CR-1 Visa approved and then denied

[bacondreamer 3]

Hello all,

So funny story here......my wife had her CR-1 interview about two weeks ago in Guangzhou. During the interview the interviewer asked for the original copy of the I-864 form but my wife didn't have it but had all my tax doc and a copy of the I-864. At the interview, the interviewer gave the approval for the VISA and took her passport and everything. Today I get an email from the consulate stating that her VISA application is denied pending further documents. To make things even more stressful, we went by the notion that she was given the clear by the interviewer so we have already bought tickets for her to travel to the US at the end of next month and she also turned in her resignation notice. My questions is has anyone run into this issue and what is the processing time once requested documents has been received by the consulate?

[Hypnos 6,576]

It could be weeks or months.

The advice given here is to never buy tickets that cannot be refunded until the visa is in your hands. It is good advice.

[Calculus 5]

Send in the documents they asked for ASAP. This happened to us, but we were issued the visa once the documents were in

[bacondreamer 3]

Send in the documents they asked for ASAP. This happened to us, but we were issued the visa once the documents were in

How long did it take after you submitted the needed paperwork?

[Calculus 5]

Around 3 weeks.....

[mallafri76 1,012]

Sounds like you got a 221(g). Was your wife given a piece of paper at the end of her interview? Don't worry, it's basically a document that says that she has been refused a visa due to some missing documents. Once you send in the missing documents, in your case the original i-864, the embassy will review them and if they then have all they need, the visa will be issued. Can take anything from a week to a couple of months depending on the efficiency of the embassy and whether or not they need further details from you

[TBoneTX 45,382]

Thread is moved from the CR-1 Process forum to the CR-1 Case Progress subforum.

[Darnell 8,478]

Hello all,

So funny story here......my wife had her CR-1 interview about two weeks ago in Guangzhou. During the interview the interviewer asked for the original copy of the I-864 form but my wife didn't have it but had all my tax doc and a copy of the I-864. At the interview, the interviewer gave the approval for the VISA and took her passport and everything. Today I get an email from the consulate stating that her VISA application is denied pending further documents. To make things even more stressful, we went by the notion that she was given the clear by the interviewer so we have already bought tickets for her to travel to the US at the end of next month and she also turned in her resignation notice. My questions is has anyone run into this issue and what is the processing time once requested documents has been received by the consulate?

end of next month? you might be ok.

don't worry about this soft denial- they want to issue her a visa but she's not documentarily qualified to receive it.

Why? that I-864 requires a wet signature, never a copy or a scan. If you did EP at NVC, well, a signed I-864 is required on interview day - it's in the interview appointment letter in the instructions section.

So, get the stuff into her hand, fastest means possible. Then she generates a cover sheet thingie on the ustraveldocs.com/cn website, using this to send docs into Guangzhou IV by CITIC Bank Courier. It takes 2 to 3 days once it leaves the CITIC bank in her town, for the IV Unit to receive it.

Then it's got to wind its way through the mail room at the Consulate, (figure 2 days) then to the casefile (add a day). Meanwhile, there's a queue on the Vice-Consuls actually reviewing the stuff that's submitted after interview day. Figure 6 business days max for this queue.

Once a Vice-Consul approves all, it takes 2 more days for it to flip into 'ISSUED' status (visible on the CEAC website). Then, and only then, is the visa packet prepared, the visa foil printed and put into the passport. Figure 6 business days after ISSUED status.

Then it all winds back to the mailroom, add in 2 more days. A CITIC Bank Courier will pick it up, figure 1 day for waiting, 2 to 3 days for transit, another day for the local CITIC bank to route it to the proper clerk inside the local office.

Don't forget USA and China holidays, if'n to add in to the duration of waiting.

Go Get Em, and Good Luck !

[TBoneTX 45,382]

A hijack post and reply have been removed.

VJ Moderation

[bacondreamer 3]

Hi all!

Sorry it took me until today to post a follow up. I wanted to let all of you know that we were able to get everything resolved and her visa came with two weeks to spare. She has now being in the US for about six months now and we're finally enjoying a true married life

I wanted to share the story of what happened after we received the denial letter:

We found out that you CAN'T send the document directly to the consulate but must go through a consulate approved document service provider at China CITIC bank. Normal processing time was around 7-10 business days BUT we found out that there are a few that offers express service with a 2-3 day turnaround. The downside to it was the closest brand that offers express service was in Shenyang 4 blocks away from the US Consulate (except they don't process any immigration docs, or it'd be too easy...). She happens to have a college friend who worked for the US consulate and I was able to DHL the letter to her in less than 4 days and had her drop the doc off at the branch. Once submitted it took about 2 weeks and we received the notification that her VISA has been issued and passport returned to her.

She entered the United States on March 30th via Chicago after waiting in custom's line for over 4 hrs. I want to thank everyone who's helped answer my original question and I hope that my information here would help someone in the future that would run into the same issue.

Alex

[Karla230515 7]

Hi all!

Sorry it took me until today to post a follow up. I wanted to let all of you know that we were able to get everything resolved and her visa came with two weeks to spare. She has now being in the US for about six months now and we're finally enjoying a true married life

I wanted to share the story of what happened after we received the denial letter:

We found out that you CAN'T send the document directly to the consulate but must go through a consulate approved document service provider at China CITIC bank. Normal processing time was around 7-10 business days BUT we found out that there are a few that offers express service with a 2-3 day turnaround. The downside to it was the closest brand that offers express service was in Shenyang 4 blocks away from the US Consulate (except they don't process any immigration docs, or it'd be too easy...). She happens to have a college friend who worked for the US consulate and I was able to DHL the letter to her in less than 4 days and had her drop the doc off at the branch. Once submitted it took about 2 weeks and we received the notification that her VISA has been issued and passport returned to her.

She entered the United States on March 30th via Chicago after waiting in custom's line for over 4 hrs. I want to thank everyone who's helped answer my original question and I hope that my information here would help someone in the future that would run into the same issue.

Alex

Congratulations! ?

[Fmab Wasenob 14]

Don't they have a the original i864 sent to them by NVC upon approval of ur case?

[bacondreamer 3]

32 minutes ago, Fmab Wasenob said:

Don't they have a the original i864 sent to them by NVC upon approval of ur case?

They probably do but not that they're gonna tell you.  The instructions are cryptic at best as i found out during this entire process.  The second issue was the interview agent wrongly told her that a scanned copy of the signed doc was sufficient when it was not.  This whole process to update the doc was further complicated by the fact that in China you can't just send the doc directly to the consulate but must go through a third party intermediary (which you have to go in person), and on top of that there are like only 6 places in the entire country where you can do expedited service (once again in person only).  Fortunately my wife had a friend who worked in the consulate in Shenyang where an expedited agent was also located.

 

my wife has been in this country for a year now and we welcome'd our first child this past Feb.