Admin Review

[mnydriven818 2]

My wife had interview on aug 6th, 2012 and was asked to provide more documentation in regards to us settling in the states since I work overseas for a government contractor. we since then submitted apartment lease agreement and a co sponsor for affidavit since they asked for a join because my income in the prveious three years was not consistent. The consulate received the documentation Sept 23, 2012, and never really heard from them till she called them and was told to send an email.

below is the response we got.. has anyone had this situation or know how long this admin review takes and what the process is?

Thank you for your email correspondence.

We can confirm that your documents have been received. Subsequently, the Immigrant Visa Unit determined that your application requires additional administrative processing, which is mandatory and cannot be waived or expedited. As processing varies in each individual case, there is no set period of time that it takes. Consequently, any times quoted should be used only as a guide and we cannot guarantee processing by any set date..

Please be assured that as soon as additional administrative processing in your case is complete, you will be notified.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit

U.S. Embassy, London

[dwheels76 5,468]

My wife had interview on aug 6th, 2012 and was asked to provide more documentation in regards to us settling in the states since I work overseas for a government contractor. we since then submitted apartment lease agreement and a co sponsor for affidavit since they asked for a join because my income in the prveious three years was not consistent. The consulate received the documentation Sept 23, 2012, and never really heard from them till she called them and was told to send an email.

below is the response we got.. has anyone had this situation or know how long this admin review takes and what the process is?

Thank you for your email correspondence.

We can confirm that your documents have been received. Subsequently, the Immigrant Visa Unit determined that your application requires additional administrative processing, which is mandatory and cannot be waived or expedited. As processing varies in each individual case, there is no set period of time that it takes. Consequently, any times quoted should be used only as a guide and we cannot guarantee processing by any set date..

Please be assured that as soon as additional administrative processing in your case is complete, you will be notified.

Sincerely,

Consular Information Unit

U.S. Embassy, London

by chance is UK the country of your nationality? AP it depends.

[mnydriven818 2]

I am an American she is British.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

My wife had interview on aug 6th, 2012 and was asked to provide more documentation in regards to us settling in the states since I work overseas for a government contractor"......

Were you by chance working in primarily Muslim countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, and Kuwait among others? If so was the wife there also? That could trigger extra security checks. Nothing you can do, and nobody you can call that will give you further information or speed it up.

[mnydriven818 2]

yes I am working in one of those countries for the US government. This was never an issue at her interview and she did mention it to them. she was told you are not denied, they wanted a join sponsor because my income in 2010 wasn't much, even though I had made way too much money in 2008, 2009, and 2011. I had my brother filed a joint affidavit, sent them lease papers for the domicile in the US. now its in admin review. HE told her once we receive these documentation you will be mailed the visa. they didn't keep her passport either.

any suggestions? thoughts? time line i should be expecting?>

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

yes I am working in one of those countries for the US government. This was never an issue at her interview and she did mention it to them. she was told you are not denied, they wanted a join sponsor because my income in 2010 wasn't much, even though I had made way too much money in 2008, 2009, and 2011. I had my brother filed a joint affidavit, sent them lease papers for the domicile in the US. now its in admin review. HE told her once we receive these documentation you will be mailed the visa. they didn't keep her passport either.

any suggestions? thoughts? time line i should be expecting?>

Thoughts--the delay isn't likely about your affidavit of support or proving domicile in the US in my opinion. They never keep the passport if more basic documentation is needed or you forgot to bring a document. Normally the missing documents and passport are returned together to the embassy via courier. It could take them 2 weeks to pick up the case and new documentation, issue the visa, and send the passport back. Yours seems a bit longer than simply doing that procedure, even if they are back logged or there's a pile of incomplete work on their desk they need to catch up on.

So that brings up the dreaded AP as it's called. People have been told "approved" and the passport kept, but when it wasn't returned in a few days, they discover that are in AP. It is a procedural thing where certain people have to be cleared though extra databases. It always happens in London to people born in Pakistan, India, or the Middle East. It can also be triggered by the DS-157 list of countries visited. So did your wife work with you or make frequent trips to one of those countries, because it is her being cleared. I wouldn't think your being there would matter.

I know a handful on VJ cleared in 4-8 weeks by London. Some drag on months or a year, but those longer ones are more often Muslims born in Muslim countries with common names that might match somebody on a terrorist watch list. There is never much information given about exactly how it works because it is a matter of national security and shrouded in secrecy. I have read of many who have contacted their representative, senator, Hilary Clinton, and O'Bama to no avail. The answer is always that the application is in administrative processing. I think the fact that you inquired and got the acknowledgement your needed documents were received, probably rules out that your current delay is because you didn't supply enough information, but that is still a possibility. You also know your info didn't fall behind somebody's desk and get lost.

That's about all I have to offer. There is a forum for waivers and Administrative Processing you might want to browse. Can you confirm if your wife lived in or visited one of those countries?

[mnydriven818 2]

I can understand what you are saying, Yes she is a naturalized British citizen since young age but born in one of the countries you mentioned plus the only other country I could think of she visited was with family back in the day to Egypt. She has travelled to the US and Canada frequently though. I can understand the whole process I guess.. I just hope it doesn't drag for a year like you mentioned that it may. It has been a few months since her interview was in August.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I can understand what you are saying, Yes she is a naturalized British citizen since young age but born in one of the countries you mentioned plus the only other country I could think of she visited was with family back in the day to Egypt. She has travelled to the US and Canada frequently though. I can understand the whole process I guess.. I just hope it doesn't drag for a year like you mentioned that it may. It has been a few months since her interview was in August.

I would start the count from when your documents got back to them and everything was in place be approved. The security checks may not have started while the other was pending. I don't really know.

Here's a list of London AP I had put together for somebody else that asked.

Knight and Magpie- born India, UK citizenship since infancy (took 4 weeks) doing well and interviews for US citizenship tomorrow.

BigDogi or BadDogi -middle east (8 weeks) missed his wedding.

DairyFarmer- Australia ( a few weeks)

TreeHugger - white British born female (8-9 months then dropped off VJ so no update)

MARM- Pakistan (her fiancé had a lot of delays because the UK home office seemed to have lost his passport for 7-8 months. Don't remember AP time. Got visa and no issues with greencard process)

Linkin- Pakistan (4 weeks) got visa and greencard. Haven't heard from him in a long time.

I don't know these people's stories other than London AP. maybe you can look for them using advance search.

Maya84- Bangladesh 

Sergnavi- Pakistan 

Adnan&Liane-  born UK, spent a lot of time in Morocco (a year now and still waiting)

basher- Lebanese Muslim

KamLondon- born UK, father born Pakistan

dishajubayer- Bangladesh

[mnydriven818 2]

I am still waiting on AP for over six months now... anyone has any suggestion.. we called teh stateside number and were told the case is still in AP and to wait.

[mnydriven818 2]

so after almost a year and numerous calls to the embassy (which by the way cost about 30 bucks every time) only to receive a code and then you can email them. I got this message. we never received any correspondence on the mentioned date that they claim. DOes this mean we should just go with another Medical and Police record? or do they need more require more which is not mentioned in here. Has anyone has anything similar.

Embassy records show that on March 8, the Immigrant Visa Unit asked you to provide additional information to support your case. Please provide a new U.K Police Certificate and in addition to that, you will be required to undergo a new medical examination with the Embassy panel physician. Further information concerning scheduling the appointment is available from our website: http://london.usembassy.gov/immigrant-visas/medical-examination.html

Please note, no further action can be taken until this has been received.

Edited April 20, 2013 by mnydriven818