amuli

4 hours ago, Justhelping123 said:

Since this post is from 2015 can you tell me now how long administrative processing took for you. My husband had his interview in late December and its now almost April and no word yet

Hey girl. AP took 9 months for us. They called him in May 2016 to give him the visa, and he was in USA by the end of the month. It's so hard to wait but hang in there! Every 6 weeks or so I would email my congressman and they would inquire about our case for us. Best of luck.

On 12/17/2017 at 8:08 PM, EmilyK said:

Hey, did you ever hear back anything from the consulate? Did you get your visa yet? My husband just did his interview on 11/29, it was put into AP on 12/8...we are wondering how long the AP is going to take. 

Sorry I haven't checked this site in so long! They ended up calling him to pick up his visa on May 11. We were in AP for about 9 months, idk what the hold up was. He booked his flight right away and traveled to the U.S. on May 26, 2016

We are still waiting on his adjustment of status/green card too. Even though we submitted it in July (travelled to PR in November). He has his drivers license showing his US address.

Katerina, I did end up going to Puerto Rico and we were not questioned at all. We brought our passports, K1 visa documents and everything, in case they were going to give us a hard time. But we were fine! The only thing they looked at for both of us was our driver's licenses. We went from DTW to MIA to SJU, then coming back from SJU to FLL to DTW.

Hello,

My husband immigrated to the U.S. on a K1 Visa from Lebanon. We have gotten married, and have filed for his adjustment of status. Since his K1 Visa has surpassed 90 days and we are waiting for his green card/AOS to be approved, are we allowed to travel to Puerto Rico for honeymoon? What kind of documents will we need for travel? Will we be given a hard time at the airport? Again, he does not have his green card yet, we have filed for AOS but have not received it yet. We did, however, receive an I-797 that the paperwork has been accepted and is in process. Can we still travel to Puerto Rico? Thank you in advance!

My husband came on a K1 visa in May, and we sent his paperwork for AOS, EAD, and AP about a month ago. On the AP form, I stated that we wanted Advanced Parole so that he may leave the country and go to Lebanon in June 2017 for a family visit. But now we're thinking that we'll probably have the green card by then anyways, and I'd rather use the AP to leave the country for honeymoon. Is that allowed? Instead of going to Lebanon like we first stated, we go to the Caribbean or something?

Finally!!!!! Visa in hand! And my fiancé will be here tomorrow God willing.

Best of luck to all you waiting out there! Hang in there it's worth it in the end

Awww, congrats How exciting! Suddenly he's on the next flight! Very happy for you after the long struggle!

No updates on ceac statuses. "AP" and "no status"

One more day before the "supposed" pick up date. If no updates tomorrow we might not be going, it's too expensive and troublesome to get to the embassy just to hear "it's not ready"

Was going to ask you about how things went, but then I saw your timeline and noticed your fiancee just came Congrats! Happy your visa journey was a smooth one!

Yea the orange slip exactly. at that time do you remember what your ceac.state.gov status said? I get "AP" when i enter our case number and "no status" when i enter the DS160 number.

Actually I had no idea about the CEAC site at that time. I only started checking the site on the day they gave him back his passport with no visa... I entered his case number and it said AP. But I do know that it said "Case created: August 4" ... and August 4 was the day they gave him back his passport. So I'm not really sure!

But I will mention that on the day my fiance picked up his passport after the orange slip... there were 3 guys that didn't get the K1 visa, but the girl that was there did get the K1 visa.

She dropped off her passport today and was given a card that is stamped with a "Dec 9th pickup date". Do i need to check the status updates on ceac.state.gov until it says ISSUED or should we just go Dec 9th regardless of what it says.

Was it an orange slip? When my fiance had his interview, they asked him to bring his passport and then was given an orange slip that had the next week's date on it to come back and pick up his passport. So when he came back on that date he picked up the passport but no visa. Hopefully yours is different and they will really issue your fiance's visa on the 9th. Especially since she is a woman I think women get visas quicker than men Keep us updated.

Hi Amuli:

I am in your current situation as well. However we went through over five months of immigration admin processing . Then was finally contacted with approval, asked to bring passport, dropped off passport was told visa would be ready in ten days. My fiancé made travel plans and then was called day before pickup to say it wasn't ready and to just pick up his passport and wait for call. Oct 21 status changed to non immigrant admin processing. Updated again on Oct 28 and nothing now. Has your situation been solved? Any news? It's very frustrating since we already went through a long five months of admin processing before approval. Would appreciate anyone's insight.

