WonTanNara

hi,

i have filed for my i 130 petition and i 129 petition at california service center in july 2008.

iam waiting for my NOA2 for both petiitons.

then i will apply for the k3 visa at avancouver OR

IR1 visa at montreal consulate.

whichever gets approved first.

1) I want to know if they do administrative processing if i take the k3 route ( because then it will take the same time as IR1 VISA, and it is better to follow IR1 route as both will take the same time) as it is still a non immigrant visa and i have yet to file my adjustment of status

2) when we go to the consulate for the IR1 VISA OR K3 VISA. do the embassy initiate the administrative processing / fbi name check after the interview. OR will those be going on at the uscis and for the time being the uscis has forwarded the petition to the consulate until they get the clearances.

IAM ASKING THIS BECAUSE I AHEV A VERY COMMON LAST NAME AS MIDDLE EASTERN PEOPLE AND DEFINITELY MY NAME WILL HAVE A FALSE HIT.

any suggestions and info. will be greatly helpful to me and appreciated.

thank you.

rahi.

There are several reasons a case could go into AP but I can only speak to one. My fiance has been in AP for security clearance since April 29th. I inquired about getting him a visitor visa and they informed me that the security requirements and processes are the same regardless of the type of visa a person is applying for. I know of both students and artists who have had to wait months for security clearance as well. So, to answer your first question I believe that if you do have to undergo AP for security clearance then it will happen regardless of what visa you apply for.

To answer your second question, in my experience, our case moved very quickly through USCIS and the NVC. Our AP was initiated after the interview at the embassy. The processes may be different between K3/IR1 and K1 though, I am not sure of that.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for doing this. I also think it would be a good idea to include the reason for AP.

Our names: Jen & Ibrahima

Visa: K1

His country: Guinea

Embassy: Dakar, Senegal

Date of AP: 4/29/08

Reason for AP: security clearance

Still waiting...

Have you tried calling the DOS and asking them about how much time it might take? Sometimes they can give you a ball park figure of how long it might take by the type of security check they are doing on him. It's been posted on here before how long each security takes about. I don't know where it was posted though. From what i remember each one lasted about 3-4 months. Donkey and Mantis checks and I forget the other ones. I hope he gets his visa soon. Good luck.

Thank you. I've tried asking at the DOS which checks need to be done but when I ask that question they said "It's national security and we can't say." After my Senator did an inquiry I got a lovely form letter that said, "Rest assured your case is in the hands of the appropriate government agencies." Yeah, I'm assured alright. I'm so frustrated but on the other hand my fiance and I laugh about it (trying to be positive). The day after the interview we went back to the embassy to try and get more answers about what this AP meant, and the man we spoke to said, "I can't give you too much information about our processes but I can tell you that your fiance has a very common name." I said, "Oh, ok, so they need to do a background check." He sort of halfway nodded his head almost like "I'd love to help you, and I can't really say, but yeah." In the taxi on the way back to our apartment my fiance looked at me and in his adorable accented English said, "They think I am terrorist? That is funny." He took it well.

I have a great liason at my Senator's office and I'm going to see if she can find out which security checks are being done. Inshallah... hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Indianheart, I too feel your pain. My fiance has been on AP for security clearance for 16 weeks. I too got slammed by this. I was in Dakar for his interview, we had so much proof, and I felt like, "If they see us together there's no way they could think this relationship isn't real." I was right, they approved us on the spot, but then called us back inside to give us the bad news. It was a complete shock for both of us. I can't sleep, I don't have any energy, and I can't concentrate at work. My fiance is stuck in Dakar waiting and waiting with nothing to do all day. He's an artist, a drummer from Guinea, and there isn't any of that work in Senegal so he's bored out of his mind. He can't go back home for a few different reasons and it's all just wearing on both of us.

I just called the DOS. I asked it if was possible for her to tell me when the last update to our case was and she said, "I'm so sorry but they came in about 3 or 4 weeks ago and changed the system so we can't see anything other than the fact that it's in administrative processing. I'm very sorry. Keep checking back with us, ok?" She even tried a couple of different things for me and said she couldn't see anything anymore. It was at least nice to talk to a kind person who seemed to care. Most of the time they are somewhat rude.

I see you mentioned something about taking meds, I assume antidepressants... A few years ago my doc put me on Lexapro for a circumstantial depression and #1 it didn't help and #2 I lost a TON of hair which of course was more depressing. I took up yoga instead and it helped me more than any pill ever could. That would be a nice link into your husband's culture.

