admin processing (Moscow)

[sjlambert 0]

My Fiance just called me from Moscow, she had her interview and everything went well until the end, when she got hit with "administrative processing"! The officer said everything "looks good" with the case but she could not issue a visa at this time and to expect an answer within two weeks. I am completely confused, angry, and broken hearted, so upset with the government right now I am shaking. But I was hoping I could get a little advice from you guys, this place has helped me tremendously throughout the past 10 months. According to my fiance the officer barely looked at most of our documents, the two areas she really focused on were my previous marriage, which I do not know why she would expect my fiance to know a whole lot about, and also the fact that my fiance applied for a visitor visa last fall to come to the US for her best friends wedding, the visa was refused (after administrative processing)essentially because my fiance did not provide enough evidence that she would return to Russia before the visa expired. The officer added "not to worry to much" and that they would probably grant the visa. What a @#$%!? Not to worry to much!?!? Do these people realize that they are messing with people lives?? My fiance is a basket case at the moment, we have been apart two years and this was supposed to be the end, we've done everything they asked and the best we get is a "maybe"!!!? Sorry, I just needed to vent s little. We can do two weeks standing on our heads after what we've been through already. But honestly, to do this to people without even an indication of a reason is just unbelievable. So essentially, I was hoping someone could give me a hint as to why they do this, if possible specifically why the Moscow Embassy feels the need to do this. And also, and most importantly, has anyone heard of anyone ever been denied a K-1 visa after admin processing? in Moscow? what could possibly be a reason for denial after we have come this far in the process? And lastly, what on Earth do we do if it is denied? I can hardly bare to imagine that possibility, but I have to try to think, what is the next step after a denial?? There has to be one, they cant expect people to just give up on the love of there life!? If that is the case then I am leaving for Russia and renouncing my citizenship immediately, to hell with them all. Sorry again for the ranting and language. I' am, just upset and there is absolutely no one I can talk to that understands this God forsaken process and what we are going through except for the wonderful people on this site.

[Neonred 3,564]

First, you will probably get more and better answers in the RUB forum.

I have been on VJ for over 5 years and I cannot remember anyone getting an outright denial. There have been a number of people that have been thrown into AP. Some for just a few weeks, and some for several months. It looks to me like a couple of times a year they send some people into AP just to show they are doing their job...just my opinion. You might try e-mailing the embassy. You might be asked for more evidence of your relationship. The denied visitor visa is a non issue. They were probably focused on the fact your finacee did not know much about your previous marriage.

Hang in there. Hopefully someone that has gone through this will give you additional advice.

[san diego 407]

From reading what you wrote I do not think they will deny. Previous visitor visa and previous marriage is not a problem. I applied for I129F 1 week after my previous marriage was officially dissolved. Previous visa application is not a problem (as long as she disclosed this in the DS-156 form. My fiancee wanted to meet my family before submitting application so she applied for visitor visa 3 months before we submitted I129F, got denied. Was not a problem at all as long as she provided truthful information. I think the most likely is that they do background checks on their own and if your fiancee's name is common in Russia (such as Ivanov) it might of gotten the hit with some criminal with the same last name and first name. What they will probably do is they will do more thorough examination and once they see that this is not her they probably will issue visa.

[san diego 407]

In addition, check information that you provided about your previous marriage. I do know once case from Russia described here on VJ where there was a mess-up with information about previous marriage and it was denied. They re-submitted I129F and got it. I do not think this is the case though. Another possibility is that information in the visitor visa application was not true (such as reason for a visit or something similar). In this case it may be denied as well if it is really bad. Otherwise I do not see the reason, most likely simply name hit which will be rectified. My recommendation is to contact embassy and rectify it. If I was you I would fly there to rectify it if you can. Otherwise I would wait for 2 weeks and if you don't hear anything hire a good lawyer.

[sjlambert 0]

First, you will probably get more and better answers in the RUB forum.