Good luck to all!

Also, any luck with contacting government representatives? I think I am at that point now.

Hey Om Samir,

There is still no update on our visa. Interview was July 28, they asked him to bring his passport in, then gave it back to him and we have been in AP since then. Our case hasn't even been touched since Aug 27. We have emailed them 3 times, and got the same response each time. So your fiance got approved after 5 months but they still haven't given him the visa? So strange. Has he tried calling them and seeing what's going on? I emailed a local congresswoman but did not get a reply. I figured she was too busy anyways, but I am thinking of calling and setting up an appointment. I don't know if there is anything she can do to help. Talking to a congressman might be helpful for you guys.

When was your fiance's interview? Let me know how things go for you!

Any news, amuli?

Our visa was finally issued last night! We were in AP for 59 days after the interview, in Ready for 40 days, then in the NIV AP for only one day.

Hopefully yours moved!

That's so exciting! Congrats! Ours is still actually in the same status, it's been about 2 and a half months in AP. I emailed my district's congresswoman and hopefully she can do something, but I'm not getting my hopes up!

So when is your fiance coming to the states?!

Good idea. So sorry to hear things are not going well for you guys either It seems like you are at the end of the process, and should be issued soon, but I'm not sure why other applicants are getting ahead of you. I know people have said getting a congressman involved doesn't help... But I had a family friend tell us that they involved our congressman in their visa in Lebanon (I don't think it was a K1) and they issued the visa for them soon after. So I'm really not sure how it'll turn out for us!

No good news for us yet. Nothing has changed and the date our cased was last touched was Aug. 27. It's really depressing waking up every morning and checking the site and seeing no change. I don't even want to bother emailing the embassy in Lebanon because I know they won't do anything. I'm going to give it a few more weeks... I want to see if there will be any changes in October. If not then I'm going to make an appointment with our congressman and see if there's anything he can find out or do for us.

Sooooo frustrating keep us updated on your situation too!

I feel your angst. The last email we got from our embassy was on August 26th (from an email we sent on August 16th) saying that my fiance should have already been contacted to pick up his passport, and if he hadn't, to send another email. We have sent four emails since then, and nothing.

To make matters worse, I found five KBL cases that were all fiance cases, all created after our case, interviewed after us, and updated after us. ALL FIVE were updated to AP on September 20th, which means they will all get their visas this week! ARGH!!! But you haven't heard anything for three weeks longer than we have.

Interesting, that your last update was a Thursday. Both my updates (Sept 3rd and 10th) were also on Thursdays. Hopefully a meaningless coincidence.

That is soooo frustrating I can't believe they haven't responded to your emails or tried to reach you guys. I wonder what the hold up is. Does your fiance want to go to the embassy and see what's going on?

Were you just typing in different case numbers? I was doing that too and checking other peoples' statuses.

I found the significance with Thursdays too. I always wonder if something new will happen on a Thursday. Maybe this week.

It might, call their office or send them an email, explaining the situation see what they can do.

Did you try emailing the embassy?

I emailed the embassy and they didn't say anything helpful! They wrote the same thing that was sent to my fiance when he asked. I'll give it a few more weeks and get in contact with the congressman and see if there's anything they can do for us or get any kind of information.

Still nothing, you guys Hasn't been touched since Aug. 27.

Does anyone know if it helps getting a congressman involved?

Yes, it means something. When it changes from "Immigrant" to "Nonimmigrant" it means your visa will be issued soon. You will see that your NIV case status updated too if you use the AA# from the DS-160 into the NIV section of ceac.gov. They touched it last on August 27th, so they seem like they are taking a while to issue the visa, but you are nearly there! Don't worry!

That gives me a little bit of hope that it won't take too long! It's been a while since they touched it so hopefully the status will change soon. Your timeline is soooo similar to mine! I sent my paperwork to the Dallas lockbox first of March and it took 2 weeks to get approved. Your fiance lives in a Middle Eastern country as well. Good luck Hopefully both of our statuses will change very soon.

