JennaL

3 hours ago, TedsGirl said:

Great to see this update from you and that your congressman’s representative reached out in your favor. 
 

I have no words of advice, only that soon,  I hope, your husband will return to you and your baby🌺

 

Happy Mother’s Day♥️

Any update?

Nothing since we uploaded our documents on April 18th. Our congressperson said they would put it on their calendar to make an inquiry for us every 30 days until approval. 30 days is coming up this week, so hopefully the inquiry will push things along. 

13 hours ago, TedsGirl said:

Hello and welcome 👋🏿 

 

Congratulations on your interview! What a cliffhanger that IO has you on! I truly hope your approval is a matter of days if not hours away as you await the final decision. Did you also mail in the RFE? As long as you have receipt of acknowledgment online then you’re good! I know that happened for us back in 2021 when we had to respond to the I-130.

 

Most recently our upload to the I-130 to the NOID we got, garnered no response (after a week) of acknowledgement, so we sent it in via registered mail. Upon signing from the FO it was a matter of days for approval for both cases.

Yep, we did receive online acknowledgement, so hopefully it won't be too much longer until green card approval. 

Thanks for the tip - I am going to try sending our documents via registered mail, too, if we don't see any action within the next few weeks. 

Good luck to you on your continued immigration journey! 

October ‘21 AOS filer here - we just had our interview this past week in the Minneapolis field office and received an RFE from the officer at the end as he wanted to see more bills and such from us. We brought several items with us - credit card, bank, utility bills, taxes, lease, etc. but all from the current year. He mentioned he prefers to see this kind of evidence not from just the current year, but from each year of marriage. The check list in our appointment letter didn’t mention this specifically, but I still feel like an idiot for not assuming they’d want to see more from previous years. We scrounged around and thankfully were able to upload more of what they were looking for. Here’s to hoping we haven’t just set ourselves back several more months after waiting 19 months for the interview. 

12 hours ago, highvoltage said:

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation, We did apply for EAD concurrently with AOS as its free. We have finished the biometrics hoping that EAD can be looked into at the earliest. We called SSN office and they said to come in and speak to them directly. Hopefully they have some answers. Atleast if the office doesnt want to give the K1 applicants, can they atleast give us a denial letter. What reason did you give for expediting your case?

For the work permit expedite, our congressperson handled that, so I am not sure what she said in her request. I am guessing it was just the fact that we had applied for the SSN within a reasonable timeframe before the I94 expired and a mention of all of the difficulties we were encountering with my husband not having a number, and how a work permit would allow us a second attempt at receiving a number.  We just received notice that the work permit has now been printed, so we plan to take that directly to the SS office as soon as it arrives and hope they don't drag their feet in assigning a number this time around. 

43 minutes ago, AmirNL said:

I am wondering, is it optional or is it a must ? According to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/IranIslamicRepublicof.html
Does anyone have experience with it ? I am afraid if I do not provide it my case will be extended and delayed. 
Despite what official website says. It says literally: " Police records are not required for immigrant visa applicants". 
I just read on this forums that they ask for it when you are filling certain from and when you need to mail civil documents.

(Police Certificates
Available
Comments:  Available but unreliable.  Police records are not required for immigrant visa applicants because posts cannot verify them.  Clean record certificates can be obtained in Iran or from Iranian Embassies and Consulates, and the physical appearance of the certificate changes significantly depending on which authority issued it.

Court/Prison Records
Available
Comments: Available but unreliable. Court and prison documents are not required because posts cannot verify them. 

Thank you so much,
 

It is not required, the officers at the embassy know this about certificates from Iran and other countries where they are not attainable - my husband (from Iran) has never been asked to produce one throughout our process. He did have to produce one, however, from the country in Europe he lived in prior to coming to the US. 

On 3/5/2022 at 9:51 PM, highvoltage said:

Background of the topic,

My status is that i am a naturalized US citizen.

This is for my fiance who is here on a K1 visa. So we have applied for SSN about 5 weeks back. When called and asked about the status we are being told that the i94 check has not finished. When checked on the save USCIS case check it says its been returned to SSA. I am not sure who to trust now. I dont even know as to why they are taking such a long time. We have raised a congressional complaint as well.

We had the same issue as well. My husband applied in person for his SSN back in September, and his I 94 was good until December. We never heard anything from the SS office or anyone else even though the SAVE system had all boxes checked, stating all cases returned. Only a few weeks ago did we receive a vaguely worded letter from the SS office to basically come back later with a work permit and apply again.

