interview experience

[BMD TF 0]

hello guys,

Today i had my interview in the US Embassy in Tunisia (MENA) for CR1 visa.

I felt everything went fine, simple questions and i answered straight, the CO focus on 2 red flag we had, a marriage in the first and only trip my wife had to my country, and the mariage come after 2 months of divorce.

She asked me about the pictures, chat logs, letters, vonage (phone), she kept them ans she told me she need to take a look at them and they will call me.

i got only my passeport back, no 221g or confirmation and she didnt said administrative processing.

I wish i can hear from someone had the same experience.

Thanks for your comments back, i really need help bz i am so confused.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

It sounds like the CO just wants to take the time to go over all of your proof before making up his/her mind.

If it was me, I would email the consulate and ask if there is anything else they might need in order to complete the case and ask when you can expect a decision/visa issuance.

Have the USC do the emailing

Good Luck!

[prince+angel 3]

Hi! I agree with Lisa (above poster). Veryhappy you finally had the interview but am sorry to hear a decision wasnt made for you onthe spot. Despite the CO not giving the visa right away, they didnt turn you down either.

Probably just more research needed, definitely stay in contact with the embassy & have your wife send that email (embassy in Tunis is quick to respond). Good luck & let us know how things turn out!

[Enlighten one :) 5]

You are in AP. Admin processing. Very common in your country. They could be verifying documentation or a more extensive backround check.

You are looking at an average of 4-8 months. MIght only be a couple of weeks or could be over a year.

[Enlighten one :) 5]

Visit this thread under the AP forum used to track people's experience and length in AP.

AP Thread Click here

[BMD TF 0]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply, i am getting nuts (lol).

My wife send an email today to the us embassy to see the status of our case ans they told replied so fast telling her i am in administrative processing.

What should we do?

I need your advices.....

Stacy, say hello to Hassan, i wish everything is well for u guys.

[th3mo 6]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply, i am getting nuts (lol).

My wife send an email today to the us embassy to see the status of our case ans they told replied so fast telling her i am in administrative processing.

What should we do?

I need your advices.....

Stacy, say hello to Hassan, i wish everything is well for u guys.

you shouldn`t do anything but wait and every week e-mail the embassy to see whats the status of your case , sorry to hear that i know how it feels i been in your shoe Good Luck

[New Beginnings 32]

I agree, give it a week or maybe until Monday or Tuesday of next week and e-mail again. It's normal and you'll get through it!

[Y's_habibitk 2]

It sounds to me like the difference here is that the CO is doing the AP(and AP can mean a number of different things), not necessarily the black hole of name checks done in washington. Hopefully it wont take long. Do stay on top of them and email every week.

Good Luck

[Sandrila 1]

AP actually is quite common. We also had to endure it...some only a couple weeks while others up to a year.

Be patient, your time will come and prayers will be answered.

Welcome and Good Luck

[Bajih 4]

I have mixed feelings about emailing the embassy every week- perhaps someone can shed some light?

Does the "squeaky wheel" really get the grease here? Or does it just come down to waiting for them to call or put your "completed" status up on the website?

I do not want to keep bugging them each week if all they are going to say is that it is pending; on the other hand, if there is a chance that my app might go through quicker because of it, I want to do it.

?? What is the purpose of emailing each week? Won't they email/call when the time has come?

Thanks.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

I have mixed feelings about emailing the embassy every week- perhaps someone can shed some light?

Does the "squeaky wheel" really get the grease here? Or does it just come down to waiting for them to call or put your "completed" status up on the website?

I do not want to keep bugging them each week if all they are going to say is that it is pending; on the other hand, if there is a chance that my app might go through quicker because of it, I want to do it.

?? What is the purpose of emailing each week? Won't they email/call when the time has come?

Thanks.

I think they are irritated by squeaky wheels... and if people get aggressive or overly impatient, or prematurely (whatever that is) impatient it could create a new red flag, or maybe a little intentional slow down to show "who's the boss"...

There's a difference between being assertive, while being consistently polite, business-like, and cooperative, by making offers of any thing they might still need, etc. etc. and being a squeaky wheel...

I contacted them every time I didn't understand something asking for clarification.. and then when they claimed they had everything they needed, I contacted them about once every week or two to ask for a "status update". I always copied them with their last email indicating that everything was "done"... and it paid off. I think it's not safe to assume as written above that everything will happen as it's supposed to in due time..

