Apologies for the rambling post, but I was wondering if anyone has any insight or personal experience that might be relevant to our current scenario here:
My fiancée had her K-1 visa interview on the 10th (10 days ago) in Athens, Greece. At the conclusion of the interview she had the following exchange with the CO:
She was not told that she was approved, we were not issued 221(g), and prior to the interview with the CO, they took her passport during the document check portion of her appointment, which was not returned. She provided a return address during that check, prior to the actual interview with the CO.
Currently, we're nearing the two-week mark - but when we check CEAC, the status still shows as "READY - Your case is ready for your interview...".
I know from reading here, that it reads "ready" until it doesn't and that once things start moving, it'll change to Refused/Administrative Processing/Approved/etc. However, we’re stressed because looking at other timelines/Facebook/WhatsApp groups, we're seeing folks told they're approved *at* the interview, and turnarounds frequently in 1-3 days. Meanwhile, we continue to sit at "ready", ten days following the interview. While I realize that you're not actually Approved™️until you have the visa in your hand, we've seen so many recent accounts of people leaving the interview after being handed an "approval letter", or being told by the CO that they were "approved" or "recommending approval" - with CEAC being updated the same or next day, and visas in hand shortly thereafter. We've also talked to other folks who interviewed at the Athens embassy in the last year, and their turnaround time was within the first few days as well.
We emailed the Embassy this morning to ask if there was anything that they needed from us and were told that based on their records, our "case is pending for review" and that we "will be notified once they complete that process".
So here's what I'm wondering:
Looking at the quick turnaround time that others are seeing between interview and approval, is what we're experiencing normal? Should we be concerned? In the email we sent, we mentioned we were told "two weeks" and asked if that was still an accurate timeline, but they did not address that question in their response.
Could the fact that I hold a security clearance cause the visa process to slow down at this final step? The feds are already aware of my fiancée and her family - the proper information was disclosed on my latest renewal. I would have assumed that any background checks required would have been part of the process at some point in the **nineteen months** we've been waiting, but I guess it's possible that it would be the embassy actually GRANTING the visa to dig deeper into her and her family as part of the process (if that's even a thing that they consider or have flagged)?
Part of me feels like, if the clearance was prompting a deeper look into our file and if that was something that the embassy did (and not USCIS/DHS prior to sending it over to the NVC), that it would occur during the administrative processing phase (which our status does not read). Is it possible we're in AP regardless of CEAC says?
Does anyone here have any experience going through this process while holding a clearance? Did you hit any snags or delays that you suspect might have been related? Is this even a thing that could slow things down at this step?
Looking back at the wording of the COs response ("we're waiting for clearances"), I find myself wondering why that word didn't ring any bells until today when it hit us that that maybe that might explain the delay? It's certainly an oddly phrased answer to "can you tell me if I'm approved, especially considering we'd submitted all the appropriate police certificates ahead of time, so what "clearances" would they be waiting on?
So yeah, curious for people's thoughts re: the interview-approval timeline, or if anyone has experience with the clearance aspect of this.
Thanks!
Lived in Greece her entire life. Lived in Spain for school for less than a year, and has traveled within the EU, US, and Canada. Police certificates were provided for both Spain and Greece. Aside from the general "Is this normal?" question, I'm mainly curious if holding a government security clearance could cause my fiance's visa application to be subject to additional scrutiny/background checks - adding additional delays to the process following the interview. My gut says yes, but I'm genuinely curious if there's anyone here in a similar situation as myself, and whether or not they saw slowdowns at the end here like we are seeing, or if their turnaround was just a couple days like a lot of the folks who share their timelines online.