AP Twice! Same reason, different visas

[Yimr 0]

Hi everyone,

In early December 2015, I had a B2 interview at the US embassy in London. I wanted to go to the states to meet my then fiancé's family before we got married the following Februrary. Everything went very well until I mentione I was in the middle of studying for a masters in Drug Toxicity and Safety Pharmacology. The consular officer asked me various questions about my studies and topics covered. Eventually, she gave me a white 221g slip asking for a letter from my university aND a list of courses I was taking. I was able to submit the required documents within a few days but heard nothing about he case after notice of receipt of my documents.

4 months later I received an email from USCIS asking for my CV. I responded with a scan of my CV the same day. 2 months after that I received an email informing me that my visa had been approved and that I could send my passport to the embassy. The whole process tool 6 months. Needless to say, I did not get the visa on time to meet my now wife''s family before our wedding. I did, however, send my passport to the embassy to get the approved visa put into my passport, which is still valid for another 2 months from today.

After getting married here in the UK, we filed for a CT1 visa. We got our case expedited at the NVC stage and at the interview stage since my curent UK visa will expire at the end of January 2017.

Yesterday I had my CR1 interview at the US Embassy in London again. The officer again said everything looked great, except because of the nature of my studies, which i have now finished, additional administrative processing was needed before I could get an approval. She asked for my CV, which I had and gave to her. She did not ask for any additional information, not even a list of courses. She only gave me a blue 221g with the box checked, "Additional administrative processing. The Embassy will contact you when processing is completed."

I don't have 6 months to spare this time, I barely have 3. Since the admin processing for my CR1 visa is for the same exact reason they did admin processing for my B2 visa, will this shorten our wait time? Should I be worried that she didn't ask for a list of courses like they did last time? Will this slow down the process in case they DO need it? Or did she not ask for it because she knows they have it on file? The officer said she put notes on our case that we need approval in a rush and that we had been granted expedited processing twice, and also that I've done AP before and recently got cleared. Has anyone else had this or something similar happen to them? Any insight would be so appreciated!

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Quick question, why do you not have 3 months? What does that mean?

Good luck

[Yimr 0]

My current Tier 4 Student visa for the UK expires in January 2017, about 3 months away. My home country, Libya, does not process US visas at this time so I need it to be done in the UK. The embassy told me it's not an issue where I come from because I've been studying in the UK for 2 years. The only issue they have is my nature of study.

[A'n'L 735]

Let's hope it's faster this time, nobody can tell though, unfortunately.

I'm afraid to say that I think your country of origin does have a significance, not only the studies. My education and work experience (that I disclosed on my ds160) is very similar to yours, but didn't prompt any requests about CV etc from the embassy in Sweden.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Your country does matter. Sorry. 2 years in UK is not long. If you have to go home then you can get a visa from the nearby embassy that handles visas from Libyan citizens.

[Yimr 0]

Thank you everyone for the quick replies. But if my country of origin was an issue why wouldn't they require more documentation from there? I had a paper from state.gov explaining that Libyan police certificates are not available to current non-residents. At both interviews, they said that's fine not a problem. Also, the only additional info asked for was in regards to my studies. I would understand if I needed background checks because of my origin, but 1) if that's the case then why would they say the ONLY reason I'm under AP is my studies? And 2) when they go to check me again won't they see that I was recently cleared after AP 5 months ago? They should have the results and info of my last AP, no matter what they are checking, am I wrong? Thanks again everyone

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

1. They can lie.

2. Since you already had some AP it should be faster now. But no guarantee.

[Boiler 45,522]

The time issue is your T Country connection, not your studies.

Previous visa applications are irrelevant.

If there is a time difference for those who have a prior AP approval I have not seen the data to prove it.