I am so lost. Any feedback would be helpful. IR1 Visa

[Sammy2026 2]

Hi everyone,

Long story short: I overstayed my K1 visa and later married a different woman than the one on my K1. l've been married to my current wife for 7.5 years. We've bought a house together, and have been happily married.

I applied for the 601A waiver and it got approved. Then, they scheduled me for an interview in my home country.

 

I had the interview, and the interviewer asked for my 601A approval letter. She also asked why I needed to come back to my country to change my status and why I couldn't do it in the US. She spoke with two other officers for at least 15 minutes about my case.

 

Eventually, she told me that she believes my marriage is real and has no doubts about it. However, she needs more time to review my situation.

She kept my passport and told me my case is under "administrative review." 221g 

 

I'm unsure how long this process will take or what to expect next.
 

Has anyone been through something similar or can offer any advice or insight on what happens after "administrative review"?

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Dashinka 24,984]

Hmm, seems strange, as you did it the proper way.  Since you entered on a K1, but married someone different than your original I129F petitioner, you did not have the option to AOS through someone else inside the U.S.  Since you had an approved I601 waiver, and pursued consular processing, you should be fine.  No one can predict how long it will take as there are too many factors, but everything seems to be in order as you explained it, so hopefully your case will process soon.

 

Good Luck!

[Sammy2026 2]

15 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Hmm, seems strange, as you did it the proper way.  Since you entered on a K1, but married someone different than your original I129F petitioner, you did not have the option to AOS through someone else inside the U.S.  Since you had an approved I601 waiver, and pursued consular processing, you should be fine.  No one can predict how long it will take as there are too many factors, but everything seems to be in order as you explained it, so hopefully your case will process soon.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you, Dashinka. The interviewer asked me if I had my 601A waiver approval letter. Thank God I had it with me. You would think they would have it in their system.

[pushbrk 13,254]

I would expect a positive result.  Looks like  you got a junior officer who wasn't qualified to make the decision on their own.

[Sammy2026 2]

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

I would expect a positive result.  Looks like  you got a junior officer who wasn't qualified to make the decision on their own.

Thank you, sir, for your feedback. I believe the same thing, especially after she kept my passport (a good sign).

[Boiler 46,374]

I have seen a few of these, I would assume the Officer has niot.

[Dashinka 24,984]

3 hours ago, Sammy2026 said:

Thank you, sir, for your feedback. I believe the same thing, especially after she kept my passport (a good sign).

Generally when they keep,your passport it is a good sign.  If they though the administrative processing was gong to take a really long time they probably would have let you keep it until they needed it again.

 

Good Luck!

[Sammy2026 2]

23 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Generally when they keep,your passport it is a good sign.  If they though the administrative processing was gong to take a really long time they probably would have let you keep it until they needed it again.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you so much 

[mam521 2,295]

On 3/2/2025 at 4:09 AM, Sammy2026 said:

You would think they would have it in their system.

The waiver is issued by USCIS.  Interviews at the Consulates are handled by Department of State.  Logically, you'd think they work together, but yep...that's not necessarily the case.  That may also be why the CO was confused by your process and not adjusting status - lack of familiarity due to it being a USCIS jurisdiction, not DoS.  

 

Everyone goes through some degree of AP.  Hopefully yours is short because you would have had some sort of AP after the K1 interview and before that visa was issued.  As others said, it's a good sign they asked to keep your passport.  Hopefully your IR-1 will be issued soon!  

[Sammy2026 2]

15 minutes ago, mam521 said:

The waiver is issued by USCIS.  Interviews at the Consulates are handled by Department of State.  Logically, you'd think they work together, but yep...that's not necessarily the case.  That may also be why the CO was confused by your process and not adjusting status - lack of familiarity due to it being a USCIS jurisdiction, not DoS.  

 

Everyone goes through some degree of AP.  Hopefully yours is short because you would have had some sort of AP after the K1 interview and before that visa was issued.  As others said, it's a good sign they asked to keep your passport.  Hopefully your IR-1 will be issued soon!  

Thank you so much for the explanation; it makes a lot of sense now. I hope my AP won’t take too long. Is there anything I should do if it takes longer, like months?

[Sammy2026 2]

22 minutes ago, mam521 said:

Everyone goes through some degree of AP

What do you think they are doing exactly in this AP? Are they conducting background checks?

[mam521 2,295]

6 minutes ago, Sammy2026 said:

What do you think they are doing exactly in this AP? Are they conducting background checks?

Yep.  Verifying your identity, making sure you are who you are and that there isn't someone else with the same name that's done dodgy things.  Verifying your that biometrics match.  It's more challenging for people who come from countries where public records keeping is poor (think Pakistan, for example) and where people can frequently have the same name.  

 

You should help the community out by filling in your profile  : https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=485696

[pushbrk 13,254]

6 hours ago, Sammy2026 said:

Thank you so much for the explanation; it makes a lot of sense now. I hope my AP won’t take too long. Is there anything I should do if it takes longer, like months?

Knowing the country would help us answer that question.   Unless it's in the Middle East, probably just a few weeks.

[Sammy2026 2]

Just now, pushbrk said:

Knowing the country would help us answer that question

Morocco 

[Sammy2026 2]

Hi everyone, my case was updated today, but it still says 'refused.' What does that mean?