will never help to get visa,it will happen when its ready...anyways my wife stayed here longer cause of the visa process takes too long we heard from alot of people that staying togather for longer will help you to get visa quicker,but i didnt worked..now she is going back to start her life there untill my AP comes to an end...wel best way is to aplly for your NICO(national identity card for overseas pakistanis)..it entitled you 10 year free entry to pakistan without any pakistani visa.that card is works as visa for you cheap aswel compared to pakistani visa.if you want to stay longer,but it will help you for future aswel.my kind advise is that go to your local NADRA office fill out the form.noraml will cost you rs 4500 and you can get it within 30 days and urgent in 15 days.just show NICOP in pak immigration whenever you travell.wel my wife has that one so thats y she stayed freely...hope this will help you alot..check detail on this website( http://www.nadra.gov.pk/index.php/products/cards/nicop)...sorry for long mail...

We contacted our senator he is trying to do something about it , but still he isn't that capable to do something , all we can do is wait , I have been in Pakistan for 9 months now , I don't know if I should go back to the states alone .... Or no, really confused , before everyone use to get visa on the spot , now days for the past few years they give all pakistani men AP,

i know in case of pakistan no one is helping not even usa president.at the end of interview CO told me that maximum time of ur AP is 3 to 6 months,even my wife(usc)was with me during the interview she said to the CO its too long please can it be bit quick he said il try my best..but its 10th month is running in AP my wife contacted every person even she sent email to president obama after one month got response that we can do anything coz ur husbands case is in AP you have to wait until it comes to an end.she was with me alost 3 years now she is fed up in pakistan coz of situation in pakistan no light,no water and no life security so she is going back to USA in the 2nd week of july...so really no one is helping...every single male is going in AP in pakistan..prey for all that GOD help us and we all come out of AP soon....

Hi , I am new here , my husband had his interview on January 26, 2013, and they gave him the green paper , for AP, and now it's June 12, 2013, and we have no clue what is going on and when they are going to give him his visa , may ALLAH bless all of us with visa, it's a very painful procedure

A1b2c3,..sorry to hear about that your husband is in AP i know its really hard to wait coz u dont know whats going on with your case.i have completed my 10 months in AP and still counting nuthing we can do just wait and prey.ALLAH will help us one day,this is our last hope.sennd email to islamabad embassy and find out and check your case status on this site ceac.state.gov..and call department of state to find out..they all have same answer AP nuthing else...best thing is to prey that ALLAH help all those who are stuck in AP..i know its really painfull and heart hurting procedure,but we can only hope for good........

I am a little confused about your question but I will try to answer as best as I can. As long as her passport is still good she will have no problems getting through US immigration. They may ask her a few questions about why she stayed in Pakistan so long but she would just answer she was there living with her husband.

Once she gets a few days rest in the USA she needs to email the embassy with her new address and phone number. She also needs to call the Department of State and tell them she is back in the States. Make sure she gets an Identity card for the State she is living in and opens a bank account. I'm sure she will also need a letter from her aunt saying she is living with her. This is excellent proof that she is living in the States and has a place for you to come. She should also keep phone records and emails you send to each other in case the embassy wants proof that your marriage is fine.

Tell her not to be nervous. Many times the USC wife or husband comes back to the USA first to find work and get things ready for when their loved one gets the visa.

thankx for your kind response.yes her passport is fine she renewed her passport last year from us counslate in karachi pakistan also her expired us passport is also with her stamping cancelled.yes i told her to email embassy and tell DOS that u are back and tell them ur contact detail with address.

for identity card does she need to have a deriving license or her passport and social security number will do?regarding bank account does she need to have a proof of address or again same documents will work?regarding accomodation letter she just need a typed and signed letter from her aunt or it must have to be certified from notary...sorry for that again iam asking alot of questions from you....one last thing is it easy to get job over there or she will have to work hard to find a job?sorry but iam asking you these question coz ur over there and you can better answer than searching things on google.....as she is going to atlanta georgia,one more thing she registered her vote online last month we emailed them all required documents and thing they wanted and over the phone election office confirmed that her vote is registered now,but when we checked online it says no record found so we called them again they said ur vote is registered but voting website is not updated....so hope that will be good sign.....again sorry for long post...waiting for ur kind response....thanks in advance

The embassy said we were not married because I am a Christian and my husband is Muslim and that it is against the law in Pakistan. They also sent a field investigator to my husband's neighborhood to talk to neighbors and friends and these people did not know he was married so they said he just was with me for immigration purposes. We only had 7 people at our wedding and the embassy said it is normal in Pakistan to have a large wedding.

