In Administrative Processing for 6 months

[Shomefune96 28]

Hello

My husband and i have been going thru this process for 1.5 years now together for 4 years, married in Ghana in May 2013. I applied using the I-130 in May 2014 and it took 10 months to get the visa interview. He went for the interview at the Ghana Embassy in June 2015, where he met with them and was asked to come back in July 2015 and to bring evidence of our communications for one of the years we didn't add. We put it together, he brought it with him and he was called up to the window and told that the marriage if fraud and they never even looked at his additional paperwork they requested. That was on July 7th 2015 for 6 months there was no movement. Then Jan 13th it was updated, then again on the 15th, again on the 19th, again on the 20th and nothing since then. I'm praying this means they are finally sending it back to the USCIS as they have not done that like they claimed they would.

Does any one know what this mean? I've been going thru the forums, and i find there are people in Administrative processing status, just like us, however there is absolutely no one that has been put in this status that ever posted their approval. I'd like to know about how long this process usually takes after you are put into Administrative processing status. I've been told 60 days, then by a lawyer up to 4 months and of course neither were correct since 7 months later we are still in the same boat. Is there anyone on here that has gone into administrative processing that eventually was approved. If so, how long did it take?

Thanks for any help, we are kinda loosing faith in this system, and at this point all i want to do is RUN to Ghana and just live there until this is done, but circumstances with family, school and work will not allow that to happen anytime soon. Soooo... Thanks

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from K3 Progress Reports to IR-1/CR-1 Progress Reports.

[lutz 41]

Hello,

My husband and I are in the same boat. I applied for him for CR1 back in September 2014. He finally had his interview in September 2015, where he was denied and given form 221g. He was told by the CO at that time his file would be sent back to the States to USCIS.

I waited and until now and checked with NVC. They have no record of his case being sent to them from the embassy in Ghana. It has to go back through the NVC, then onto USCIS.

When I check his status on CEAC, it says in AP and that it's been updated on January 15th. Of course, it's almost impossible to get information from them about what's going on . I sent an email to the embassy and am also having my lawyer check into it.

All this to say, you will probably get all kinds of conflicting information. It's very frustrating, but I believe it's a good thing that at least something is moving on your case.

Have you tried emailing the embassy?

[Shomefune96 28]

Yes i have, and i get the same automated response no matter what i ask them. I tried setting up an appointment with the immigration office here in SC and they won't even let you set appointments to discuss issues like this. My husband has tried calling the Embassy in Ghana to set up an appointment with them with no response, no help whatsoever. Its got the be the most frustrating thing. But you are right, it HAS to be good thing that SOMETHING is moving on it so i'm trying to stay positive with that thought. Any news as the process comes along i will post it Honestly reading this it feels good to know we aren't alone. Its been the most stressful process i think I've ever dealt with. The U.S has GOT TO do better with their immigration policies. Its ridiculous

[lutz 41]

Yes I agree and it also makes me angry....not that that does any good. But I've been a good citizen paid taxes no trouble etc then to be treated like this as so many of us have is ridiculous. Then I see troublemakers being welcomed into the country with open arms,,,,well what can be done. Nothing right now just keep the faith!

Yes I agree and it also makes me angry....not that that does any good. But I've been a good citizen paid taxes no trouble etc then to be treated like this as so many of us have is ridiculous. Then I see troublemakers being welcomed into the country with open arms,,,,well what can be done. Nothing right now just keep the faith!

[Theara0505 4]

My visa is issued after 6 months of AP . Yes AP can take months , years ... Nobody know how long it take for sure . All we can do is be patience and waiting .

But Me and my husband went to embassy together to asked since phone call and email didn't work well for us . then they started work on our case again after long AP 6 months .

Did the CO give your wife any paper after the interview ?

[Shomefune96 28]

Yes they gave him the form 221G, you are right all we can do is wait. it just helps to know about a timeframe of expectation you know. It looks like something is going on with ours as it has been updated practically every other day for almost 3 weeks now. I'm praying that is good news. Thanks for the info, one question though. You said it took 6 months, how long before you actually heard back from them to clarify your paperwork. And how long did it take after they initially contacted you to actually approve the visa

[chris_trina 22]

Hi everyone in AP land I was interviewed on 3/1/15 and on 3/30/15. The first interview all question were answered correctly but they said we had a lack of evidence. The second time we gathered evidence and sent it in they did not look at any of it and sent our case back to USCIs on May 11 2015. Anyway to make a long story short I got in contact with my congressman they answer question for us. And also I met ladies in a fb group that help with showing me how to put my case together. The thing with Ghana they want massive amounts of evidence for your marriage. They want card phone logs chat record, affadavits and they want it well organized. Make sure when you present item it is in order and stated the reason why you don't have the items why you don't have them. I have learned a lot from my journey. You must come prepared for Ghana. Since being on Ap they flat out denied us at the uscis level when I presented them with more evidence and a plane ticket to go to see my husband for Christmas holidays. I sent in my statement with NOIR the reasons for not having chat logs and affadavits from family members insurance policies and more pictures phone logs and cards. They said my information was in the future so they couldn't approve my bonefide relationship because it was not present at the time we were married. If I would have known this I would have withdrawn my case and refiled back in June 2015. So now im reapplying my case again hopefully they don't deny us again.

