Administrative Processing 221 g

[mikelid 0]

HI,

I entered the U.S last year on a H2B working visa, i was working for a football coaching company. my plans were to change to an f1 visa in order to further my education due to the fact that the job i was doing wasnt a career type of job. i already have a bachelors degree and only wanted to take some pre requisite courses in america to allow me to go to medical school at home in England.i realised that when in medical school i wouldnt have time to travel and i found a college i loved that was fairly cheap. anyway, i filed an I-539 to change from H2B to F1 status. after 8 long months it was finally approved on february 11th 2010. it had been a year since i had been at home and i missed my family terribly and i got the horrible news that my grandad had been taken into hospital. so after this approval i thought i can go home to visit fully knowing that i would have to apply for an f1 visa to come back. i was very confident about going to the embassy thinking iv been approved from within the US by USCIS, so iv had name checks and everything done. i thought i would go into the embassy they would see my approval letter and already stamped and approved i-20 and i would get the visa. however the consular officer in london somehow wasnt convinced by my story she couldnt see the reason i wanted to study at a college when i already have a degree, and decided to send it into administrative processing 221g. i have no idea why. but im halfway through my spring semester, my teachers are expecting me back by the 22nd march and apparently it can take up to 90 days to process.can anyone shed any light on this?? i just dont understand why after i have already been granted f1 status by USCIS and have recently undergone 8 months of name checks. plus all my documents are approved.and if anybody could estimate a possible guess at when i could be approved??

[DaniG 3]

I'm sorry for what you're going through, mikelid. I adjusted to F-1 in the US two years ago and I haven't visited my family since then because I was afraid something like that would happen to me too. I've heard that embassies don't like it when you adjust status without going through them.

I am not familiar with 221g but here is what I found online: http://www.***removed***/visas/221grefusal/

It talks about the different kinds of 221g's.

You might want to call the embassy/consulate and ask them if providing further evidence of your intention to adhere to your non-immigrant student status in the US would help your case. Maybe you could get letters from your US professors stating that you have attended classes regularly and are doing well in school, and mentioning that you must return asap to finish your courses.

Best of luck!

[DaniG 3]

See this too: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006050325183

[mikelid 0]

See this too: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006050325183

thanks DaniG,

it just doesnt make any sense to me why they would do this. and obviously im guessing that all the embassy will do is send my documents back to USCIS. and the USCIS are the ones who approved me, it just all seems a bit pointless. you would think they would be a bit compassionate for things like this. i actually showed the consular officer a letter from the international office of my school stating my purpose for returning home and that my teachers expected me back on the 22nd but the consular officer wasnt having any of it. also all my original evidence for my case belongs to USCIS as i filed it with the I539. i have copies of everything.but she asked for my financial evidence and i showed it to her and she asked no more questions about it. so im guessin it was all fine.i just dont know or understand how or why she made the decision she did. you know, i had the approved i-20, im in my 2nd semester of school, im doing well in school, iv been through 8 months of name checks, USCIS have approved me. it just all seems like she could have been having a bad day and was not in a good mood. all i know is that its ruined my life at the moment.i have to pay to reschedule flights and everything aswel. i just dont understand it.

[DaniG 3]

Sounds like you gave them all possible documents... The only other thing I could think of is getting a list of the prerequisite courses from a medical school to show that you indeed need to be enrolled even though you already have a bachelor's degree. Oftentimes they are not logical...

By the way, I see you are from UK. Is it possible for you to return to the US on the visa waiver program (like a tourist visit) to finish your current semester so you wouldn't have to pay again for the same courses? I am not saying you should do that, just wondering if it's an option.

[mikelid 0]

im not sure. im leaning towards doing that now but im wondering if it is possible. would immigration let me in on the visa waiver or would they have record on their systems that im an f1 student and dont have a visa? i mean i dont want to get there and them say to me you are a student without a visa we are sending you home on the next flight out. but if it is possible then that would be ideal for me to do. also how long would i be allowed to stay on a visa waiver, and if at immigration they press me with questions should i say im visiting friends or explain the whole thing to them.

Sounds like you gave them all possible documents... The only other thing I could think of is getting a list of the prerequisite courses from a medical school to show that you indeed need to be enrolled even though you already have a bachelor's degree. Oftentimes they are not logical...

By the way, I see you are from UK. Is it possible for you to return to the US on the visa waiver program (like a tourist visit) to finish your current semester so you wouldn't have to pay again for the same courses? I am not saying you should do that, just wondering if it's an option.

[mikelid 0]

good news, my student visa was approved on the 19th march. my school are willing to help me out with regards to the classes iv missed and im just waiting now to get my passport back with the visa in. my f1 is now valid for 2 years im absolutely made up!!! thanks for all your suggestions DaniG

[DaniG 3]

Yay! Good luck with your studies, Mike!