As crazy as it might sound I think there is a reason for everything that happens. Hang in there and before we know it we'll be getting that call. I wish you (and everyone else feeling the same pain) the best.

Om Namah Shiva.

Namaste.

Hello,

Yes, I am many others here are in the same situation. I completely understand your pain and confusion and I pray that AP is done quick for you. Please find articles here about AP. I wish they will help.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=118888&hl=

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=142337&hl=

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=143437&hl=

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=143989&hl=

Finally, here is an article that gives you a good idea about the time frame.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry2049227

Hi Tammy,

Thanks for your response. I've read all of the above articles searching and searching for information on this <insert bad words here> security clearance AP and it seems that all I could find is folks getting put into AP for document verification. I'm sorry to hear about the news today and I wish you the very best for next week. I know there are so many people out there that have been waiting much longer that us but... I've never been one to take joy or comfort in another person's pain. Nonetheless I tell myself every day that things could be a lot worse!

God brought us together, hopefully he'll let us and everybody else in the same situation be together again soon.

Inshallah.

Hi everyone,

My fiance had his interview in Dakar on April 29th and was put on AP. We were actually handed a receipt to come take the visa the following week. As we were getting into a taxi the guard called us back and the officer told us that additional processing was required. I have since determined, through my Senator's office, that (looking on the bright side) our relationship has been verified and all of our documents are in order, but that he is on AP for mandatory security clearance procedures. I realize that this is somewhat of a black hole with a lot of possibilities, but I'm looking for people in the same situation to get some sort of idea of how long it's taking. We know of one other Guinean who interviewed in December for an artist visa, was put on AP for security clearance, and had his visa by March. Anyone else from any other consular posts in the same situation?

My heart goes out to those that have been waiting a lot longer than we have...

Won tan nara (it's Susu for "We go together.")

Hi everyone,

My fiance had his interview in Dakar on April 29th and was put on AP. I have since determined, through my Senator's office, that (looking on the bright side) our relationship has been verified and all other paperwork is in order and that he is on AP for mandatory security clearance procedures. I realize that this is somewhat of a black hole with a lot of possibilities, but I'm looking for people in the same situation to get some sort of idea of how long it's taking. We know of one other Guinean who interviewed in December for an artist visa, was put on AP for security clearance, and had his visa by March. Anyone else?

My heart goes out to those that have been waiting a lot longer than we have...

Won tan nara is Susu for "We go together."

We are also in AP. My fiance is in Turkey. Check out the Visa waivers and AP section of this forum and you'll get a lot more responses there.

I feel your pain

Hi there, thanks for the response and the suggestion. I'll try the other forum. I wish you the best and a speedy approval!

Hi everyone,

My fiance had his interview in Dakar on April 29th and was put on AP. I have since determined, through my Senator's office, that (looking on the bright side) our relationship has been verified and all other paperwork is in order and that he is on AP for mandatory security clearance procedures. I realize that this is somewhat of a black hole with a lot of possibilities, but I'm looking for people in the same situation to get some sort of idea of how long it's taking. We know of one other Guinean who interviewed in December for an artist visa, was put on AP for security clearance, and had his visa by March. Anyone else?

My heart goes out to those that have been waiting a lot longer than we have...

Won tan nara is Susu for "We go together."

Hi, my fiance is from Guinea. We had our interview in Dakar on 4/29 and have been in AP for almost 7 weeks.

Have either of you gotten your security clearance yet?

My fiance interviewed in Dakar on April 29th. At the end of the interview the officer said "we are happy to issue your visa today," took his passport, and handed us a receipt to come pick it up the following week. As we were getting into a taxi the guard called us back into the embassy. The officer said I'm very sorry, I tried to put this through and it came back and said it needs additional processing. She said typically this takes months so you should just go about your lives.

Go about our lives? I couldn't believe it. She could not tell me what "additional processing" meant. The next day I went back and politely and insistantly asked for some more detail. We talked to a different man that said "I can't give you a lot of information about our process but I can tell you your fiance has a very common name." I said so you need to do a background check? He shook his head yes.

The embassy said if you have not heard from us in 60 days then send us an email. It's been 4 weeks. I know of two other people this has happened to. One of them was in 2006 and after the interview it took six months for his clearance to come through. The other was just this past December and it took three months for his clearance.

I'm wondering if anyboby else has had this experience recently? If you have hopefully you didn't make it out to a taxi. That was heartbreaking...