"Pick up your immigrant or fiancee visa on ..." Why do we have to wait?

[Susita 175]

DHL problems if the visa is to be shipped; etc. It's probably prudent to allow yourselves a couple of days' cushion, rather than planning to fly out immediately after the visa has been promised (unless your plane reservations are changeable with no or little penalty).

Yeah, DHL in our case was 5 days late we almost missed our flight. If it weren't for the nice people at the Lima embassy we would have! We called them and they got the package back from DHL and gave it to us at the embassy 5pm the evening before we had to leave at 5am. Be prepared for the unexpected LOL.

[conquest 0]

Has anyone ever heard of a case where the embassy has reversed its approval decision and not granted a visa even though the applicant was told to pick up the visa on a specific date? I know the embassy usually says not to make any travel plans until the visa is in your hand, but is there any reason at all that I should not expect the visa to be in my fiancee's hands on the date indicated on the card she was given? We would like to book tickets in advance for a number of reasons.

Yes my wifes visa had her name miss spelled. We had to send it back to Lima and then wait for a new one to be printed and and then sent back. Like Susita we almost missed our flight . I had purchased tickets our an extra 7 days out

[rsn 135]

Has anyone ever heard of a case where the embassy has reversed its approval decision and not granted a visa even though the applicant was told to pick up the visa on a specific date? I know the embassy usually says not to make any travel plans until the visa is in your hand, but is there any reason at all that I should not expect the visa to be in my fiancee's hands on the date indicated on the card she was given? We would like to book tickets in advance for a number of reasons.

Yes my wifes visa had her name miss spelled. We had to send it back to Lima and then wait for a new one to be printed and and then sent back. Like Susita we almost missed our flight . I had purchased tickets our an extra 7 days out

I didn't even think about that. I guess I'm going to go with my gut on this one and not purchase the tickets until the visa is in hand.

[ThaitoUSA 15]

Nern is going to purchase the ticket on Tuesday as well. She found a reasonable agent: I believe she said 32,000 Baht for one way Bangkok to Washington Dulles.

[rsn 135]

Nern is going to purchase the ticket on Tuesday as well. She found a reasonable agent: I believe she said 32,000 Baht for one way Bangkok to Washington Dulles.

Yep, my initial searches came up with prices no lower than that figure as well. Final destination will be Chicago O'Hare in our case.

Edited June 19, 2009 by rsn

[Zee Bee 61]

And a question less tied to curiosity and more related to reality:

Has anyone ever heard of a case where the embassy has reversed its approval decision and not granted a visa even though the applicant was told to pick up the visa on a specific date? I know the embassy usually says not to make any travel plans until the visa is in your hand, but is there any reason at all that I should not expect the visa to be in my fiancee's hands on the date indicated on the card she was given? We would like to book tickets in advance for a number of reasons.

Yes

I have seen it happen once at the Ghana consulate where the visa was revoked.

I have also seen at some other African consulates where the visa was not ready on the day they were told to pick it up and had to go back later.

[TBoneTX 44,674]

I have seen it happen once at the Ghana consulate where the visa was revoked.

Yo, Zee, si man! If you know any further details about this revocation, please consider supplying them as a matter of education and information.

[Zee Bee 61]

Here is the approved post: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...=141652&hl=

Here is the post where they cancelled the visa: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...143347&st=0

I'm still not clear what went on.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

In the case of the Bangkok embassy, they ask you to pick up the visa 3 business days after you are approved at the interview. Does anyone know the exact reason behind this wait? It seems like they could print it up in an hour.

Of course. If they were in a "profit" business, they would be able to do it in 2 minutes, but they are not, they do not care and THEY do not have to wait, you do. And what? You will take your visa business elsewhere? You wait for the petition, you wait for the visa and now you will wait for AOS (MUCH longer than 3 days) That is the EXACT reason, they do not do it same day, because they do not have to.

The US givernemnt does not make a profit at anythign they do and do not care. FedEx makes a profit delivering mail, the US government cannot.

[meauxna 15]

In the case of the Bangkok embassy, they ask you to pick up the visa 3 business days after you are approved at the interview. Does anyone know the exact reason behind this wait? It seems like they could print it up in an hour.

Of course. If they were in a "profit" business, they would be able to do it in 2 minutes, but they are not, they do not care and THEY do not have to wait, you do. And what? You will take your visa business elsewhere? You wait for the petition, you wait for the visa and now you will wait for AOS (MUCH longer than 3 days) That is the EXACT reason, they do not do it same day, because they do not have to.

The US givernemnt does not make a profit at anythign they do and do not care. FedEx makes a profit delivering mail, the US government cannot.

Or the answer could more correctly be: The reason for the delay is the final name checks posts run on applicants before releasing the visa.

You answer so authoritatively, I just wondered where you get the information that they could issue the visa in 2 minutes but 'they' don't because the government doesn't care about people?

I mean, it makes a nice rant, but it's not really fair if it is not true.