mandatory administrative processing?

[usama_ah 1]

Congratulations... Good luck and best Wishes

Thanks very much Deep!!

[Soccer.Player 47]

Today 165 days completed in Ap...

[TamiSuleiman 0]

I've been busy thus I could not update this right away, however on Feb 10 3pm India Std Time my wife checked online and our status had changed from "processing," and now shows the passport has been sent via Blue Dart to the address we specified. She was not contacted in any way regarding any further documentation, etc. I called DOS as soon as they opened (Feb 10, 8:30am Washington DC time) and at that time the person I spoke to told me the case is still pending in AR. Flash forward to 3pm Chicago time, I was getting off school/work and called again (Feb 10, 3pm Chicago time) and this time the woman said, "looks like AR is completed, they may have mailed the passport to you).

I cannot confirm that we do in fact have a visa .. the passport is being delivered to a major city a few hours from where my wife actually lives. The hope is it will arrive via Blue Dart Sat afternoon, otherwise we won't be able to check until Monday due to transportation issues. However I am hopeful that this is the real deal.

I will update again once I know for sure, and also provide a comprehensive summary of my case with the intention that it may ease the worry of many others on this and other forums who come across this post. However for now to quickly review:

• I am a US citizen, born in Chicago
  
• My wife is an Indian citizen, born there
  
• we married Dec 2009
  
• I applied in February for I-130 (needed to wait for official and translated marriage documents to arrive here in the U.S.)
  
• along the way I ran into 2 separate issues which each delayed the process by 1 month (so 2 month delay total) .. the first being I didn't include a letter from the person who translated the marriage certificate in which he/she swears they translated honestly and the second issue had to do with my wife's lack of birth certificate as she was not born in a hospital it required further documents
  
• Finally we got a date for interview, Jan 11 2011
  
• put into AR .. officially listed as such on Jan 12 online, we were told it would be approx 2 weeks since everything else was "in order" (i.e., all documentation for a Visa is present and meets expectations)
  
• I e-mailed them every day for 1 week not knowing what exactly AR is .. I stopped after I found this forum.
  
• approx 1.5 weeks after being placed in AR, I contacted my Senator and also alerted him to the fact that I am a U.S. citizen born and raised, as well as medical student with limited time before I start my residency
  
• Senator replied in about 1.5 weeks, they had contacted the embassy and would forward any reply .. 3-4 days later the Senator's office sent another letter with the reply from the embassy that basically said the same thing but just more respectfully to the Senator, "this case is in AR, we cannot do anything at this time."
  
• online the status changed on Feb 10, 2011 from "in process" to "sent via Blue Dart"
  

Again I will update once I know we actually have a visa. I guess it is always possible they sent the passport back and require more time in AR though the Dept of State support person said she believes AR is finished.

p.s. - for any Muslims I thought I should mention I woke morning of Feb 10 about 1/2 hour before Fajr time and prayed a few Tahajjud rakahs, then noticed I had an e-mail from my wife urgently asking me to check the website -- so keep making duas, praying to Allah

Congratulations and I hope your visa has now arrived! Can you tell me what website you are referring to that allows you to check status of AR? Thank you!

[usama_ah 1]

Congratulations and I hope your visa has now arrived! Can you tell me what website you are referring to that allows you to check status of AR? Thank you!

Thank you. The website I was using was the VFS website, which actually does not tell you about AR status but only whether the passport has been sent to the VFS office or not. This was why I wasn't relaxed until my wife had the passport in hand; even though the website showed the passport as having been delivered, it could very possibly still have been in AR. Fortunately for us, ours was approved.

If you're not familiar with the VFS website: you enter the passport number of the person whose visa is pending and it would let you know if the passport is still in process or not. This will save you from having to call on a daily basis. My wife and I would check this all together twice/day (she on India time, myself Chicago time).

To track your passport: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/ApplnForms/TrackYourPassport.aspx

Here is the website that led to that above, which also details how to track using SMS: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/trackyourpassport.html

There is no way to track how far along your visa is in AR, or how much further it may be. This is the frustrating, and unavoidable, part of being in AR.

[TamiSuleiman 0]

Thank you. The website I was using was the VFS website, which actually does not tell you about AR status but only whether the passport has been sent to the VFS office or not. This was why I wasn't relaxed until my wife had the passport in hand; even though the website showed the passport as having been delivered, it could very possibly still have been in AR. Fortunately for us, ours was approved.

If you're not familiar with the VFS website: you enter the passport number of the person whose visa is pending and it would let you know if the passport is still in process or not. This will save you from having to call on a daily basis. My wife and I would check this all together twice/day (she on India time, myself Chicago time).

To track your passport: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/ApplnForms/TrackYourPassport.aspx

Here is the website that led to that above, which also details how to track using SMS: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/trackyourpassport.html

There is no way to track how far along your visa is in AR, or how much further it may be. This is the frustrating, and unavoidable, part of being in AR.

Thanks so much for this information! I had never heard of this before. Unfortunately they did not keep my fiance's passport so we just get to wait it out I guess!! Thanks again!

[muskan4eva 0]

is that above link works for all the countries or just india. coz i entered my passport # but it says no record found????

[Deep2009 18]

is that above link works for all the countries or just india. coz i entered my passport # but it says no record found????

The link is only for India...

[mchanana 0]

Hi everyone , i think everybody here is waiting for AP . my husband is in same situation his brother and his family had an interview on june 20th 2011 . there were couple of docs were short we submit those on june 27th with their passports . its been 77 days . there case is still showing as AP . my husband is planing to fly to new delhi embessy next week to ask them why they are taking too long . by the way my husband is US citizen and it is regarding his brother's family for immigrant visa . my quistion is is it going to make any diffrence to expedite their case. please answer .

[Kanvarpurewal 1]

my interview is on 8th july 2011 still in ap amankular they also kept my passport and give me a white a4 paper with following info

Please bear with us while your case undergoes mandatory administrative

processing.

we have retained your passport to more quickly process your visa when

processing has been completed we will send your passport and visa to

you via vfs.

[Missusa 0]

Hi I applied for my husband i130 now after his interview they put his case on administrative process and it's being 4 months now I did it hear anything from them I email them 2 times they said the same thing it's under process can u tell me is there is anything else I would do that will help ok his A.P to clear soon senetor or someone else do u think if I will call them they will email the embassy regarding of my case?? Thanks appreciate ur help

[SHUSS 11]

Hi I applied for my husband i130 now after his interview they put his case on administrative process and it's being 4 months now I did it hear anything from them I email them 2 times they said the same thing it's under process can u tell me is there is anything else I would do that will help ok his A.P to clear soon senetor or someone else do u think if I will call them they will email the embassy regarding of my case?? Thanks appreciate ur help

There is really nothing else you can do except for wait. Make sure you contact your congressman to help, but there still is not a lot they can do except keep you updated on what is happening. My husband's case has been in AP for 16 months and we have not been able to get much information except what our congressman received.

I wish you all the best and hopefully we will both be out of AP soon

[Missusa 0]

Shuss can u tell me how did u contact the congress men and what they do thanks ...

[SHUSS 11]

I contacted the office by calling the main number I looked up online. Then I asked them to direct me to someone who could help me with an immigration issue. My congressman gives me updates once or twice a month on my case and it kind of lets the embassy and DOS that there is someone "higher up" involved in the case. I am unsure if it is helping a lot but it kind of gives me peace of mind. It also kind of forces the embassy to give someone answers.