221g after K1 Interview in Frankfurt - sent documents, now AP?

[Yarusenai 17]

Hi everyone,

 

I am very worried right now so I figured I would ask around a bit. I had my interview last tuesday (23rd April) in Frankfurt. Everything went pretty well, they kept my passport and said the only thing missing is my fianceés tax transcript of 2018. So he gave me a white 221g form, writing tax transcript 2018 on there and gave me the email adress to send it to.

 

Said and done, I sent them it the same day - I later realized what my fianceé sent me was actually her 2018 tax return, not the tax transcript. However, they said they received the return and the consular officer is reviewing it and they will let me know if that's enough or if they still need the tax transcript or anything else.

 

As of today, 2nd May, the CEAC status still shows Administrative Processing, last updated on tuesday, 30th april. I am very worried this will take a while, mostly because the flight is already booked (I booked it after the interview since all seemed well and it seemed like this would be a quick process). Has anyone made any experiences with how long it takes Frankfurt to look over a single document sent after the interview? So far they haven't gotten back to me to request anything else, which I assume is good news, but still - I am worried this will take a very long time. Any experiences? Thank you!

Edited May 2, 2019 by Yarusenai

[Kowatti 189]

37 minutes ago, Yarusenai said:

Hi everyone,

 

I am very worried right now so I figured I would ask around a bit. I had my interview last tuesday (23rd April) in Frankfurt. Everything went pretty well, they kept my passport and said the only thing missing is my fianceés tax transcript of 2018. So he gave me a white 221g form, writing tax transcript 2018 on there and gave me the email adress to send it to.

 

Said and done, I sent them it the same day - I later realized what my fianceé sent me was actually her 2018 tax return, not the tax transcript. However, they said they received the return and the consular officer is reviewing it and they will let me know if that's enough or if they still need the tax transcript or anything else.

 

As of today, 2nd May, the CEAC status still shows Administrative Processing, last updated on tuesday, 30th april. I am very worried this will take a while, mostly because the flight is already booked (I booked it after the interview since all seemed well and it seemed like this would be a quick process). Has anyone made any experiences with how long it takes Frankfurt to look over a single document sent after the interview? So far they haven't gotten back to me to request anything else, which I assume is good news, but still - I am worried this will take a very long time. Any experiences? Thank you!

Hi.  There is nothing more you can do at this point until they complete the AP.  Here on VJ, we always suggest that you don't schedule your flight until after you have gotten the actual visa in your hand.  Best wished.

[Yarusenai 17]

Just now, PandT said:

Hi.  There is nothing more you can do at this point until they complete the AP.  Here on VJ, we always suggest that you don't schedule your flight until after you have gotten the actual visa in your hand.  Best wished.

Thank you for the response. Yeah, we tried to plan things beforehand, but I suppose I should have waited a bit with the flight. It is still 3 weeks out, which I thought was more than enough time, especially since the interview went very well and the consular officer said "Well, we just need this transcript, then we can issue the visa and after we looked over it, it will be there in 10 business days". Seemed very reassuring to me...

[Kowatti 189]

7 minutes ago, Yarusenai said:

Thank you for the response. Yeah, we tried to plan things beforehand, but I suppose I should have waited a bit with the flight. It is still 3 weeks out, which I thought was more than enough time, especially since the interview went very well and the consular officer said "Well, we just need this transcript, then we can issue the visa and after we looked over it, it will be there in 10 business days". Seemed very reassuring to me...

Unfortunately, we are at their mercy in this journey.  Your flight is 3 weeks from now & that might be cutting it kind of close.  Hang in there.  I hope you hear something soon. 

[Yarusenai 17]

Just now, PandT said:

Unfortunately, we are at their mercy in this journey.  Your flight is 3 weeks from now & that might be cutting it kind of close.  Hang in there.  I hope you hear something soon. 

Thank you! Nothing to do but wait and bug them occassionally, I guess.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

I never heard about a long AP from Frankfurt and since it was just last week I wouldnt worry too much now.

If you can't cancel the flight you can't do much anyways. Hope it works out 

[Yarusenai 17]

24 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

I never heard about a long AP from Frankfurt and since it was just last week I wouldnt worry too much now.

If you can't cancel the flight you can't do much anyways. Hope it works out 

Yeah, I can just wait and see; I just wonder what takes so long. I did hear that the CEAC website isn't 100 % reliable though so I am not even sure if I can believe it. I sent them an email on tuesday and they said the document is under review.

