Administrative Processing

[LynnandAhmed 0]

In case anyone needs some reading material, I found this........

Maybe it will be helpful to someone......

First of all, Name Check is done by FBI and not by State Department. State Department actually sends the request for Name Check on the applicant to FBI like USCIS does.

Secondly, clearance on Name Check doesn’t take upto 18 months as you were told, actually it could take upto 36 months. Just for your information, there are many applicants who have been waiting more than 36 months to get clearance on their name checks.

Thirdly, though K-1 visa (fiancé visa) is technically a Nonimmigrant visa, yet still its main purpose is solely for immigrant intent. So, you cannot say that it is just a nonimmigrant visa.

Fourth, after the incident of 9/11/01, each applicant MUST need to go thru Name Check Clearance with FBI which is aside from criminal background check with FBI, whether they file for nonimmigrant visa, immigrant visa (green card) or citizenship.

Fifth, you will be spending your time/money/effort for nothing if you would try to sue State Department (US Embassy) or USCIS under 120 days rule. Because, federal court will throw away your case (dismissed), especially when they are throwing this kind of lawsuits these days by saying that govt. needs to complete all the processing before they would be able to make a decision on a case. You can check thousands of latest cases on this. So, suing the govt. under 120 days rule would be a stupid idea as these agencies might then retract negatively against your husband’s application by finding even a little ground to deny him. It happened to many people.

Sixth, since your fiancé has a Muslim name, then it is possible that FBI system has hitched his name with someone else on their list of “person of interest”; otherwise 85% name check requests clear within 72 hours. Now, FBI needs to physically check his name with their manual record to rule him out from their suspicion/hitch up. And this may take a long time; particularly when they have only few officers to do so for EVERYONE (out or inside the USA).

Seventh, no congressperson can EVER help you when it comes to FBI. They might promise you to do this and that, but the result would be the same in the end-Dead zone with FBI on their requests. You can try, but I can bet you on this. If you email to FBI, then they will respond to you after 6 months later. But if you write to them thru certified mail, then they will answer to you within 4 weeks. But in either case, they would say only one thing that the Name Check is pending. That is. I can give you the name/address/email address/telephone number/home address of FBI officer, who is in-charge of this Name Check Clearance, but what is the use when you won’t hear any positive reply anyway.

[LynnandAhmed 0]

Some more info:

"These additional measures that some individuals are subjected to and that are leading to unexpected delays involve three kinds of security checks affecting both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa processing. If the application is flagged as a possible security concern when a consulate receives a visa application, a request is sent to the Department of State (DOS) for security clearances.

The first possible check is the CONDOR clearance. It is difficult to anticipate whether or not an individual will be subject to this security clearance since the criteria is classified. However, some of the factors that may result in a name being cross referenced through CONDOR include:

- Information disclosed on the visa application Form DS-157. Responses to questions regarding travel to predominantly Muslim countries in the last 10 years, prior employment, military service for certain nationals, and specialized skills or training.

- Country of Birth, Citizenship, or Residence.

Individuals born in one of the seven countries currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria.

- Individuals born in one of the “List of 26” countries which the USCIS has not publicized but includes Arab and Muslim countries including: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, and Kuwait among others.

DOS reports indicate that approximately 80% of CONDOR clearances are completed within 30 days. If a CONDOR check has been pending for over 90 days, inquiries to the DOS are recommended.

The second possible check is the MANTIS clearance. This is a “sensitive technology” alert based on whether an applicant is involved in any of the 15 categories found on the Critical Fields List (CFL) of DOS’ Technology Alert List (TAL). The TAL includes an expanded list of technologies with potential “dual-use” applications. Some of these technologies appear benign but are deemed to have potential military applications.

The list is very comprehensive and includes almost every possible associated technology or skill involving chemistry, biochemistry, immunology, chemical engineering, civil engineering and pharmacology to name a few. Having such a broad all-inclusive list means that most research scientists, physicians, academics and engineers involved in any of these fields could be subject to the MANTIS clearance. So it is very possible to run across a consular officer who will decide to err on the side of caution and obtain a MANTIS clearance prior to issuing a visa. Based on current DOS guidelines, generally, a MANTIS clearance is not warranted if the technology falls within the public domain where it is widely available to the public, or if it involves information that would generally be taught in an academic course. In addition, recently there have been reports of a substantial increase in the number of MANTIS “hits,” particularly for nationals from Russia, China and Hong Kong.

DOS reports indicate that approximately 80% of MANTIS clearances are completed within 30 days. If a MANTIS clearance has been pending for over 90 days, inquiries to the DOS are recommended.

The third possible check involves then NCIC Criminal clearance. Unfortunately, for those with common names (Gonza***, Mohammad, Smith, etc.) false hits are occurring with increased regularity. An NCIC clearance can take four to six weeks to process. Approximately seven million names have been dumped into the system, and about half of them are Latino, resulting in a large number of false hits and delays for persons with common Latino names. If you have a common name, Third Country National processing in Mexico may be advisable at posts that have implemented a pilot fingerprint program. This pilot program allows posts to process clearances on “false” hits the same day, and clearances for positive hits in as little as two days.

Even if you have maintained a spotless immigration record and have never had more than a traffic violation, false hits are the biggest headache for unsuspecting visa applicants. Individuals with common Muslim or Latino names are almost guaranteed hits in CONDOR or NCIC."

[LynnandAhmed 0]

The US Embassy didn't provide me with a timeline for the security clearance. However, the DOS visa specialist I spoke to earlier today told me that it could take 2-6 weeks for a successful clearance - and added everybody goes through this.

If the 6th week mark has passed, and still no results of the name-check, it could take upto 6 months for security clearance. This is usually due to a "Hit" being found on the FBI's NCIC database, which leads to further investigations being made between other government agencies (DHS, CIA, DEA etc).

If there is no "Hit", then the results of the name-check should come back to the embassy pretty fast (within the 2-6 weeks time-frame). Unfortunately, there might be other checks that remain classified from the embassies, let alone the visa applicants which could delay the process all together.

[sarwat 0]

hii

i am going thru same situation..you mentioned something about the registered mail to fbi...and you may have the contacting or name of the person performing checks ..may i that address from you and see what luck i have with it..

i would highly appreciate it

thankss!!

---sarwat