I hired an immigration attorney and she did the research on our marriage. If we had gotten married at the court house our marriage would not have been legal but we got married at home under religious law. She found a law from 1948 I believe that showed we were married.

Because I am Christian and American we decided it was safer for my husband if people didn't know he was married. He could be kidnapped or killed because of these 2 things. Also my husband and I could not pay for a large wedding even if we had wanted one.

With the help of the attorney we put our appeal together. We sent emails from the beginning of our relationship, phone records, Western Union receipts, letters from his friends that knew about the marriage, letters from my friends. My attorney sent the laws and court cases that said we were legally married.

It took 2 weeks for our case to be reaffirmed. That means it took 2 weeks for USCIS to say we won our appeal.

hello carolyn i need your help once again i need to ask you that next week my wife(usc)is going back to USA.now my question is as she is going back after 5 years,will there be any problem for her in the part of immigration or she will be ok,coz shes going back after a long time and also going to live with her aunt and my case is in AP ,regarding that she is bit nervous please help me with this so i can make ready her for any possible tough time please guide me with this......

They really said that a Muslim marrying a Christian is illegal in Pakistan? Its not illegal in Islam so if you did Islamic nikah nama that is definitely valid. I guess that is why your attorney was able to find the law proving your marriage is legal. Its surprising that the embassy was not aware of that law or didn't research it before issuing a denial. I hope they realize what they did was wrong and correct their mistake.

to be honest with you i dont understand how they work?i might be wrong but as my research regarding interview experince or other immigration related issues of our fellow friends comments on VJ or different immigration forums that the US Embassy islamabad dont have a equal policy for every one,they have different rules and regulations for every individuals,some of our fellows were only asked only 2 questions,didnt botherd to check the missing documents or wedding pics and issued them visa others been given tough time...if immigration is totally based on the genuine relationship than in my opinion that they have racism for pakistanis,i see many fellows quit there jobs in USA and come to back home to stay with there partners as much as they can so they can prove the relationship,but ending up in AP with no time frame..my wife is USC left USA 3 years ago we got married over 2 years living togather since but still in AP for nothing,now she is fed up coz no one is helping we can see any help from no where she is going back to USA soon.,......wel in my personal conclusion if you are living togather they see that your relation is genuine than they stuck you in security checks for a long....wel nothing we can do just share our stories with each other...GOD help us

Today I called DOS again. They told me the same things, AP and no documents needed, cant tell how long it will be. I asked if I could talk to anyone over her head, after a pause she said no. I asked what exactly is going on in the case if there are no documents needed, she said that is all confidential and she can't tell me. Then I said well how do I know if I should go back to Pakistan or just wait it out here, as cases can take 6 months and more. She said right away oh no your case is not going to take 6 months. I asked her how does she really know that or is just giving standard time frame. She said no I can see that you have a very good case and its not going to take 6 months. She said very firmly both the times that it won't take 6 months.

Do any of you really believe that she meant this? How can she tell that it won't take 6 months when they keep repeating there is no way to know how long it is going to take? I'm confused I don't know if I should wait or pack up and move.

my best wishes and parayer are with you and all who are in AP including me that we can come out of AP.regarding time frame i think they just want to get rid from that person who tries to inquire more about the case apart from AP.wel same thing happen to me aswel this is my 9th month is in AP,during 4th month of AP lady from DOS told my wife over the phone that your husbands case is in final processing and now embassy is making decision regarding the issuance of visa that may take 4 to 6 weeks,and now iam about to complete 9th month in AP,God knows who to trust...they are just liars....wel my prayers are with u i hope your AP finish asap..AMEEN

I can not see a problem with your wife going to Atlanta as long as she lets the embassy or DOS know her new address. They need to know where to send your green card once your visa has been issued and you come to the United States. It doesn't matter where the sponsor lives as long as he lives in the United States.

Your wife can call DOS from Pakistan at 202-663-1225 press 1 then press 0. She can ask them any questions she might have.

If you are in AP over a year the embassy may ask for a new medical, DS230 and affidavit of support from your wife and co-sponsor. They may also ask for proof of domicile again. So once your wife gets to Atlanta she should get ID, a bank account or/and letter from her aunt to show where she is living.

If I am giving you the wrong information I hope someone else will come along and correct me.

thanks for your reply carolyn.wel i have completed 8 months in AP yesterday,and i cant see any sign to come out of AP coz of islamabad embassy coz nowadays its taking more time.now my question to you is this that do i have to send new AOS from co-sponsor aswel or only ds-230,medical and pcc.normally i nvever heard from any one for new AOS but only ds-230 medical and pcc....please help me with this....i might be wrong on this but please guide me that its AOS is also expire with other documents mentioned above..thanks

Looks good to me.

thanks boiler for confirming the correct information..

