Called DOS today

[chaingang 7]

The cases take long time when the embassies don't work on them promptly and they are left to EXPIRE. That is deadly, as it can add over 8 more months to the case. This happened to my husband.

Embassies of richer, non-muslim or non muslim-majority countries, even ones that are slightly better financially but of the same region, like Lebanon, get their checks done fast.

It seems ones again, the rich get richer...poor get poorer. People with short AP's get it REALLY short, people who get it long get it excrutiatingly long.

For the statement of the Islamabad upon AP issuance:

Administrative Processing is a standard procedure required by law for visa applications. (standard - means they are not picking on you, or holding prejudice/bias, this is standard for every male of those regions by law and now increasingly more women) It is a normal process and it does not mean anything is wrong with your case. (yes basically what i said - you are not to worry that its ONLY you, its for everyone...thought i find that hard to believe as I see people from same coutries get out at 3 months then some at 13...its not conistent because theyre ARE differences among cases) The processing is not completed here at the U.S. Embassy and we have no control over the processing time, nor any influence on the processing. ( the secirty checks are done at DOS and there isnt much the embassy can do so if you go there begging for hep you get none unless DOS states to submit passport or that AP is done) Some cases take longer to process than others; this does not necessarily mean anything is wrong with your case. ( well thats freakin great cause it sure makes you feel like you fund to all the terrorists when they take so long) Once the administrative processing has been completed, we will continue with your visa application. ( they are really good about this step, they indeed immediately call or set appointment once AP is done) We will contact you to let you know when your case is complete, and will ask you to return your passport if we have not retained it. (yes this is very true, they call almost immediately) Once we have printed your visa, we will return your passport along with the visa packet via our approved courier. (for other embassies, they stamp the visa and ask the applicant to come pick it up, but for islamabad, and other countries, this is the case) If it has been more than 10 months since your interview, please e-mail Pakivquery@state.gov with the date of your interview and case number. (here its showing anything less than 10 months is rare...most do go over this time in islamabad, especially now, and they dont make a promise to do anything after you e-mail so this is useless at the most) However, please note that routine administrative processing questions for cases less than 10 months will not be answered. ( there is nothing to say before 10 months, it is just in AP, after 10 months it is normal to start getting restless so people are allowed to e-mail after this time frame - whether they get an answer or not is a different story.)

I am feeling sick of all these ups and downs. I want this to be over for all of us. That's purely and fully from my heart.

tammy sister you are right , by the way there is no law for poor , its well known saying might is right ,

if u have American passport you can go any where u want , there will no be administrative processing for you , no body will check you , what kind of record u have /had in united states but if u have blue passport your are jannteeeee , belong to heaven , but if u belong to 3rd world then you are doskhaiii , belong to hell . no one is going to forgive u ,

insane law to be honest

[Alijan 0]

hi

again i called the DOS yesterday i talked to this lady and she asked me has the embassy contacted you about some reason. she didnt know, i said yes then she said when? i replied on 6th of october the embassy called me and asked me about my travels in the past which i never traveled to any other country except afghanistan and pakistan. she was like i dont know and said its noted here that they are trying to contact you after october 10th for some reason she didnt know.but still pending under administrave processing.

im just confused whats going on and i haven't gotten any other call after october 10th

[Nita&Assaad 0]

humm that is so weird!! I would try to send an email to the Embassy and find out more information...

Good Luck

Nita

hi

again i called the DOS yesterday i talked to this lady and she asked me has the embassy contacted you about some reason. she didnt know, i said yes then she said when? i replied on 6th of october the embassy called me and asked me about my travels in the past which i never traveled to any other country except afghanistan and pakistan. she was like i dont know and said its noted here that they are trying to contact you after october 10th for some reason she didnt know.but still pending under administrave processing.

im just confused whats going on and i haven't gotten any other call after october 10th

[tammy2688 1]

hi

again i called the DOS yesterday i talked to this lady and she asked me has the embassy contacted you about some reason. she didnt know, i said yes then she said when? i replied on 6th of october the embassy called me and asked me about my travels in the past which i never traveled to any other country except afghanistan and pakistan. she was like i dont know and said its noted here that they are trying to contact you after october 10th for some reason she didnt know.but still pending under administrave processing.