I have been on VJ for over 5 years and I cannot remember anyone getting an outright denial. There have been a number of people that have been thrown into AP. Some for just a few weeks, and some for several months. It looks to me like a couple of times a year they send some people into AP just to show they are doing their job...just my opinion. You might try e-mailing the embassy. You might be asked for more evidence of your relationship. The denied visitor visa is a non issue. They were probably focused on the fact your finacee did not know much about your previous marriage.

Hang in there. Hopefully someone that has gone through this will give you additional advice.

Thank you for the response, it really helps just to hear from someone who actually has an idea of what its like to go through this,its hard for friends and evn family to grasp. I was kind of getting the feeling that it might have been just one of those "random" things as well, just picking someone to go into AP just to make it look good for the officer type thing. I am definitely going to email them, hopefully I can get some hint as to what the issue is, even if it is random, I wouldn't mind so much if they had explained things just a little more to avoid undo stress and a virtual panic attack on the part of my fiance. I guess I really didn't expect them to be concerned about the previous marriage, my ex-wife and I had been separated for some time before I even met Rezeda and the topic just did not come up very often. Essentially, when preparing for the interview I focused heavily on providing evidence of the relationship and evidence of support, it was my assumption that those were the two areas that would be under the most scrutiny, unfortunately this was not the case, since Rezeda told me the officer only looked through the photos she brought very briefly, ignoring the other documentation, of which there was a ton, and only glanced at the I-134.

[sjlambert 0]

In addition, check information that you provided about your previous marriage. I do know once case from Russia described here on VJ where there was a mess-up with information about previous marriage and it was denied. They re-submitted I129F and got it. I do not think this is the case though. Another possibility is that information in the visitor visa application was not true (such as reason for a visit or something similar). In this case it may be denied as well if it is really bad. Otherwise I do not see the reason, most likely simply name hit which will be rectified. My recommendation is to contact embassy and rectify it. If I was you I would fly there to rectify it if you can. Otherwise I would wait for 2 weeks and if you don't hear anything hire a good lawyer.

Thank you for the response, it is very much appreciated! For the termination of the previous marriage, the only document I provided was the court decree, signed by a judge stating the marriage had been dissolved. I sent a notarized original with the I-129f and provided a copy to Rezeda to bring to the interview. This was the only info requested in the I-129f instructions, so I hope they weren't looking for anything more. The actual divorce was not finalized until about 6 months before we sent the I-129f, and it is pretty clear that Rezeda and I we're seeing each other/dating before the marriage was officially ended. Perhaps that was a personal issue with this particular officer, but I hope not. As for the denied visitor visa, all the info and reason provided in it were 100% true, we made sure of that to avoid these kinds of complications down the road, even though a definite benefit of here coming here for the wedding was to be with me also. Another point I just now realized when reading your post though is that Rezeda lives in a predominately Islamic part of Russia, and both her and her family are Muslim/Tatar. Although they are far from extremist and certainly have no ties to any such groups or individuals, I wonder if this may be a reason for the further investigation?? I plan on firing off an email to the embassy as soon as I finish typing this, I really hope I get some answers or I'll be gtting in touch with a lawyer asap.

[sjlambert 0]

I just had a thought while I was composing the email to the embassy, as far as being the US Citizen petitioner, does anyone happen to know if I have any "rights" in this situation? For example is the consulate required to disclose any information to me regarding their reasons for moving the case to administrative processing? I would assume they do, but if I knew for sure it would certainly change the tone of my email and how much information I expect to get back from them...

[Neonred 3,564]

I just had a thought while I was composing the email to the embassy, as far as being the US Citizen petitioner, does anyone happen to know if I have any "rights" in this situation? For example is the consulate required to disclose any information to me regarding their reasons for moving the case to administrative processing? I would assume they do, but if I knew for sure it would certainly change the tone of my email and how much information I expect to get back from them...

Your rights are rather limited. You should certainly ask, but don't expect much of an answer. When I had an issue with a J-1 visa for my step daughter I asked my senators office for help and they pretty much told me the embassy can do almost anything they want.