There is no Court where you can just complain about AP.

It will not cause a problem if your wife goes back to live in the United States. She may want to give her new address and phone number to the embassy because sometimes they call the petitioner for an interview. Most of the time if they want new documents they will call or email you the beneficiary.

carolyn sorry to bother you again but you are helpfull....now the problem is this my wife is going to atlanta where her aunty lives and the person(our family friend) who is our co-sponsor lives in NEW YORK where he runs resturants,he sponsored us coz my wife never worked there.he gave us all required documents including job offer and accomodation letter to prove the domicile...now shes is going to atlanta and sponsor belongs to NEW YORK ,will there be any problem or it doesnt make any problem,she can fly to atlanta or she needs to go new york??coz when she get USA she will definitly let the EMBASSY OR DOS know that shes back to USA with .........address in atlanta and .......contact number.................

please i need your help regarding this matter.......................thanks in advance to you and alll who help me with this..

Here

The Court of Public Opinion.

agree with you boiler ,this is a good court atleast we can share our hard times here...thanks for you help aswell...keep posting for us...

Boiler I have to disagree with you. I filed a Writ of Mandamus and it was effective for my case. Not only did my case get out of AP I received my NOIR in record time. A Writ of Mandamus is costly if you use an attorney. I did the research and filed without an attorney. My case never made it to court. Once the DOS got my summons they hurried up and finished my case.

carolyn iam still waiting for my ealier post answer if you have any idea plz reply me thankx....

i have one more question my wife was with me more than 2 years since we got married we lived togather,now she is really fed up here in pakistan as you know there is shortage of light,gas and water in pakistan i told her that you can go back to usa iam waiting here to finish my AP she is flying in mid of july,now my question is this will it make any problem on my case or its ok and does she need to inform the US embassy islamabad that shes flying back to usa..please help me with this....waiting for ur kind response....

It is difficult for most people to understand the agony of a long AP unless they have been through it. Yes you can wait years in AP and still be denied your visa. Some couples can't stand the strain and break up.

As I've said before this is our second time being put in a long AP. The first time we spent 16 months. Our visa was denied. We appealed and won. Our case was sent back to the embassy and right away it was placed in AP again so far for almost 11 months and counting. First we were asked to send fresh documents and a new medical. Later the embassy called and asked for an original birth certificate. Our case has not been updated sense they received the birth certificate.

Everyday I check the ceac website and everyday I experience heartbreak when the status doesn't change. I feel so sorry for those women who have children and are waiting for their babies father to get out of AP. Really all we can do is pray and wait.

hello carolynhotstuff thankx for helping all vj members with your expert opinion and suggestions.iam wondering,as you are currently residing there in USA,is there any law or any court where some one can put complain about this AP,as far as iam aware its not a proper law,coz if its a law or compulsory process than it must have some specified duration of time,as it says time period is not predictable than its like a cheating someone that you have to wait but not telling how long?they must have some time period,we dont mind 2 years but atleast we will be sure that outcome will be in particular time.currently we are in a blind boat dont know where we are in sea and where we are going

or other option when you come out of AP and come to USA file a petition against them for wasting a long amount of time for nothing...please help me with this,if you have some knowledge,kindly share with me.........thankx for your kind help...

Harsh, those terrorists you are talking about, came to the United States with Visitor Visas, or were immigrated to the US years ago. It's okay they are doing their job protecting the US from terrorists and visa scams.

And having the option of not immigrating to the US what is that supposed to mean?. You get married because you want to spend your whole life with that special someone and if she is not willing to move from the US to a different country what would you do?, having the option to say to your heart hey you dumbf*** dont fall in love to a US Citizen.

Let's be serious now... AP is a critical situation, sometimes necessary. But yes it is hard to wait and sometimes you cant just hold your thoughts anymore.

totally agree with you.people who talks rubbish they do the visa scams and blame the real once...

If you think its waste of your time and money, you have an option not to immigrate to US.

They did not have this kinda rigorous check for any country until they were attacked.

Should you be blaming US for protecting their country and their citizens or should you blame those nut cases out there who think they can kill innocent ppl coz they have been made to believe they will be rewarded with 72 virgins?