This is a HUGE bureaucratic complex you're dealing with.. One that has few if any checks and balances or expectations of customer service. Accountable to ???? basically no one... So cases falling through the cracks is probably very common. There's no way to know whether contacting them consistenly makes the process faster, or whether it just makes it keep moving as it should... Either way, what's the harm?

I also believe that it is BEST if 99% of the contact is from the USC. I have noticed that most government workers feel at least 10% more responsible to treat the USC with some level of courtesy than they do to non USC's.

Again, the key is polite, firm, assertiveness. Not squeaking wheels or aggressive impatience.... I notice that I get suspicious and frustrated when I read repetitive aggressive and impatient posts on VJ from the non-USC, so I can only imagine how the Embassy staff must feel...

Bottom line, enough contact to keep the train on the tracks, but not so much (or so aggressive) that they decide to let it derail... and say "oops"... I think in our case that persistence paid off in the form of them not being able to be mad at me, but getting a little weary of my consistently POSITIVE AND COMPLIMENTARY emails just asking oh so politely for an update on the status...

[Bajih 4]

Thanks for the input! I did not mean for "squeaky wheel" to have a negative connotation!! I have contacted the embassy via email before and the DOS and talked to a live person. Both times I was extremely polite and almost apologetic- and all I got were standard answers..so I just questioned doing this time and time again. We are obviously in the computer; we are obviously in AP; it is just a matter of waiting.

I guess one downside I see to calling or emailing is that they get so many of these inquiries each day, no wonder it takes so long for things to go through! Wonder if they hire someone just to do inquiries..

That said, I will definately make it my job to email and/or call DOS each week to check on the status now that our 120 days is coming up in AP.

I just do not want to do ANYTHING that will hurt our chances of this going through..as quickly as possible.

Thanks again.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Thanks for the input! I did not mean for "squeaky wheel" to have a negative connotation!! I have contacted the embassy via email before and the DOS and talked to a live person. Both times I was extremely polite and almost apologetic- and all I got were standard answers..so I just questioned doing this time and time again. We are obviously in the computer; we are obviously in AP; it is just a matter of waiting.

I guess one downside I see to calling or emailing is that they get so many of these inquiries each day, no wonder it takes so long for things to go through! Wonder if they hire someone just to do inquiries..

That said, I will definately make it my job to email and/or call DOS each week to check on the status now that our 120 days is coming up in AP.

I just do not want to do ANYTHING that will hurt our chances of this going through..as quickly as possible.

Thanks again.

I can't say what other Embassy's do, but Cairo does have people who seem to do nothing but answer email.. And they are Egyptians.... not Americans (so it costs the Embassy small change to hire them).

I forgot to mention that I am nearly certain that it helped when I mentioned in one of my emails that it was only about a month until Ramdan began and that it was very difficult for me to plan a wedding in the USA when I hadn't a clue if he would be arriving BEFORE Ramadan, DURING Ramadan, or AFTER Ramadan... It was not long after that email that they wrote to me and told me they were "bringing our file to the IO's attention for final processing"... and he got the Visa before Ramadan

(but he stayed for Ramadan with his family anyway...).

When we were having problems here with the AOS process I decided to call my Congressman's office. My husband FREAKED OUT, he was CERTAIN that complaining about their slow processing would make the USCIS angry with us and it would SLOW DOWN the processing... BOY was HE WRONG! I actually told my Congressman's Assistant of my husband's fears and he decided to give it an EXTRA effort just to show him that he wasn't in Egypt any more and that asking your Congressman for assistance wouldn't penalize us. If it wasn't for his help, we'd probably still be waiting for the green card! He really helped us A LOT! And my husband was totally impressed... especially over the fact that I didn't have to GIVE him anything to help us, or FOR helping us.... No Baksheesh expected, or required...

Best of luck to you and your SO....

[BMD TF 0]

Alhamdulilah, thank you so much guys for your support.

the US EMB emailed us last tuesday and asked me to bring again my passport bz my AP are done in one week. (alhamdulilah 1000 times).

Today i pick up my passport with my CR1 VISA stamp on it, Alhamdulilah.

I wish happy ramadhan for all of you.

Hassun, thanks for you call, after talk to u i felt better, say hello to Stacy from me and tell her Maria will contact u asap.

Bilel & Maria

Edited August 17, 2009 by BMD TF