So I've been reading a lot of posts on here about the AP waiting period. People have stated that it's a good sign when the status on the CEAC site changes from AP --> Ready --> AP then it would be issued very soon. I also read that it's a good sign when you put in the case number under immigrant visa... but at the top it says Nonimmigrant Visa Application. Anyone know more about this?

I always put my fiance's case number into the immigrant visa section on the CEAC site "check my visa application status"... Says:

The status was last updated on 10-Aug-2015. Then this. On 10-Aug-2015 it also said Nonimmigrant Visa Application up there. Does this really mean anything?Whether it says Immigrant vs Nonimmigrant Visa Application at the top? Thanks!

Over view on name & security checks....

http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/an-overview-of-security-checks-in-the-us-nonimmigrant-visa-process

Really helpful link!

hopefully they can help us cut some of those trips. do they keep the passport after the interview? because she won't be able to leave back to syria without it?!?!

and oh yea do they interview in english or arabic?

They gave him the passport back, and then told him to bring it back in the next week. I think that may be because we were missing a document, and they were waiting for me to send it. Once they had everything they asked him to bring in his passport. But after he brought in his passport, they kept it for a week. I'm not sure how your situation will go since she commutes from Syria.

They do the interview in English as far as I know. My fiance told me he spoke English with them.

So he had to pick up the visa package, do you know if there was an option of having it mailed or emailed or someone else picking it up? Because my fiancée is Syrian living in Damascus and entering and exiting Lebanon just to pick up a package is laborous. Especially if she will have to come once for the medical then come again for the interview, then come again to pick up the visa?

He picked up the visa package because he frequently makes trips to Beirut (he lives an hour away) and it wasn't too inconvenient for him. Your situation is harder and I'm sure when the embassy contacts your fiance that the visa package is ready, she can ask them if they can mail it to her, or if someone else can pick it up. I don't think they'll be able to email it, but she can ask! I'm not too sure about that. They will give her a list of doctors that will do the medical exam especially for visas, so she will have to make the trip to Lebanon for that... as well as the interview and picking up the visa :/ I know. Lots of back and forth.

Hey, that's very fustrating as you describe it. I hope they resolve this issue and you get the visa very soon. I'm currently still in the USCIS stage, how was the Beirut process? I would really appreciate any information you have, such as what documents they ask for? Medical? How long did it take to get the interview?

The Beirut process was not bad. After the I-129F petition was approved by USCIS, they sent it to NVC who quickly forwarded it to Beirut. The consulate in Beirut contacted my fiance to pick up the visa package which contained a list of the things he needed to do (documents with the english translation, medical exam, DS-160, fees, proof of relationship). The other thing is... they also need your affidavit of support if you are sponsoring him. I am co-sponsoring my fiance with my mom because I don't make enough on my own. I sent to my fiance: me and my mom's I-134, proofs of employment including letters from our employers, pay stubs, last years tax forms.

They will give your fiance a list of doctors he/she can do their medical exam with. It should be easy. When you have all/almost all of your documents ready, email the consulate and they will set you up with an interview. My fiance emailed them and they scheduled it for 3 weeks later. It was scheduled at 10 am, and he got there an hour early... but didn't get interviewed until 12:30. The interview took about 10 minutes.

Hi guys,

My fiance had an interview July 28, 2015 in Beirut, Lebanon. Our whole process had been going so smoothly and quickly. The interview was great as well, and there was only one document missing (my mother's proof of US citizenship), which I scanned on my computer that same day and emailed it to them. They responded quickly, and the next day they called my fiance to tell him to bring his passport to the consulate that coming Monday, Aug 3. On Monday, they took his passport and gave him an orange slip that says to come back next week on Aug 10 and pick it up. We assumed it meant he would be picking up his passport that day along with the approved visa. There were no signs that anything was wrong. We have a legitimate relationship with tons of proof, I have visited recently, all of our paperwork was organized and pristine. But they gave him back his passport and told him that it was now under administrative processing, and that they would call him.

It has been 6 weeks now since the interview, and I'm trying to be patient, but I can't understand why we have to go through this, and I'm afraid of having to wait many months before they give him his visa. I want to write them an email to ask about what is going on. I feel like they give you the same general response about "we don't know how long it will take, we understand you are frustrated, just be patient" kind of thing. Has anybody else gone through this? Specifically from Lebanon? What was your experience like and what do you recommend that we do at this point?