In our situation, my husband can not get a drivers license, joint bank account, attend school, or even volunteer (due issues with background checking abilities), so he was feeling pretty stuck without a SSN, and everything not having a number bars you from doing.

A couple of weeks ago, we, too, reached out to a congressperson as well who put in a inquiry with USCIS for us and received the following response:

”In late 2021, USCIS decided that with their processing of cases, they were going to eliminate the step of people having to go to the SSA office to receive their cards and USCIS would work directly with SSA instead on the issuance. Obviously that’s not working.”

I’m not sure I totally understand why USCIS’s process change resulted in a rejection of my husband’s application, but our congressperson went on to file an expedite of our work permit application, which was actually approved the other day, so now we have that to submit to the SS office with our second attempt at receiving a number. 
 

I’m not sure if your wife intends to work and has also filed for a work permit, but if you can expedite the permit, that may be a work-around for you. 

1 hour ago, gelali said:

I've been waiting for my green card and my SSN, I called the SSN office to check the status of my application and they said I would have to wait until I get my green card then apply again because after the 90 days were over my SSN was still not processed so the system deleted my application automatically. Is there anyone with the same issue? 

We ran into that issue, too.  We applied for a SSN for my husband right when he arrived this past September and they were not able to assign him a number before his I94 expired this past December. We then received a letter from the SSN office saying he would now need to reapply when he's got a work permit to show them, which we aren't expecting to arrive until summer. Frustrating as we gave them three months to get a number assigned to him and records on the SAVE system indicate all info needed has been completed and returned.  I've got a congressman's office looking into it, but it's still likely we'll be stuck until the work permit comes through. Although it would be nice to know what the hold up has been. 

4 minutes ago, mahmoud qandil said:

so its ceac close and refused or you say its until administrative processing completed will show what happen  ???

CEAC changed the status of everyone who is currently in administrative processing to say "Refused" - that just means that they can't give you a visa until your administrative processing is completed. 

What it does not mean is that your case is closed and you will not be getting a visa.

Nothing else has changed in our cases and we will just continue waiting.  Once administrative processing is complete, the CEAC status will change again to reflect that. 

19 minutes ago, mahmoud qandil said:

so its for all and not refused cuz its crazy for me sir my mother and father have ap since 4 years imagine after all refused our ceac its crazy ???!!!!!

I spoke to any attorney and my embassy and they both said it is just an updated way of saying your case is refused until administrative processing is completed - if you check your online status, the statement should say the following: 

22 hours ago, JennaL said:

"If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing." 

It does not mean that your case was rejected and closed. 

There seems to have been a lot of this going on today - see below thread:

Also, it wouldn't hurt to send off an email to your embassy, just to double check. 

6 minutes ago, SahM said:

Hey did anyone under AP receive 'Refused' all of a sudden today but yesterday was showing 'AP'?? 

Yes - see below thread:

Mine as well. Apparently, the sentence to look at on your status is:  "If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing." 

Assuming this means these cases are still open and active, despite the misleading update.

The sentence to pay attention to in the US Dept. of State's notice is: "If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing." So nothing really changed as I assume we/our family members were already told this at the end of the original embassy interview. 

The same happened to our case today too, as well as the bulk of others waiting in AP, apparently. According to a post I just read from an immigration lawyer on Facebook, it is a new way of stating that cases under AP are considered refused until AP is over, hence the "Refused" status. I emailed my embassy just now to double check though. 

31 minutes ago, always1234 said:

Hello. We are CR1, interview was end of June 2019 in Frankfurt via direct consular filing, my wife's nationality is Iran and up until yesterday it showed administrative processing, today it shows "refused". She has never been to the US, no criminal past and she lives and works in Germany. Straight forward case.

We are very concerned. Has anyone had the same experience? Whats going to happen next?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thank you

My fiance is Iranian as well, but now a citizen of Norway.  We've been waiting in AP for 1.5 years and our case just updated today to "Refused" as well.

From what I have read so far online from others, is that this was either a glitch in the computer system, or just a change in the way they note that you are in AP (for example, your case was refused at the interview, but still under AP, and not closed or rejected, hence, the Refused status.) 

This seems to have happened to a big chunk of applicants today, so I am not going to worry about it, but just to be safe, I have sent an email to our embassy to double check. 

Just now, Boiler said:

Wow, most unusual for Norway.

Although a Norwegian citizen, he's originally from Iran. 

18 minutes ago, Mohamed mtoudy said:

hello,

8 months ago I passed the interview and since June 25 my status is in admin review, when I send mail they answer me and today I receive this message ...

