Passport Tracking after approval

[Darnell 8,478]

IV interview Nov. 12th: Approved, with request for two more documents. Passports handed back to my wife with blue paper.

Two additional documents submitted through Guangzhou CITIC bank Nov. 25th. Blue paper instructions: "DO NOT submit passports with these documents. You will be notified if we need you to submit your passport at a later time."

Dec. 2 status: Administrative Processing.

Does this mean that after clearing AP, we have to submit passports, then wait again? Or do they ever just send the visa packet without passports?

Yup, alas. The notice my wife received at the interiew clearly stated to send the passport in with the documents requested.

i wish GUZ IV would be consistent with their approach, but that's a whole nuther topic. It was not a blue slip, and it was clear to send in the passport. The 'blue slip' process is outdated, IMO, and you should not have been pegged to use it. Also IMO, bad choice by the human handling yer case at the IV Unit. I keep reading about some junior jet-boy there , seems to be new, and seems to not have the right info.

There are too many different processes to get to the same end, and I'm not convinced there's a human , one single human, at GUZ IV that knows the differences and keeps all in play consistently.

However, for you, suggest to keep contacting GUZ IV via their webform email thingie.

[shekoujay 0]

Thanks Darnell. I guess Christmas in Florida is cancelled. We were also caught unprepared for being required to submit a China police certificate. My wife had only been living in China for five months exactly on the day of the interview, not yet six, so, following the written requirements, we didn't think it would be requested and neither did our attorney.We also failed to prepare a Malaysian police certificate because she had lived there less than a year, but apparently anything over six months now and they require one.. Those two "missing" items have sent us into the AP black hole.

[Faizy Baba 0]

Hey guys. I applied for J-1 Visa at Beijing Embassy on 19th November, 2013. After my interview the visa officer said that my visa is approved but they need to do further administrative processing and they retained my passport.

Since then I kept checking my visa status and passport status. My visa status is the same "Administrative Processing". But I do not understand that why my passport status has been changed from "Your passport is still with the post" to "There is no status update available for the passport number submitted".

Can anyone explain, please?

[httuner 10]

Hey guys. I applied for J-1 Visa at Beijing Embassy on 19th November, 2013. After my interview the visa officer said that my visa is approved but they need to do further administrative processing and they retained my passport.

Since then I kept checking my visa status and passport status. My visa status is the same "Administrative Processing". But I do not understand that why my passport status has been changed from "Your passport is still with the post" to "There is no status update available for the passport number submitted".

Can anyone explain, please?

I had the same situation, its just a minor fault in there tracking system from what I can tell, if you call the phone number provided it'll tell you the current status of your passport.

It's been nearly a month since my K1 visa case was approved and only one week since we were requested to return for finger printing and nothing yet, I'm still in Administrative Processing and its starting to worry me. But I suppose as long as they have the passport and all the correct documents, its all just a waiting game until your able to find out anything.

[Faizy Baba 0]

Well for me, They retained my passport, did my finger prints etc., They gave me a small slip which shows that my passport will be returned to CITIC bank and some other stuff. The officer told me that the visa is approved and all I need is to wait for a couple of weeks for their administrative processing.

I was just a bit worried about the change in passport status.

[Darnell 8,478]

ceac status is one thing, but

call DoS Hotline (# in my profile) and get the real status.

[Faizy Baba 0]

Thanks Darnell. Is this hotline based in US or in China?

[gogo 6]

http://travel.state.gov/visa/about/how/how_1463.html

For inquiries about visa cases and the application process call: (202) 485-7600, Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm EST.

[httuner 10]

So my case finally changed from AP to ISSUED! I'm excited to finally see movement, now we wait until we have the visa in hand and purchase flight tickets.

[Darnell 8,478]

yay ! one less thing !

[gogo 6]

well.. that was fast.. less than one day, and I have a passport status already : "Passport Status : Your passport is still with post".... Hope I can get it before two weeks

[Darnell 8,478]

ok - what status with ceac, o GoGo ?

[gogo 6]

It went to AP right after the interview (less than 5 minutes).. I checked this post you guys made and it is helpful.. I know to contact the CITIC bank directly when things start changing.. Sometimes the website (CEAC and ustravels) isn't correct; CEAC should change to "ISSUED" and then wait a week it seems like, so I'm going to be checking ustravels instead.. once that changes to ready for pickup , then I'll let them go pick it up; thanks for your help, much appreciated..

Edited December 9, 2013 by gogo

[rjd2013 1]

So I have a question that I am a bit confused about. As I see it, when you are at the point where the visa has been issued you can call one of three numbers to talk to a human being. You can call the consulate number in one of several places in China as listed on US Travel Docs, you can call a number listed in the US from the same place, or you can call the DoS. Can anyone say which is the better place to go?

It seems that if I call a number that is listed from the Travel Docs, they are not native English speakers, which leads me to believe that they are not employees of the DoS. I have called, but I don't think that anyone really know what they are talking about, and all I wanted to know is what the status of my wife's visa is. At one point in time the woman I spoke with said it was printed and waiting for delivery, then the next moment she says it needs additional processing.

The other thing, is that it seems like the average time to delivery once it has been listed as "Issued", is about a week. Can anyone confirm that?

[gogo 6]

I'm going to have her parents call CITIC every day after the visa is "ready for pickup" or has been "issued" already.. from what I read, after it has been "issued", it should take about a week..