[carmel34 3,635]

Hopefully your flight can be changed if necessary without too much of a penalty.  Most airlines allow for re-booking, even with non-refundable tickets for an extra fee, so you should be okay even if your visa does not arrive in time.  Good luck!

[Yarusenai 17]

3 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

Hopefully your flight can be changed if necessary without too much of a penalty.  Most airlines allow for re-booking, even with non-refundable tickets for an extra fee, so you should be okay even if your visa does not arrive in time.  Good luck!

I hope it won't come to that! Thank you

[Greenbaum 12,259]

8 hours ago, Yarusenai said:

Yeah, I can just wait and see; I just wonder what takes so long. I did hear that the CEAC website isn't 100 % reliable though so I am not even sure if I can believe it. I sent them an email on tuesday and they said the document is under review.

CEAC is reliable but only after your case has been assigned a case number which yours has. The little tidbit of information that comes from CEAC has to be deciphered unfortunately. Here is what happens after your interview.

 

Just about everyone goes through this process.  Based on the discussions I had with the case officer he informed me of the steps to complete the processing of your visa:

 

the first AP is the immigration unit doing the paperwork for approving the visa

the first ready is a notice that they are finished and the paperwork is being sent for visa issuance

the second AP is the visa issuance people doing their own paperwork

the second ready is that the visa has been issued and is currently being processed for delivery

 

Then "issue" is posted and the visa has left the BIG house to YOUR house.

 

Once you get that second ready, it should be sent out within a few days, although we received our visa before any of the various websites that allow you to look up the status said that it had been sent out.

 

There isn't anything you can do at this time. You have to wait till your case begins to move. Keep your eye on CEAC for these steps. So here is what you are looking for:

 

When the Embassy is ready to issue a visa, it will change to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application"; at that time, you will know that you are a few days away from getting the visa. It will go from "Immigrant Visa Application" to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application" status and then your visa changes to "Ready" ==> "Administrative Processing" ==>> "Issued" status as well. These steps sometimes transpire over a day, a few days or a month or longer. Some smaller Embassy's it happens within hours.

 

Sometimes, it might skip "Administrative Processing" and go from "Ready" to "Issued".

 

Good luck

 

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Greenbaum

[Yarusenai 17]

1 minute ago, Greenbaum said:

CEAC is reliable but only after your case has been assigned a case number which yours has. The little tidbit of information that comes from CEAC has to be deciphered unfortunately. Here is what happens after your interview.

 

Just about everyone goes through this process.  Based on the discussions I had with the case officer he informed me of the steps to complete the processing of your visa:

 

the first AP is the immigration unit doing the paperwork for approving the visa

the first ready is a notice that they are finished and the paperwork is being sent for visa issuance

the second AP is the visa issuance people doing their own paperwork

the second ready is that the visa has been issued and is currently being processed for delivery

 

Then "issue" is posted and the visa has left the BIG house to YOUR house.

 

Once you get that second ready, it should be sent out within a few days, although we received our visa before any of the various websites that allow you to look up the status said that it had been sent out.

 

There isn't anything you can do at this time. You have to wait till your case begins to move. Keep your eye on CEAC for these steps. So here is what you are looking for:

 

When the Embassy is ready to issue a visa, it will change to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application"; at that time, you will know that you are a few days away from getting the visa. It will go from "Immigrant Visa Application" to "Nonimmigrant Visa Application" status and then your visa changes to "Ready" ==> "Administrative Processing" ==>> "Issued" status as well. These steps sometimes transpire over a day or even a few days. Some smaller Embassy's it happens within hours.

 

Sometimes, it might skip "Administrative Processing" and go from "Ready" to "Issued".

 

Good luck

 

 

Thank you. I hope it'll happen soon.

[Yarusenai 17]

The date changed to today, but it still says AP. I guess that's a good sign?

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

21 minutes ago, Yarusenai said:

The date changed to today, but it still says AP. I guess that's a good sign?

You know that somebody is working on it.  That ja a good thing 

[Yarusenai 17]

1 minute ago, Letspaintcookies said:

You know that somebody is working on it.  That ja a good thing 

Hopefully! I did send them an email earlier; I hope that's not the reason it updated lol. But I didn't get a response yet so I don't think so.´, it updated like an hour ago.

[Greenbaum 12,259]

1 hour ago, Yarusenai said:

The date changed to today, but it still says AP. I guess that's a good sign?

Everytime the date changes someone is "touching" your case. That's movement any way you look at it.