[Shomefune96 28]

Oh wow, that is horrible for you, i'm sorry to hear they denied you completely. Although it makes me very nervous. For us though all that we needed was provided, they received photo's, affadavit's from all my family, copies of plane tickets where i visited, over 3000 pages of documents of our chats and phone records. Proof of our relationship prior to marriage etc. So i'm not sure what else we could have provided them that they didn't have. I don't believe the prep is the problem, i believe that Ghana simply denies just to see if you will stay together for the exorbent amount of time they hold on to your paperwork before ever sending it off. Our case has been in Ghana since June and has not been submitted to the NVC or USCIS at all. You got lucky it only took a month for them to receive it. At this time we are just in limbo with absolutely no information. I am going to visit again though. We were holding on that thinking he would be here by now, but i can't wait any longer to see him so i'm working it out. thanks for the update though, glad you are trying again, do not give up.

[lovelyben2112 0]

my name is Benjamin. I and my wife got married few weeks ago and we want to file for the K 3..... any advice please

[lovelyben2112 0]

I and wife got married in Ghana a weeks ago. we have planned to file for K3 visa for me to be with my wife as fast as possible. any advise please...

[Shomefune96 28]

Hello Benjamin

Congratulations on your Marriage, i wish you much happiness, and blessings throughout your lives together.

Well, coming from a person who waited 1 year after marriage before putting in the request, i would state that the sooner you start it the better. Because if you do run into any issues in the process, it could take a long while before u work it out, years even, which is what is happening with my husband and I, which basically puts your lives on hold.

My next advice to you is complete the process yourself. I have several friends that went thru a lawyer that is in the same boat i'm in right now, so using a lawyer does not automatically give you a better chance of being approved. It would be nice to say but they can run into the exact same issues you do, because basically all they are doing is working as a middle man, you give them the papers, they send it off, get the info back, give it to you to respond, so on and so forth. There is no magic way in this process, so getting a lawyer will just cost you way more money than necessary, but of course that is up to you. If you feel you NEED it then by all means make sure you do so.

Remember that this process is a lot of waiting. Once you send in your application, you can expect to wait anywhere from 2-6 months for your initial response from them on whether they approve you or not. If so, they will send your file to the NVC (national visa center) which takes about 3-4 weeks. NVC will then send you an invoice to move forward to the next phase. After that everything goes pretty quickly depending on how quickly you pay your fees and how quickly you get all the information to them. (NOTE: I did not wait for each phase, i sent all of the information required to them right away after paying the very first fee to the NVC. The NVC process can take anywhere from 2-4 months (you will receive notifications and info all during this time) and you should expect to get a date for your interview after that.

MOST IMPORTANT: You need to have as much information about your relationship as you possibly can. photo's of you together, copies of your flight itineraries where you went to visit. If you don't talk via email but maybe thru an app, like whatsapp or viber, download all of your conversation history and have it email it to you, so you can print it out, you will need to have proof of your relationship all the way back to the first time you met, any birthday, christmas, valentine cards, pics of gifts you bought for each other wearing them or just receiving them. Notices from your family that they are aware you are married and its legitimate (make sure they write this in their own handwriting and their own words, its more authentic), any emails back and forth between you. If you have spoken directly on the phone, copies of your phone records to show where you spoke to each other. Both hers and yours (this shows the length of time you were speaking). I also did screenshots of my face book pages, where i'd posted photos, or he'd posted photos, and friends and family commented on them (you only need the ones with comments that shows they know you two are together, or mentions she is your wife and vice versa from her page. Screenshot of the changes u made from engaged to married on facebook. etc. I know this seems a lot but the more you have the better. We had all of this and we were still put in Admin Processing status ( i believe it had more to do with the fact that he is muslim and i am christian, it was the one question they continued to drill him about. They asked more questions about that than they did anything else, and with the national security issues here in the states, i think they just need to do a more detailed background check on him).

Lastly, as you are filling out the K-3 Married visa, you also have the ability to fill out the K-1 Fiance Visa. After you apply for the K-3 shortly after you will get a notification in the mail that they received your request. At that point you can then fill out K-1 (because you have the app in for K-3 you do not have to pay the fee), attach a copy of the notice of receipt they sent you and send it in. Sometimes people do this as it may allow for her to come over and stay with you and work while waiting for the K-3 processed to be finished. However remember if you are denied on the K-3 process she will be expected to leave the country immediately. I don't know anyone that this has worked for, but it apparently has for someone our it wouldnt be an option, and since its free, it doesn't hurt to try.

