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AP is hours to years. There is no set time. Mine was only showing 'Administrative Processing' for about two hours - as we've said above, EVERYBODY goes through AP. It's simply final checks before a visa is issued. Not sure what you mean by 'recd', please type the full word out?

As it's a dependent visa rather than a standalone one, it would just come under L-1 I think.

It sounds like you will need a waiver, the downside of that is the time it takes for that to be processed. But the immigration lawyers should be on the case for you. Good luck.

It's nothing to do with race. But you're well over average processing times, so have you submitted a case enquiry?

You have no way to stay though. And unfortunately by overstaying you have made things so much worse, if you'd left you'd have been able to keep visiting, but now you have a ban. If you leave before you have a year's overstay then your ban is 3 years, rather than 10, so please think really carefully about overstaying beyond that date. The longer you leave it, the worst it is likely to be - particularly with the current administration. Would your husband bring the children to visit you in Europe if you're waiting out a ban? Is your family court lawyer aware that you have no way of staying in the US and that the only option for the children to stay with you is for you to remove the children from the US to take them home with you? Says above she's overstayed more than 180 days but less than a year.

Then I'm sorry but unless you can find another route to stay (employment etc), there is no option for you to adjust now. You should leave before you reach a year of overstay, as at that point a 10 year ban will kick in - plus of course you're at risk of being deported now as you have no legal status, and it would be better to go voluntarily rather than face that. How old are your children? The eldest could petition you when s/he reaches 21.

What exactly has been filed and when?

You've been approved for an interview waiver based on very basic information, but they then still have to look at your information and decide whether or not to grant you a visa. As part of that they can call you for an interview at any time, or request any documentation they want.

Odd that it doesn't say that then and says 'ALL nonimmigrant'. But in any event it sounds like you applied before the rule change, all I'm saying is that they can still call you for an interview.

No it’s not. https://qa.usembassy.gov/updated-visa-interview-waiver-procedures/

As the interview waiver scheme has now been scrapped it might just be that they’re doing extra checks to see if they call you for an interview. Out of interest, is your wife a permanent resident of Bahrain?

I think so. The point about Pakistan being added to the banned list is a good one, it would be awful for that to happen if you’d done a K-1. But I wouldn’t marry after just one visit, plan a couple at least and then try and get more time together whilst the I-130 is being processed so that you have plenty of evidence for the interview. Good luck.

Yep, which is great, but that's only specific to the reason for the waiver, it doesn't check your other eligibility for any visa. They will be doing that now before getting you back for another interview and advising on a new medical etc. Hopefully it won't be too much longer, good luck.

No, there's no right to enter the US if you're an EU passport holder. They are eligible to apply for ESTA, but it won't necessarily be granted. As part of the application they'll have asked if he had ever been refused a visa for the US, so assuming he answered that truthfully and said yes (if he didn't, then that's a whole other issue!), then that's probably why it was refused. He can reapply, but I'd leave it at least a year before trying again.

It could be less or a lot longer than that, no way of knowing what checks they're doing now or how long they'll take.

You didn't mention that it was an interview waiver, if so then your wife's was processed very quickly. It says at least 10-14 working days for processing - https://qa.usembassy.gov/visa-interview-waiver/ Everybody goes through some form of AP before a visa is granted/printed, I had an interview waiver too but still had AP as a status after approved and before issued (albeit it was only on that status for a couple of hours before it then changed to issued). All you can do it wait and see what happens. It may change to AP, or issued, or you may be called for an interview.

If February or March 2026 would be after just one visit then will give you an uphill battle - for a high fraud consulate you'll ideally have spent much more time together to stand the best chance of the visa being approved. But if you married then applied you're a good way off a visa application, so at least that would give you time to have a few more visits together before the interview. They don't have to be to Pakistan or the US, they could be to a third country where you can meet. Good luck.

Not necessarily.

**Post moved to What Visa Do I Need forum, as OP is not sure which visa route to take** @Crazy Cat, when you get a moment, would you mind sharing your list?

Even a 'normal' case is 3-4 months for an interview to be scheduled. I think you're just expecting it too soon tbh.

No. She will have received a written denial but maybe just chucked it away?

She can get her biometrics done at any time, that makes no difference. What were the reasons given for the previous denials? She will have been told why. And when was she last rejected? If she keeps trying too often it doesn’t look good, so make sure she doesn’t rush to apply too soon after her last rejection.

They are two separate cases, but if your wife only got ‘issued’ last week then it’s probably just too early for her passport to be back. They say to allow 2 weeks and don’t forget it’s a holiday weekend too. You might be in AP, just a case of waiting it out.

How do you think this is a 'genuine marriage'? Honest question, do you think that's normal for happily married spouses? It's really not. This guy has made it pretty clear he has no interest in seeing you, staying married to you, or in you staying in the US. There is no route to a visa for you from what you've said, I agree with the above - time to cut your losses and head home.

What do you mean it got transferred without you knowing? What does your online status say now? As said above if it’s a spousal visa you don’t have anything to do with the interview being scheduled, it’s done for you. Once your case is Documentarily Complete at NVC (i.e. you’ve paid the fees, completed the DS-260 and had docs accepted) then you’re added to the line for an interview and will be contacted by NVC when it’s scheduled. It won’t be sent to the consulate until the interview has been scheduled, it stays at NVC until then. It’s a long line for Ghana, approx 2 years wait for an interview letter so if your timeline is accurate and that’s your consulate you won’t hear anything for quite some time. Good luck.