zaeemshoaib

@podeena Really sorry to hear about your issue. I have a close friend who faced the exact same issue as yours, though he had applied for a fiance visa. He had the interview in March 2020, and his passport was not returned, and after waiting for almost 2 years, his fiance had to file a mandamus suit, and he finally got his visa and passport back in October 2022. I really do pray and hope you get a positive response much sooner and hopefully before the medical expires. Just wanted to give you that context so you are prepared to reach out to a lawyer to file a mandamus if god forbid it is needed. This is why I was urging everyone who has the means to transfer their cases because anything can happen with the Islamabad embassy.

Took 2 weeks to get the UAE residence permit, 3 days to change the embassy and got the interview letter in 25 days after that. The interview took place about 30 days after I received the interview letter. I would like to disagree here. Yes, record keeping in Pakistan is bad but that does not mean all the people applying have faulty records. The vast majority of people applying for immigration are educated professionals and have their records in order. As for giving the interview in English, your command over the language really has no bearing on whether you're eligible to immigrate or not. If you're not confident in speaking English, then yes, it makes sense to get a translator. But I'm not a native speaker or have any degrees in English and gave the interview in English and had no issues. Multiple people, even those not on the same speaking level as me, gave the interview in English and were approved easily. It is not productive to hold native speakers on a pedestal either. I know "native speakers" who are far below and also far above my speaking level as well. Everyone's speaking abilities are different and they are not dependent on the education system. Immigration being a matter of security does not mean that the embassy has to give aspiring immigrants a hard time or look for reasons to deny, that literally goes against the entire concept of immigration and US immigration law. Yes, the onus is on the applicant to provide all their documents but then it is the embassy's responsibility to do background checks etc. to ensure that security rather than trying to trip up people in interviews with trick questions. No other embassy except Islamabad operates this way. Some more productive advice would be: Try to not get nervous, the counselors are people just like you. Be confident during the interview, have your answers prepared beforehand no matter what language you're giving the interview in. Look up what questions are asked in immigration interviews and practice your answers with someone. Keep your answers in line with your main mandatory documents and any additional documents you are providing.

There must be a directive given to them to do this stuff because I have now seen how the Abu Dhabi embassy operates and went through the process there and it is leagues ahead in efficiency. I don't believe any other embassies around the world are this bad either. I'm just glad I avoided all this mess and am through it. I incurred a lot of costs for getting residence, shifting my case and living in the UAE for a month or so but now it all seems worth it.

The US embassy in Islamabad is just a joke at this point. These horror stories of them not even returning passports after approval are way too common. I'm so glad I transferred my case to the UAE (Yes, you need to have legal residency in the UAE to do that). After the transfer, which took 3-4 days, I got my interview within one month (Feb 2022 DQ) and got my passport back from the Abu Dhabi Embassy within 3 days with my visa.

Legal residency or citizenship are still major requirements to transfer your case to another embassy. I don't think anything has changed here.

I'm sorry to be so negative but there is no way to get their attention or contact them to get anything other than a generalized templated email. Senators only respond to help requests in humanitarian cases, filling out those forms will not do anything. There is no way to send any letters to the ambassador. Petitions are not going to do anything either. They are not even responding to genuine expedite requests. There is no way to protest and let's face it, when has a protest in Pakistan ever accomplished anything? If they wanted to fix things after COVID, they would have by now, like embassies in other countries. Unless you can somehow get the US President himself to take note of the situation and call them up, nothing is going to happen. If you've been waiting for more than a year after getting documentarily qualified, then file a mandamus lawsuit against them. That is literally the only way to get their attention and get a response. If I do not get a response by February, I am filing a lawsuit and I highly suggest anyone in the same situation to do the same.