Public Response:	Dear Applicant, Thank you for writing. We understand that you would like to know the visa status. We are escalating your case for final resolution and you will receive a follow-up email with further guidance. For more information, please visit our website: www.ustraveldocs.com Sincerely, U.S. Visa Service Desk

 

 

 

 

 

what can I expect?  knowing that I am a K1 visa and they returned my passport and updated my status many times.

 

My fiance and I have been in administrative processing for 1.5 years now and have never been offered an "escalation for final resolution." 

I would take some encouragement from that response, although you won't know where they are with their process until they actually update your status letting you know it's been approved.

Please post back when you finally receive the visa - there a many people stuck in the same position as you, and it always boosts moods to hear of another approval. 

56 minutes ago, RGR108 said:

Thanx for asking this!  I was going to ask about this section as well.  Does the native alphabet have to be in her hand writing, or can I find a Thai person living here to fill it out for me?  Otherwise it seems my only option is to mail it my fiancee in Thailand so she can fill it out then mail it back.

 

Thank you!

 

Anyone who can write it properly can fill it in, doesn’t have to be your fiancé. 

The bit about a translation certification refers to official documents you may include, not really the address in the native alphabet. 

In my K1, we just wrote in the address in my fiance's native alphabet where it asked - no trouble from USCIS. 

You should be fine.  I also printed out WhatsApp screen shots and they weren't the best resolution and I encountered no problems with USCIS. 

20 hours ago, Neemo said:

No im just talking abt the one who are in administrative processing 

I actually suggested the same idea in the sight suggestions thread, but didn't get much of a response. 

It sure would be a helpful feature for those of us who are stuck in extended AP to have in order to get a sense of how similar cases are progressing and moving.

Good luck on your case and I hope you see a resolution to your wait soon. 

22 hours ago, aminfromfrance said:

Hello,

My case has been under administrative processing for over 24 months and I would like to withdraw my case. How do I go about this process? Any advice?

Thank you.

My fiance is a Norwegian citizen, but born in Iran, so he was required to apply for a B visa to come to the US to visit me. Like you, he waited over two years for it to come through.

We inquired with the embassy every couple of months until it was issued.

Unless there is a reason where you know you will never again have any interest/need to travel to the US, I would recommend you keep waiting and checking in with the embassy frequently. 

I am sorry you are going through the frustration of not knowing what's going on - I can relate  

10 minutes ago, SamTheApplicant said:

Thanks for tagging me!

 

Hi,
I am a dual citizen (Iranian-Canadian) and my visa request was denied during the interview yesterday and now I have to deal with AP. I have never ever served in any kind of military nor touched a weapon in my entire life and I was exempted from the military service in Iran. Also I have been in the US for 23 times during the last few years without any problem and as a Persian-Jew, I'm pretty sure that I do not have any tie with the Iranian regime.
So it's not just about the Iranian men who served in military. It can happen (and is happening) to people like me as well.

It’s a frustrating situation, that’s for sure. My fiancé has a similar situation to yours. He’s Iranian-Norwegian, has been to the US successfully many times in the past as a visitor, and is Christian. 

We’ve been in extended AP for quite some time. 

I wish you you luck on the journey and hopefully an issued visa soon. 

11 minutes ago, Duke & Marie said:

16 months in AP seems a little excessive.. you could have processed CR1 in that time

Yep, we definitely could have. We had no way of knowing when we started the K1 process that the travel ban would come up in the future. Unfortunately if we had gone with the CR1, we would have still run into the AP problem we are experiencing now. Can’t change where you were born I guess 🙁

36 minutes ago, Duke & Marie said:

Actually, having dual nationality doesn’t mean you pick and choose nationality.. most people who have multi-nationality generally identify as one specially, country of birth... current residency and citizenship is used for travel Only.. 

 

Either way you need to disclose citizenship, so it dosent really make any difference which passport you use. 

 

I hold citizenship to 3 countries currently but I’m Australian and always will be and I highly suspect that means very little particularly when comparing it with someone who has citizenship of a Banned country. 

 

I dont expect to be held up in AP for holding multi-citizenship, and haven’t heard of anyone from my country being held up because of it (generally most Aussies have least dual citizenship automatically via commonwealth default)

 

i would suspect banned county citizen be vetted harder though. 

Right. I am just going by my own personal experience. My fiancé is originally from Iran, like the OP, but has been a Norwegian citizen for 15 years now and applied for his K1 visa using his Norwegian passport. You’re right, people with a connection to a banned country weather still living there or not, are vetted harder. We’ve been in AP for 16 months now because of this.