Change in Passport Status

[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?

[Darnell 8,479]

passport status with cgi/stanley/ustraveldocs is useless unless and until

the ceac.state.gov website states the visa has been issued.

since GUZ IV has all, start tracking with ustraveldocs

after

ceac says 'ISSUED' .

Usually, the passport will be in your hands 2 to 3 weeks after ceac reports 'ISSUED'.

[Daveykins 17]

What Darnell said is correct. That site is a complete joke, CEAC is the only one that matters. But, you can call their US number on the ustraveldocs site and put in your passport # and it'll magically be found over the phone but not on the website or email. Go figure.

[mary81 2]

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?

Faizi,

The minimum waiting time for that 2 word ''Administrative Process'' to change to ''ISSUED'' is between 6 to 9 months. There is a full forum section on this website just talking about ''Administrative Process'' sweet and short nick is ''AP'' . Mind you, You are in good hand though. This clearly means if you have not break any US laws in the past your visa is indeed ''Approved'' as the officer told you. You don't even have to bother checking before 6 months because you will not see any movement, it will make you frustrated and make you think, you know what heeck you US, I want to give up. But if you really want to peruse your visa exactly 6 months after your interview date start checking on your visa status once a week . once 9 months passed then you can pick that phone and call your embassy or DOS for an inquiry. Even though you will still hear the word ''AP''. There is NO power outside or inside the US rules to push and make this time shorter, I guarantee you, You will come back 7 months and post here and will say; Mary you were right. If you need to travel some where within this 9 months, you may freely go and collect your passport and when time comes they will ask you to return your passport to seal that sweet paper on your passport page.

good luck

[lost_at_sea 995]

Faizi,

The minimum waiting time for that 2 word ''Administrative Process'' to change to ''ISSUED'' is between 6 to 9 months.

This is not true.

AP can also just mean "paper shuffling" and can last anything from a few hours/a couple of days and then switch to "Issued" all of a sudden as part of a normal, no-problem, visa issuance process.

For some, it can last weeks or many months, but there is no minimum or maximum time when a more thorough background check is required. AP ends when it ends.

[Darnell 8,479]

re: AP for 6 to 9 months..

For Guangzhou - no, that's not the case at all.

ALL VISA APPLICATIONS have been going into AP after the interview, stay there anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks, if no additional docs were requested. After this AP period, it'll flip into ISSUED status at ceac.state.gov then it's about 1 more week until it leaves the IV Unit, then another week to 10 days for the CITIC Bank Courier to get it to 'that city'.

Guangzhou just does it differently, driving that computer at ceac.state.gov , compared to other IV Units across the world.

Sorry .

[Faizy Baba 0]

Thanks for answering everyone. Just a bit worried since during my interview I was told that it will take a month and now its 2 days over a month.

On the website says that the visa status can be inquired by sending an email on Beijingvisaapp@state.gov once 30 days are over. I even emailed them twice bt no answer.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Faizy Baba

[Faizy Baba 0]

Ah. I am getting so frustrated now. I have applied for a J-1 exchange visa. My interview was on 19th November. They said its approved and kept my passport and other documents and said it will take a month for additional processing. Now its almost 45 days, still Administrative processing.

No idea of what to do. Any type of customer service (emails, webforms, phone calls) comes up with what I can also see on the CEAC website - Administrative Processing.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Ah. I am getting so frustrated now. I have applied for a J-1 exchange visa. My interview was on 19th November. They said its approved and kept my passport and other documents and said it will take a month for additional processing. Now its almost 45 days, still Administrative processing.

No idea of what to do. Any type of customer service (emails, webforms, phone calls) comes up with what I can also see on the CEAC website - Administrative Processing.

Sounss like the bad kind of AP. Nothing you can do about it.