Using CEAC this is what you will see just after the interview:
When the Embassy is ready to issue a visa, it will change to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application"; at that time, you will know that you are a few days away from getting the visa. It will go from "Immigrant Visa Application" to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application" status and then your visa changes to "Ready" ==> "Administrative Processing" ==>> "Issued" status as well. These steps sometimes transpire over a day or even a few days. Some smaller Embassy's it happens within hours.
Sometimes, it might skip "Administrative Processing" and go from "Ready" to "Issued".
I have been following this forum for a couple of months and it has been very helpful. Wanted to share my journey as well so that it can help ppl around as well and we can document DS 5535 supplement questions cases (Pakistan)
My husband applied for a CR1 visa for me and I had my interview on August 28, 2019. My interview went pretty decently (I had assumed it had gone pretty good actually), the consular asked me basic questions and I was prepared with all the evidence, tax transcripts and basically anything and everything that they could possibly ask me.
One question that the consular asked me was where have you traveled (I had travelled quite a bit due to my work and because i like to travel) so I told him my countries. He wrote all my answers on his computer- that was the only thing personal that he asked about me while everything else was related to what my husband did, his finances and our marriage (even marriage questions weren’t a lot because I had some a lot of evidence of our calls, photos and vacation).
Anyway I was told my visa was approved and to expect my passport in “one to two weeks.” However, ten days later (6th September) I was emailed a 221g asking me to send information of my travels, social media, my siblings names etc i.e. the supplemental questionnaire email.
We didn’t expect this and so cautiously filled the form and asked a lawyer to look at it on our behalf and see if we had filled it properly - we then sent it on 16th September. During this time my case on the ceac website kept on updating - 28th August (Ready to AP), 30th August (AP- case updated), 6th Sept (we got the email and case date updated as well), 13th Sept (AP case updated), 16th Sept (we replied to their email and case updated the same day). After our reply the case updated on following dates:
20th Sept
25th Sept
27th Sept - we emailed to check if they had gotten our response and they replied back to us that they did - so case updated because somebody must have checked our case before emailing us back.
2nd October
3rd October
7th October
18th October - we emailed the embassy asking if there was an update but we only got a formal reply of being in AP
25th October - this is where we got the small change or “mailed/ available” to “mailed or available”. For me this change gave me some hope since I had read some encouraging stories - my husband on the other hand laughed at this and he said I was overthinking. I like to think this was my silver lining. Lol
28th October- AP
5th November Issued
6th November issued (And then my CGI portal started updating and I could track my visa).
i hope this posts helps. I think on CR1, girls do have it easy - I read another couple of girls in Pakistan who almost had the same timeline as I did. From 28th August to 5th November - I was in AP and DS5535 questionnaire for some 68 days. Lesser if I count the time from when I submitted the form (sept 16th).
Total updates on case when I had not sent an inquiry were 11 if I don’t count my interview day.
I feel and this could very well be an assumption on my part but successful candidates are usually told “they would get visa in one week” - some case (including my own) - we were told “one to two weeks” and maybe this is one sign where they keep us in AP. The only other one is of travelling. I had gone to Turkey thrice, Dubai (these countries could be a reason), otherwise all other countries were in Europe of places like Thailand or Srilanka. Again I can’t be sure if this was because of travelling. I am not much of a social media person- so I doubt anything could be a trigger there.
This is just loud thinking on my part. Best of luck to everyone here waiting!
Most of them just have no updates to share. They pop in every once in a while but don't post because there is no news. The ones who are new to AP post the most. After a while even being on this site is difficult. I am on the site way more than I actually post or read anymore. Its just too difficult.
Here are the steps for US Embassy Islamabad from our personal experience and a few other VJ members from PAK.
If you have the ISL number then you could fill out the DS-160 online.
Once DS-160 is filled out and the CEAC website shows your file delivered at the embassy with status "READY" then create the profile on www.ustraveldocs.com and schedule an appointment.
I recommend scheduling it more than 5/6 weeks ahead so you have enough time to get the medical done.
There is a list of the apporved clinics on the embassy website where you could go for the medical.
In 3/4 weeks you will also get an email from the Embassy to do the above steps. We didn't wait for the email and follow the above steps.
If you do K1 visa Islamabad search, you will find multiple posts with similar steps. Good Luck.
I've asked the mods to move this to your country specific forum to get a specific answer for Pakistan. But in general, they won't let the petitioner into embassies. Some do, and some don't but in most cases, they don't. The petition can come to the embassy and stay outside and you can bring their passport in to show them "hey, the USC is here and waiting for me" but they won't be let in.