Hope all this helps. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask

[chris_trina 22]

Hello

My husband and i have been going thru this process for 1.5 years now together for 4 years, married in Ghana in May 2013. I applied using the I-130 in May 2014 and it took 10 months to get the visa interview. He went for the interview at the Ghana Embassy in June 2015, where he met with them and was asked to come back in July 2015 and to bring evidence of our communications for one of the years we didn't add. We put it together, he brought it with him and he was called up to the window and told that the marriage if fraud and they never even looked at his additional paperwork they requested. That was on July 7th 2015 for 6 months there was no movement. Then Jan 13th it was updated, then again on the 15th, again on the 19th, again on the 20th and nothing since then. I'm praying this means they are finally sending it back to the USCIS as they have not done that like they claimed they would.

Does any one know what this mean? I've been going thru the forums, and i find there are people in Administrative processing status, just like us, however there is absolutely no one that has been put in this status that ever posted their approval. I'd like to know about how long this process usually takes after you are put into Administrative processing status. I've been told 60 days, then by a lawyer up to 4 months and of course neither were correct since 7 months later we are still in the same boat. Is there anyone on here that has gone into administrative processing that eventually was approved. If so, how long did it take?

Thanks for any help, we are kinda loosing faith in this system, and at this point all i want to do is RUN to Ghana and just live there until this is done, but circumstances with family, school and work will not allow that to happen anytime soon. Soooo... Thanks

Hello

My husband and i have been going thru this process for 1.5 years now together for 4 years, married in Ghana in May 2013. I applied using the I-130 in May 2014 and it took 10 months to get the visa interview. He went for the interview at the Ghana Embassy in June 2015, where he met with them and was asked to come back in July 2015 and to bring evidence of our communications for one of the years we didn't add. We put it together, he brought it with him and he was called up to the window and told that the marriage if fraud and they never even looked at his additional paperwork they requested. That was on July 7th 2015 for 6 months there was no movement. Then Jan 13th it was updated, then again on the 15th, again on the 19th, again on the 20th and nothing since then. I'm praying this means they are finally sending it back to the USCIS as they have not done that like they claimed they would.

Does any one know what this mean? I've been going thru the forums, and i find there are people in Administrative processing status, just like us, however there is absolutely no one that has been put in this status that ever posted their approval. I'd like to know about how long this process usually takes after you are put into Administrative processing status. I've been told 60 days, then by a lawyer up to 4 months and of course neither were correct since 7 months later we are still in the same boat. Is there anyone on here that has gone into administrative processing that eventually was approved. If so, how long did it take?

Thanks for any help, we are kinda loosing faith in this system, and at this point all i want to do is RUN to Ghana and just live there until this is done, but circumstances with family, school and work will not allow that to happen anytime soon. Soooo... Thanks

[chris_trina 22]

I was reading your story. Us Embassy in Ghana during the one that filed or married during 2013 are having a hard time getting their hubby home. Did you get married the first time of arrival or did you wait to marry. Im really thinking they frown upon you getting married the first time of meeting. I got married there within the 5 day stay. Many of us are in or were in AP during this time 2015 was not good year for us. We have this group on FB we discuss topics relating to marriage and many ladies are in the group. I have learn a lot since being on AP from of the wives that their husbands that home. I didn't Ghana was high fraud country when I met my husband or I would have kept everything that was pertaining our relationship. I think the officers are just picking and choosing based off organization skills of your paper work. But not truly going caring if families are together. But you stated you brought in 3000 pgs of your chat logs. Did you read through all before submitting. I found that they they read through if there is times where the partner ask for money they Question that. But know they are doing background checks on your spouse while your on ap they follow your spouse while on ap. to make sure your marriage is valid. One of my friends was ap for 17 months they just now sent her case back to the US. Did you go the interview with your husband?

[Shomefune96 28]

No i did not go with him as we were told the only person that would be allowed in was him. As of last Friday i contacted the NVC to find out whats going on with our process and they have finally received it back from Ghana. So that was great news. Just don't know how long it will take now. I see all these people confirming they were with their spouses at the interview and if in fact they require another, i intend to be there. Our case file couldn't have been more organized, i set it up in sections, tabbed with labels to where they can find each item easily that was requested. I honestly do not think our issue was not enough information. As for being married the first time, yes we did. But if they had read thru our paperwork they would know we planned the entire thing starting 6 months before i even arrived. We did not marry at a courthouse. We were married by a preacher in a church. Don't know how many fraudulent marriages will go thru the process of hiring planners and photographers, churches and caterers, paying for family members to travel from the North to be there.They were given proof of all of this. Receipts for flowers, caterers, i made copies of all the photos taken by the photographer and added those. I even provided a copy of the plane and travel itinerary for my mother who was also there. I was not there with him the first time, but if they require another interview i will definitely be there next time. They must think people are made of money that they can travel back and forth to Ghana a thousand times, its crazy to think it or assume it. I'm sure there are some who do, but obviously they have the money. At this time all i can do is leave it in the hands of God. And be patient. But as i get thru this process i will update.