US Embassy Manila - Passport Return Delay - HELP!!!! [merged threads]

[CFS 14]

On 9/18/2023 at 9:06 PM, Dave Knapp said:

We updated her NBI in February.  It's good on it's face for 12 months, but who knows?  I agree that US Citizen Services probably won't yield anything, but when I approach Senators and my Congressman I can say that I left no stone unturned. 

 

 @Dave Knapp - any update from the Embassy?

[Dave Knapp 47]

46 minutes ago, CFS said:

 

 @Dave Knapp - any update from the Embassy?

None. Spoke to Consular Officer who notarized a power of attorney for me.  He gave me the numbers and email address we already had. 45 days since her interview and no idea what the issue is.  Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.  That's an additional 4 month delay. Approval after 10/17  means we travel no sooner than March of next year.   Next step is congressman and senators.  

[CFS 14]

1 hour ago, Dave Knapp said:

None. Spoke to Consular Officer who notarized a power of attorney for me.  He gave me the numbers and email address we already had. 45 days since her interview and no idea what the issue is.  Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.  That's an additional 4 month delay. Approval after 10/17  means we travel no sooner than March of next year.   Next step is congressman and senators.  

 

I'm so sorry to hear that (and thanks for making the time to post here). From reading other posts on this site, I know that sometimes people are asked to go through the DS-5535 process even after being told that they're "good to go" at the interview. That said, were this the case, the Embassy should have informed you of this and let you know regarding the e-form you would have needed to fill out. 

 

The repeat sputum exam is such a headache (we've been there). Let me know if it gets to this point and you need help on how to proceed - the Embassy isn't always straightforward on how to approach this. In our case, they issued a 221(g) request for the medical but did not provide the special # we had to provide St. Luke's for them to even begin re-scheduling the repeat medical. After we finally got that figured out, it was a 6 week wait until my spouse could even go through the sputum testing. 

 

Hoping things will look up in your case. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by CFS

[RO_AH 1,659]

On 9/22/2023 at 1:59 PM, Dave Knapp said:

Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.

My wife was flagged for sputum testing on her medical. Everything was difficult during covid, and her visa was approved just days before the medical expired so we had to redo it. 2nd time the x-ray was clear so she did not have to do sputum the second exam. So basically the supervisor you talked to has no clue. It is not a guarantee she would have to do it again.

[Dave Knapp 47]

4 hours ago, RO_AH said:

My wife was flagged for sputum testing on her medical. Everything was difficult during covid, and her visa was approved just days before the medical expired so we had to redo it. 2nd time the x-ray was clear so she did not have to do sputum the second exam. So basically the supervisor you talked to has no clue. It is not a guarantee she would have to do it again.

The supervisor was clear about their policy, which is if there's a spot on the chest Xray she will have to undergo sputum testing. She has fibrosis in her left lung.  Cant miss it. Maybe their radiologist will correctly call it, but I doubt it.  They tend to fail safe. 

[Dave Knapp 47]

On 9/23/2023 at 9:10 AM, CFS said:

 

I'm so sorry to hear that (and thanks for making the time to post here). From reading other posts on this site, I know that sometimes people are asked to go through the DS-5535 process even after being told that they're "good to go" at the interview. That said, were this the case, the Embassy should have informed you of this and let you know regarding the e-form you would have needed to fill out. 

 

The repeat sputum exam is such a headache (we've been there). Let me know if it gets to this point and you need help on how to proceed - the Embassy isn't always straightforward on how to approach this. In our case, they issued a 221(g) request for the medical but did not provide the special # we had to provide St. Luke's for them to even begin re-scheduling the repeat medical. After we finally got that figured out, it was a 6 week wait until my spouse could even go through the sputum testing. 

 

Hoping things will look up in your case. 

We haven't received a 221g, or anything except an email response to my wife's inquiry which stated her case review has been escalated.  I don't know if that's good news or bad news. Thanks for the hug.  We'll keep all informed as this progresses. If she has her passport back by Oct 17, I think we can get it together to go by Oct 31. It'll be ugly, but we could go, even if I came back for a couple days to retrieve the rest of the stuff we couldn't manage in our haste.

 

[RO_AH 1,659]

3 hours ago, Dave Knapp said:

The supervisor was clear about their policy, which is if there's a spot on the chest Xray she will have to undergo sputum testing. She has fibrosis in her left lung.  Cant miss it. Maybe their radiologist will correctly call it, but I doubt it.  They tend to fail safe. 

If the supervisor was very clear, then they would tell you that she will receive another x-ray and they will make a determination from that x-ray. The way that you made it sound is that if you had sputum once you will automatically have to do it again which is not true.

 

Hopefully you make it out first.

Edited September 26, 2023 by RO_AH

[Dave Knapp 47]

16 hours ago, RO_AH said:

If the supervisor was very clear, then they would tell you that she will receive another x-ray and they will make a determination from that x-ray. The way that you made it sound is that if you had sputum once you will automatically have to do it again which is not true.

 

Hopefully you make it out first.

Whatever.

[Dave Knapp 47]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:59 AM, Dave Knapp said:

None. Spoke to Consular Officer who notarized a power of attorney for me.  He gave me the numbers and email address we already had. 45 days since her interview and no idea what the issue is.  Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.  That's an additional 4 month delay. Approval after 10/17  means we travel no sooner than March of next year.   Next step is congressman and senators.  

We took the Washington DC route today.  Two senators and two congressman, one in Florida from where I'm registered to vote, and one in New York where we're buying a house to live in.  I played the retired military card for the first time as well.  Nothing left to do. It's been 728 days since we filed.  Oct 3 is 2 years. 

[W199 333]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:59 PM, Dave Knapp said:

None. Spoke to Consular Officer who notarized a power of attorney for me.  He gave me the numbers and email address we already had. 45 days since her interview and no idea what the issue is.  Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.  That's an additional 4 month delay. Approval after 10/17  means we travel no sooner than March of next year.   Next step is congressman and senators.  

Did they allow your wife to go in with you?

 

And what was his excuses for not being able to lift a finger and either check in their computer, call over to the visa processing department, or to be able to put in a help ticket to get more info and then email you back?  Seems absurd he couldn't or wouldn't do anything at all for you. 

[Dave Knapp 47]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:59 AM, Dave Knapp said:

None. Spoke to Consular Officer who notarized a power of attorney for me.  He gave me the numbers and email address we already had. 45 days since her interview and no idea what the issue is.  Her medical expires 11/. Spoke with a supervisor at St Lukes.  She will have to undergo sputum testing again.  That's an additional 4 month delay. Approval after 10/17  means we travel no sooner than March of next year.   Next step is congressman and senators.  

UPDATE.  I contacted my Congressman's office on Monday October 2 via their online form...... wasn't expecting much.  Got an email back from them on Wednesday saying they had filed the inquiry with the State Dept. Our daily CEAC check on Friday showed the visa as ISSUED.  WOW.  Shipping data was available Saturday from LBC and it was delivered Monday evening at about 7:30.  Could have been a coincidence, but I don't think so.  Thanks for all the support and ideas.  We're flying out of the Philippines on Oct 31 and into JFK on Nov 1, with 1 day to spare.