im just confused whats going on and i haven't gotten any other call after october 10th

See the thing is, you aren't SUPPOSED to know they were trying to contact you in October 10. Do you see? So if they were going to do it, you would get the call. I know it feels good to call DOS but they won't do anything unless the embassy issues some order. I believe they may have been trying to get an appointment with you for the 10th but they may have either solved the issue or need more time. This happened with my husband where he was called in to submit his passport in Jan 2007 because AP was done and a few months later, told he was back in AP. The embassy decides to do certain things, but then decides something else later. Maybe your checks were done in Oct 10 but you need more checks. You should not worry though, as soon as your AP and checking of travel history is done, they WILL call you and reach you to let you know about the visa.

Chaingang - yes you are right about people with american passports having it easy. I breezed through the embassies and it was painless but I can imagine how they would treat me if I had a pakistani or bangladeshi passport.

Hang in there you guys, if people can come out of Iran embassy i under 8 months this should have been easier for us but...that's life. If you are completely honest in your cases, you will get the visas.

God bless,

Tam

[Nita&Assaad 0]

GOD be with ALL of you!!!

Hugs

Nita

[Robina 0]

it's crazy. Even after the 10 months they don't do anything for you. They now refuse to even respond to emails that my fiance and I send to pakivquery. They say they have no responsability to respond to us at all and it's been over a year now on ap.

Usually a check that is done, among the multiple checks, they even call an embassy appintment to say they will extend AP as an "update" ya don't even get me started with that!

They call one part of a check being done an update, if they view your file at the embassy, they call it an update, if the embassy answers an inquiry they call it an update. Best updates are "the set of security checks are done" or better yet, "AP completed" update. Finally the best update, which no one calls to hear because the applicant knows first is "visa issued."

They usually take about 2 months to do one task for certain countries, and because you AP is merely 2 months long, it is normal for you not to have too many updates. At about 4 months they get 2 things done, look at it that way. 6 months, 3 things - so its 1 activity/2 months. Generally if after the checks are completed and they DO NOT EXPIRE, the visa is issued by the 5th-6th month.

-Tam

thanks tammy, this was very helpful! apparently last update to my case was sept 2, when told by DOS..

tammy nice explantion but still i am confused then why one case take years and one case is finished with in months

see what us embassy islamabad pakistan says about this

1. I appeared at the U.S Embassy for my interview. I was told that administrative processing is required for my case. What does this mean?

Administrative Processing is a standard procedure required by law for visa applications. It is a normal process and it does not mean anything is wrong with your case. The processing is not completed here at the U.S. Embassy and we have no control over the processing time, nor any influence on the processing. Some cases take longer to process than others; this does not necessarily mean anything is wrong with your case. Once the administrative processing has been completed, we will continue with your visa application. We will contact you to let you know when your case is complete, and will ask you to return your passport if we have not retained it. Once we have printed your visa, we will return your passport along with the visa packet via our approved courier. If it has been more than 10 months since your interview, please e-mail Pakivquery@state.gov with the date of your interview and case number. However, please note that routine administrative processing questions for cases less than 10 months will not be answered.

[tammy2688 1]

Work at the Pakistani embassy has been halted several times due to domestic problems and homeland terrorism and globally pakistan is not is a good position right now. They may use all of these excuses and more to make the applicants from Pakistan suffer the longest AP's, going from 12-24 months. Iran is at about 12-14 month average right about now. It is truly a bad time for immigration from these South Asian countries. I can assure one thing though -the embassy does read the e-mails. They may not reply but they read them - why do I say this? It's because when I recieved the only real e-mail from the embassy, where they said they would be issuing my husband the visa, they replied to an angry e-mail I had written in between this time, so they read them and each and every one of them, but they don't reply unless they have something tangible to report, like say - a visa. So please do not fret over your e-mails being lost or forgotten, the AP checks are going on, definately, and they will be cleared soon. I too felt very bad after 1 year had passed, but Allah is here, and Allah/God knows best when the right time for each individual is. Keep e-mailing and inquiring the embassy, if it even makes them touch your case then it may make them call you faster to issue the visa.

God bless,

Tam