The background check takes its time, president, senator or congressman cannot really do much in case of AP, there is a process for a reason.

look man you have to understand the post first and than reply,there is a time limit for everything that starts from minimum to maximum, so you can accept that waiting time,but if you pay for everything and you never know that the particular task has no time limit than its stressing..well in short no one have objection on security checks but with a time limit not forever,but people like u dont understand the situation and felling,so its waste to share with u or reply..but if u ever been or will be in this process than i will ask to u..

arsalanyousaf..
no one will never tell you the duration of AP.i been told by CO 3 months max but i completed 8 months in AP n waiting...

AP is something that can confuse you, frustrate you, shock you, even irritate you.

Why are we put under AP?

It seems there are vague assumptions that

1. Lack of necessary documents(evidence).

will ask you to send them the additional documents(evidence)

2. "Red flags"

It is a very blurry concept and many people have varieties of interpretation of "red flags".

Typically, travel history, your birth country/region, medical history, etc.

3. When CO feels necessary

There are many guidelines/policies as to whether a CO is able to issue immigrant visa or not to the applicant. We may not be able to read the details of these guidelines/policies/laws.

As to seek help, the White House is actually a great choice because your inquiry would go straight to the top of the administration. However, no authorities are able to directly impact the work of COs since they are working independently from other federal agencies.

U.S. immigration law is very complicated. However, as I heard from so many people, U.S. immigration system is the most sophisticated and is probably the finest.

So let's keep fingers crossed and hope for the best. If there are documents required by the consulate, get them sent to the consulate as soon as possible. Be honest, be confident and be optimistic. The green day will come to you, to all of us, eventually, sooner or later, but hopefully sooner.

NVC

its really killing us no time frame and no surety of visa..even you are in a serious tense..not able to join a company for job coz if u sign a contract u have to think that maybe my visa come in few days....its really depressing and stressing,,,,

AP is killing me :'(

its really killing me aswel,apart from that depressing and stressing.....GOD please help us all who are in AP..give them there visa asap....AMEEN

The two main factors are connection with a T Country and the ease or otherwise for the Consulate to do checks.

It seems Pakistan scores high in both regards, hence the delays.

agree with u Boiler,we belong to T country but they take years and years to complete security checks and after 4 years denial..they must decide within one year yes they are going to issue the visa or no,at the end of year ask for fresh medical,pcc and ds 230 ,medical cost alot and it xpires in embassy after another year complete neww medical is due...they need to realise that if they are ready to issue the visa than ask for fresh medical if not than dont waste our money.............i dont know who to complain .no one is there to help us....

We have been in AP for 4 months now as well. I see something positive in your situation that I don't have, and many others as well and that is that your wife is with you. Others like myself have to face this black hole like you call this AP with a hurtful, hurtful distance in between. If you have done all that's in your hands, then just pray and continue waiting, and once again remember that at least you are facing it together, we don't have that advantage. We need to count each and every one of our blessings. I really wish I could at least wait, but with him by my side. Stay strong!! Blessings!!!

Sugheil Nawaz

i know its really hard specially when u been old at the end of interview a time frame of max 3 to 6 months and when u cross that time and get a negative answer that we dont know how long it will take than it really kills..i dont know how they work even ur wife is with u from begining of process to the interview and so on than there is no sign of hope,they know that ur relationship is genuine than what else they want???ALLAH help all those who are in this dark hole......im about to complete my 8 months still no sign of hope....

I recently found out that my husband is still in security checks. I don't know why they would ask us to submit fresh documents if they were not ready to issue the visa. It really got my hopes up and now I'm feeling down again because I've been doing some research and my understanding is that it could take 3-9 months to get security checks cleared. I think they never worked on our case until January, when they picked up the file to work on and realized that everything was expired.

American government has no heart at all. They cant see thousands of us struggling. I cry day and night because I don't know when I'll get my happy every after. How is that fair? if my husband wasn't a Muslim and had different facial features he would've been here a long time ago. This is a slap in the face. American government telling us that we are inferior and don't deserve to be happy.

The sad thing is I didn't know about ap before we got married because the media never talks about. It's brushed under the rug. Had we known this process was this lengthy and painful we would've made arrangements to live else where. the media only talks about how horrible Muslims are but never talks about the ###### we are put through because someone else committed a crime.

