Travel Ban Support Group

[Muhammad&Mansory 117]

41 minutes ago, Mnj11 said:

 

I'm blown away that you got a personalized email. Most of their replies for us has been generic, probably just filled out a template. Unfortunately, the time it's taking to issue the waivers is just ridiculous.. I don't know how they go on about this.

I think the reason the response was personal is that Kuala Lumpur does not have a lot of cases from banned countries, so they did not have to come up with a cliche  

 

Let's hope this admin processing black hole closes soon! 

[Adam82 14]

Monthly Nonimmigrant Visa Issuance Statistics

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyIVIssuances/APRIL 2019 - IV Issuances by FSC and Visa Class.pdf

 

Numbers are still very low!! 

[JessM28 62]

18 hours ago, gaac20 said:

 Hello guys I am new to this website but I have been following this thread lately and hoping someone would get good news. I am also effected by the travel ban as my wife is from one of those countries that got banned. My wife had her interview on February this year and was placed under administrative processing. after 3 months in administrative processing I have emailed the embassy yesterday and someone from the embassy got back to me . here is their response to when I asked about my case "

I can see that this case is pending concurrence for a waiver to Presidential Proclamation 9645.  I’m not sure if you’re aware that on December 8, 2017, the Departments of State and Homeland Security began implementing the travel restrictions for nationals of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen under Presidential Proclamation 9645 (PP 9645).  A waiver for immediate family members of the United States is available, but we must receive concurrence from Washington to issue the waiver.   U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur does not control the timeline on the waiver processing, but administrative processing related to waivers for nationals from the above mentioned countries appears to be taking upwards of a year to complete.If the regulations change or we receive concurrence on the waiver, we will contact the beneficiary immediately."  the part where they said its taking upwards of a year to complete the waiver is just heartbreaking. I am not sure where to go from here if the embassy depend on Washington to process the waivers. 

Thanks for sharing your experience! I called my Senator's office yesterday and spoke to his Middle East Immigration rep. and she said that embassies have asked that members of Congress give them about a year before they contact them to go through all the process. I was wondering because my husband had his interview on April 3rd and then this past weekend we got a letter from Senator Van Hollen that says to wait until March 1, 2020 to have them inquire with the Madrid Embassy.  So Senator Van Hollen's office is giving the embassies about 10 months before they inquire.  She said that unlike us (going through the process) that usually embassies will give them more information about where exactly our application is in the process. She said that the second phase of reviewing our applications is the extreme vetting and usually takes 6 months. Hopefully some of us here will start to get some good news soon!

[NJ515 73]

On 5/23/2019 at 12:55 PM, JessM28 said:

Thanks for sharing your experience! I called my Senator's office yesterday and spoke to his Middle East Immigration rep. and she said that embassies have asked that members of Congress give them about a year before they contact them to go through all the process. I was wondering because my husband had his interview on April 3rd and then this past weekend we got a letter from Senator Van Hollen that says to wait until March 1, 2020 to have them inquire with the Madrid Embassy.  So Senator Van Hollen's office is giving the embassies about 10 months before they inquire.  She said that unlike us (going through the process) that usually embassies will give them more information about where exactly our application is in the process. She said that the second phase of reviewing our applications is the extreme vetting and usually takes 6 months. Hopefully some of us here will start to get some good news soon!

@JessM28 Did they happen to say what they can do?  Ted Cruz's staff said they couldn't do anything, but he isn't opposed to the ban I suppose.. #sigh

[JessM28 62]

7 minutes ago, NJ515 said:

@JessM28 Did they happen to say what they can do?  Ted Cruz's staff said they couldn't do anything, but he isn't opposed to the ban I suppose.. #sigh

She said that they can usually contact and get more details. Usually the embassies just give us generic answers. 

[JessM28 62]

Please check out this CNN story and video. It features several of us from this group and from the Facebook groups. Please consider making an in-it video if you have not already. 

 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/24/us/travel-ban-separation-video-campaign-invs/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3DTravel%2BBan

[JennaL 151]

1 hour ago, JessM28 said:

Please check out this CNN story and video. It features several of us from this group and from the Facebook groups. Please consider making an in-it video if you have not already. 

 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/24/us/travel-ban-separation-video-campaign-invs/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3DTravel%2BBan

So grateful for these opportunities for those affected to get their stories out there, and yes, if you haven’t already done so, please make a quick video of your own story for the in-it campaign. The only way to make change is to keep talking. 

[salhasl 113]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2286486941390100&id=142864489085700

 

He interviewed in March 2019. Got visa waiver in 2 months. Does anyone have any insight on this case? Was there a medical emergency that it got expedited?

 

 

 

[NJ515 73]

8 hours ago, salhasl said:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2286486941390100&id=142864489085700

 

He interviewed in March 2019. Got visa waiver in 2 months. Does anyone have any insight on this case? Was there a medical emergency that it got expedited?

 

 

 

Hey @salhaslit does say his mother is having brain surgery and that he has been waiting for years.  I know that the embassy told me if it took longer than a year a new interview would be required. Maybe Pars did a WoM?

[salhasl 113]

17 minutes ago, NJ515 said:

Hey @salhaslit does say his mother is having brain surgery and that he has been waiting for years.  I know that the embassy told me if it took longer than a year a new interview would be required. Maybe Pars did a WoM?

That makes sense. Most people under travel ban AP I know of are waiting 1yr plus so this seemed odd. 

[Anibunny 9]

On 5/26/2019 at 5:11 AM, NJ515 said:

Hey @salhaslit does say his mother is having brain surgery and that he has been waiting for years.  I know that the embassy told me if it took longer than a year a new interview would be required. Maybe Pars did a WoM?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2286486941390100&id=142864489085700

Thwy were initially also placed in AP it seems but with  Additional pressure from senators and the pars equality center it looks like they were granted the waiver

[salhasl 113]

1 hour ago, Anibunny said:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2286486941390100&id=142864489085700

Thwy were initially also placed in AP it seems but with  Additional pressure from senators and the pars equality center it looks like they were granted the waiver

The additional pressure you mean WOM? Or just news media? Or both? 

 

I don't think a mandamus is at play here. He got it in 2 months. Unless they filed mandamus the day he walked out of the interview. It seems like they did a humanitarian expedite for the moms brain surgery. This has worked for other people. 

[Queen1990 2]

My sister and her family had their interview on May 2 in djibouti and it went to AP for a few days we were missing a simple paper we sent that in and it changed to transferring for a couple of days now it says refused. Did anyone have this happen to them? What does it mean? The counselor was very happy with my sister and said they were great

[NJ515 73]

20 hours ago, salhasl said:

The additional pressure you mean WOM? Or just news media? Or both? 

 

I don't think a mandamus is at play here. He got it in 2 months. Unless they filed mandamus the day he walked out of the interview. It seems like they did a humanitarian expedite for the moms brain surgery. This has worked for other people. 

I scheduled a consultation with them... the earliest opening they had was 19 June.

[JessM28 62]

20 hours ago, NJ515 said:

I scheduled a consultation with them... the earliest opening they had was 19 June.

Are you thinking of doing a WOM? Or are you saying just consulting with Pars Equality? Just curious because more and more people seem to be turning to WOM.