alfie88

I'm sorry to hear that. I went through something not dissimilar a few years ago. It did eventually get resolved, hang in there. 

Hi,

What was the outcome of this?

Well you're right. It's just guesswork from here.

Yes I know that.

I'm just saying that it's generally a formality for a British citizen with a clean criminal record and strong ties to the UK to be issued a visa once a petition has been approved by USCIS.

Well care to hazard a guess?

Got notification on Monday that the embassy has returned my petition to USCIS with the recommendation that it be revoked.

Not what I wanted to hear.

Obviously not giving up yet, lawyer has written to them demanding they give me a reason (they didn't give me one and are legally required to).

The most frustrating thing is there really is no apparent reason for them to decline to issue me the visa. My petition was strong, valid and approved by USCIS. I don't have any criminal record and nothing on my petition was falsified.

My employer is standing by me but there is only so long they can hold out before they have to let me go.

sorry, two months.

In case anyone is keeping track, I still haven't heard anything from the embassy. Three months have passed now.

Well he must have some sort of access or he wouldn't have said that. Anyway this is redundant. Thanks for your help.

To the embassy

Yeah he's sending a colleague in London to find out what's going on.

Ok thanks for the reply. Over 3 weeks now, hard not to stress about it especially when my job is in jeopardy if I'm not back soon.

Ok well that makes me feel better. I'm honestly not worried about my employer's involvement.

Do you have any information on how long the AP process takes in a case such as mine?

Thank you for your replies by the way.

Because I am self-funding my o1, they are just acting as my petitioner.

How am I confusing the 221g?

Ok so, I moved to New York in January 2012 to attend a one year journalism course. I then elected to do my OPT which I worked solidly throughout, earning a good amount of money and a lot of material. It was suggested to me that I should apply for an o1 and the company I worked for was willing to act as my petitioner. I hired an immigration lawyer and received my o1 approval in November 2013.

On December 30th 2013 I arrived for my interview at the US Embassy in London. I knew the drill having been issued two F1 visas during my time in the states (Initial F1 and then a second F1 when I did my OPT) and wasn't concerned having been told by my lawyer that people without a criminal record (which I do not have) in the UK have a tiny chance of being refused at the embassy.

I went up to my window for my interview where the officer asked me all the questions I was prepared for and everything seemed to be going smoothly. He then asked me if he could view my portfolio (which I had and had been put together by my lawyer and so was perfectly organised and had all the correct documents) and told me he would have a look and told me to take a seat again.

About half an hour later my number was called again and I returned to the same window, to be told that his "colleague who would be reviewing my documents was not in the office today" and that I would have to return home with my passport, DS-160 confirmation page and a piece of paper that had details of the courier service I would have to use when they required my documents. I was so shocked at what he was telling me, I barely heard a word he said and managed to ask him how long it would take, to which he said, it shouldn't be long and I probably wouldn't have to return to the embassy. I stumbled out of the Embassy, completely confused and headed home.

It was only when I got on the train that I looked at this new piece of paper to find that it was a form 221(g) and began with saying that my visa had been refused. My heart obviously sank as the interviewer had not said anything that would lead me to believe that my visa had been refused.

After returning home and a quick Google search, I was greeted with the 'Administrative Processing' page on the ds-160 check and have been reading horror stories ever since.

A week later, I received notice from the Embassy to send them my ds-160 and the 221(g) but not my passport and am still waiting to hear if my visa has been issued.

Now here's where I think my case gets interesting; my 221(g) does not have a batch number on it, which I have read that they all have, so I cannot check my case on the spreadsheet that they update periodically. It also seems that I haven't really done anything wrong here and that because the person wasn't there, I have been thrown into the administrative processing pile.

Here are my questions:

- How is it possible that there is only one person at the embassy who can check my documents?! I refuse to believe this is possible. It's redundant now because it's not going to change anything at all but I would just like to know if anyone has experience this?

- Why doesn't my 221(g) have a batch number and why does it say that my visa has been refused and that I must declare this when applying for visas in the future? Surely I can't pay for a lifetime of having that against my name because of a mistake they made?

- Has anyone ever had this happen to them?

My work is getting frustrated because they were expecting me back now and I'm going to start having my pay reduced soon.

I contacted my lawyer who has been trying to find out any information for me but to no avail. I'm going slightly out of my mind because it's been over 3 weeks now. I know people have waiting a lot longer but the fact that it was a mistake on their behalf makes this so much more frustrating.

Any help or advice at all would be really really appreciated.

Thank you!