SM2010,

please keep your faith strong as we majority from pakistan are in this black hole(AP) process.iam also in this process nearlt 8 months completed,been told at the end of interview that the max waiting time in my case is 3 to 6 months....by the way how do you come up to know that your husband is still in security checks process,coz i wrote ,called and emailed everywhere got no information only work AP....please keep ur faith strong GOD is with us,very soon tomorrow will come for us...pray for ur husband and all of us who are in ap....

first of all i appreciate the passion of my fellow country members who are in AP for a long time including Eabbas,soccer player,carolynhotstuff,sajidla,and all those who are in a black hole of AP and me aswel.wel i have completed 8 months in AP and at the end of interview CO told to me and my wife(usc)that everything is ok but we need to do some AP that will be completed in 3 to 6 months.just to clear that we recently celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and my wife is with me since the begining of process and still we are togather in pakistan.during in AP we used to call DOS every week and email to embassy after every 2 weeks..during AP in 5 month got call from us embassy that have u ever travelled to iraq,saudi or afghanistan,i told the operator that never i only travelled to uk apart from that no where else,i sent them my previous expired passports,than in that month i seen my status got updated every day till end of march than again stop..so to get help from president sent email to them after one month got response that we made inquiry on ur case and found that ur case is pending in AP,embassy will contact u when the process wil complete..it means i got no help from white house...begining of this week again sent email to embassy got response yesterday that ur case is pending in AP,we will contact you when AP is over no time perdiction.....
now i tried every where for help but got no help at all.wel i know we cant do anything to get out of AP its entirely upto them..but after keeping us in AP for years ,we are not sure that we will be approved or not,i seen alot of cases been in ap upto 3 to 4 years result denial....i mean they have to decide within 6 months,that they are going to issue the visa or denial...for there favour they have no law or rule that for the duration of AP....my conlusion is that we cant do anything to them.no help from white house,DOS,senetor or embassy.....its just stressing process.....the only thing that can help us to is prey nuthing else,for pakistanis no one is there to help...only AP is there for them....
sorry for this long post....

first of all i appreciate the passion of my fellow country members who are in AP for a long time including Eabbas,soccer player,carolynhotstuff,sajidla,and all those who are in a black hole of AP and me aswel.wel i have completed 8 months in AP and at the end of interview CO told to me and my wife(usc)that everything is ok but we need to do some AP that will be completed in 3 to 6 months.just to clear that we recently celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and my wife is with me since the begining of process and still we are togather in pakistan.during in AP we used to call DOS every week and email to embassy after every 2 weeks..during AP in 5 month got call from us embassy that have u ever travelled to iraq,saudi or afghanistan,i told the operator that never i only travelled to uk apart from that no where else,i sent them my previous expired passports,than in that month i seen my status got updated every day till end of march than again stop..so to get help from president sent email to them after one month got response that we made inquiry on ur case and found that ur case is pending in AP,embassy will contact u when the process wil complete..it means i got no help from white house...begining of this week again sent email to embassy got response yesterday that ur case is pending in AP,we will contact you when AP is over no time perdiction.....
now i tried every where for help but got no help at all.wel i know we cant do anything to get out of AP its entirely upto them..but after keeping us in AP for years ,we are not sure that we will be approved or not,i seen alot of cases been in ap upto 3 to 4 years result denial....i mean they have to decide within 6 months,that they are going to issue the visa or denial...for there favour they have no law or rule that for the duration of AP....my conlusion is that we cant do anything to them.no help from white house,DOS,senetor or embassy.....its just stressing process.....the only thing that can help us to is prey nuthing else,for pakistanis no one is there to help...only AP is there for them....
sorry for this long post....

Hi everyone. My husband has been under AP since October of 2012 and he is in Pakistan. But today I received an email from the USICS office. I am copy and pasting everything that was said. Does anyone know what this means? Is it a good thing or bad? I'm so freaked out right now, I really don't want to give up my hopes and then have them crashed.

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Receipt Number: WAC1190598419

Application Type: I130 , IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

Your Case Status: Acceptance

On May 7, 2013, a duplicate notice was mailed to you regarding a decision on this case, or describing how we will process the case if it is still pending. Please follow any instructions on the notice. Your case is at our CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER location. If this I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN is still pending, you will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move and this case is still pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

During the acceptance step USCIS reviews newly received applications and petitions to ensure that they are properly filed (i.e. signed by the applicant, appropriate fees, etc.) USCIS issues a receipt number for the application or petition, and sends a receipt notice to the applicant or petitioner.

Applications and petitions that are not properly filed are rejected with an explanation of why the application is rejected and the corrective action needed. Rejected applications or petitions do not retain their filing date.

The acceptance step is typically completed within 2 business days of when the application is received. With mail time it may take several weeks for you to get the receipt or rejection notice in the mail. If you do not receive your notice within 30 days of mailing your application, please contact our national customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results

listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current

processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Check Processing Times.

*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

If someone knows please help.