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cinn-sugar

Frustrating Interview at Seoul Embassy

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Pakistan
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I'm reaching out to see if anyone else has experienced something similar or has any advice regarding our situation. My husband and I recently had our visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul for his family-based green card, and we encountered several issues that have left us feeling frustrated and singled out. 

 

Our appointment was scheduled for 12:30 PM, but despite arriving on time, we were made to wait for an hour and a half before being interviewed. Other applicants, even those who arrived after us and had later queue numbers, were called in before us. We were waiting with our baby, which made the situation even more difficult.

 

During the interview, we were told that my husband’s application was found ineligible under Section 221(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. However, we overheard other applicants, all Korean nationals, being approved for visas despite having what seemed like weaker cases. It felt like our case was unfairly singled out because my husband is Pakistani.

 

The consular officer also asked for several documents related to my husband’s professional career (CV, list of publications, job description, and his Pakistani ID card). These documents are not listed on the National Visa Center (NVC) website as required for a family-based visa. It feels like these requests are unrelated to our case and possibly due to my husband’s nationality.

 

This isn’t our first issue with this Embassy. In 2022, we applied for a B2 visa for my husband so he could join me and our daughter on a trip to the U.S. for Christmas. Despite my repeated follow-ups, his visa was not issued until February 2023—well after our planned trip. We’re worried that this pattern of delays is happening again with our current application.

 

Has anyone else experienced this kind of treatment or unusual requests for documents in their visa process? Is it normal for certain nationalities to face additional scrutiny or delays, even when applying for a family-based green card? How did you handle similar situations, and what was the outcome? We’re feeling quite stressed about this situation, especially since we need to leave South Korea soon due to my husband’s expiring work contract.

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Ukraine
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3 hours ago, cinn-sugar said:

During the interview, we were told that my husband’s application was found ineligible under Section 221(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. However, we overheard other applicants, all Korean nationals, being approved for visas despite having what seemed like weaker cases. It felt like our case was unfairly singled out because my husband is Pakistani.

 

 

Typically 221(g) is a refusal of the visa due to the applicant not establishing eligibility.  Its the official way to place him on Administrative Processing, for the embassy to perform background checks.  For Pakistan, this means hiring a 3rd party investigation company to perform manual background checks.

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8 hours ago, cinn-sugar said:

However, we overheard other applicants, all Korean nationals, being approved for visas despite having what seemed like weaker cases. It felt like our case was unfairly singled out because my husband is Pakistani.

You don't know the details of the other cases, and you have no way of telling if those cases were weak or strong. What makes them stronger than your case, is that they were all nationals of the country they were interviewing in, so background checks on them are a lot easier. Your case was not singled out because your husband is Pakistani, but your case is more complicated because the required background checks are a LOT more difficult to complete for him. This may also explain why you had to wait longer; the interviewing officer may have needed more time to review the information.

 

8 hours ago, cinn-sugar said:

The consular officer also asked for several documents related to my husband’s professional career (CV, list of publications, job description, and his Pakistani ID card). These documents are not listed on the National Visa Center (NVC) website as required for a family-based visa. It feels like these requests are unrelated to our case and possibly due to my husband’s nationality.

The officer can request any documents that help them make a decision. These requests don't seem to have much to do with his nationality, but more with his field of work.

 

8 hours ago, cinn-sugar said:

This isn’t our first issue with this Embassy. In 2022, we applied for a B2 visa for my husband so he could join me and our daughter on a trip to the U.S. for Christmas. Despite my repeated follow-ups, his visa was not issued until February 2023—well after our planned trip. We’re worried that this pattern of delays is happening again with our current application.

He was VERY lucky to even get a B2 approved, considering his nationality and the fact that he is married to a US citizen.

 

You are not singled out or discriminated against, but the fact that your husband is a Pakistani national makes the process more complicated, just like it would be if he were from any other country with unreliable government systems.

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16 hours ago, cinn-sugar said:

My husband and I recently had our visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul for his family-based green card, and we encountered several issues that have left us feeling frustrated and singled out. 

You're not being singled out.  This is an issue for Pakistani males, for a variety of reasons, such as bad behavior and crimes committed by fellow Pakistanis, and lack of record-keeping in Pakistan.  

 

Had he been interviewed in Islamabad, the outcome would be the same.

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I don't want to alarm you but you will most likely have to wait at least 2 years. My wife who is from Iran interviewed in Turkey in May of 2023. She was put in AP since than and basically they have not finished the AP process for us.

We have started to file for Mandumas but honestly that does not work all the time and I am not so hopefuly that our case will get anywhere in the next year. I hope to be proven wrong tho.

 

I wish you luck but just try to continue with your life and stop checking the website daily.

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Filed: Citizen (pnd) Country: Lebanon
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7 hours ago, saied said:

I wish you luck but just try to continue with your life and stop checking the website daily.

Best advice.

The immigration process caused me PTSD.

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