In your other post you said your fiancee is Muslim and I would bet your AP has something to do with this. More extensive name check for sure. Not sure if you are Muslim, but there is the feeling from several Russians I know that a Muslim women rarely marries a non Muslim man. I'm pretty sure this is just going to take a little extra time.

Don't let this get you down. It will all be behind you soon.

[san diego 407]

Thank you for the response, it is very much appreciated! For the termination of the previous marriage, the only document I provided was the court decree, signed by a judge stating the marriage had been dissolved. I sent a notarized original with the I-129f and provided a copy to Rezeda to bring to the interview. This was the only info requested in the I-129f instructions, so I hope they weren't looking for anything more. The actual divorce was not finalized until about 6 months before we sent the I-129f, and it is pretty clear that Rezeda and I we're seeing each other/dating before the marriage was officially ended. Perhaps that was a personal issue with this particular officer, but I hope not. As for the denied visitor visa, all the info and reason provided in it were 100% true, we made sure of that to avoid these kinds of complications down the road, even though a definite benefit of here coming here for the wedding was to be with me also. Another point I just now realized when reading your post though is that Rezeda lives in a predominately Islamic part of Russia, and both her and her family are Muslim/Tatar. Although they are far from extremist and certainly have no ties to any such groups or individuals, I wonder if this may be a reason for the further investigation?? I plan on firing off an email to the embassy as soon as I finish typing this, I really hope I get some answers or I'll be gtting in touch with a lawyer asap.

Divorce decree is sufficient. I was seeing my fiancee for 9 months before divorce decree was issued, no problem. Regarding extremists I do not think this is the problem. Possible problem is that in the superficial background check her last and first name may be similar to one of the extremists, which caused additional check. This is very possible. If this is the case, they will issue visa within 3 weeks or so.

[sjlambert 0]

Divorce decree is sufficient. I was seeing my fiancee for 9 months before divorce decree was issued, no problem. Regarding extremists I do not think this is the problem. Possible problem is that in the superficial background check her last and first name may be similar to one of the extremists, which caused additional check. This is very possible. If this is the case, they will issue visa within 3 weeks or so.

Hello again and thanks again for the response! Your probably absolutely right about the additional name checking because of the Muslim background, I don't know why I never considered it before, but I don't really notice it anymore. I am not Muslim, we've talked a bit about that, how it is out of the ordinary to marry outside the faith, but its definitely more of an issue with her Dad and Grandfather than it is with her. I've overheard the words, "he's very nice, but she should find a nice Muslim boy to settle down with..." on more than one occasion. I'm sure they will come to peace with it at some point, if not, then its their loss. I sent an email to the embassy and will probably call on Monday, I am certainly a lot less stressed out about the whole issue now that I have talked with you guys, read a little about it, and had a chance to think things over. I understand at this point the best thing to do is stay on top of the embassy and make sure they don't "forget" about us and waste time. I did read about another possible cause of the AP on the Moscow Embassy website though, that individuals with backgrounds in scientific or technical fields can expect to get additional administrative processing after they interview. Rezeda did just graduate from medical school and works as an intern at a clinic. I'm thinking that qualifies as a scientific field but not sure if where I read that on the embassy website, in the non-immigrant visa section, applies to K1 visas. Also another bit I read about somewhere, that government employees with clearance's can sometimes require additional processing, I separated from the military about a year ago with a top secret clearance, not sure but that may have been a factor.

[sjlambert 0]

Update...No response from the embassy email I sent, yet.I called the "helpline" early this morning and paid the $14 just for the women to tell me that she couldn't give me any information on the officers decision. Before I could even argue with her, or plead, she told me to have a nice day and hung up. This experience is just surreal. Thanks again guys for all your help!

[Neonred 3,564]

Update...No response from the embassy email I sent, yet.I called the "helpline" early this morning and paid the $14 just for the women to tell me that she couldn't give me any information on the officers decision. Before I could even argue with her, or plead, she told me to have a nice day and hung up. This experience is just surreal. Thanks again guys for all your help!

Yep, generally the helpline is a waste of money. Send an e-mail instead. Usually get a better answer and it won't cost anything.