Category: Administrative Processing

What to do if the US Embassy placed you into Administrative Processing?

8/17/2023

On June 8, 2023, the U.S. Department of State announced that it had adopted new technology to reduce the time for Administrative Processing. Currently, Administrative Processing lacks any predictability and transparency, and many U.S. visa applications wait for the decision for many weeks, months or years.
Many Administrative Processing visa cases are still taking a very long time. This is particularly true for Russian, Chinese, and Iranian applicants, including individuals who held visas in the past, are currently living in the United States, or have U.S. citizen family members.

As the DOS stated: "National security is our top priority. Before issuing any visa, we ensure that every prospective traveler is subject to extensive security screening. Now, we can do this in a much more streamlined manner."

Applicants living in the United States needing a visa to return should seek advice on the risk of a lengthy delay before leaving the country. In some instances, deferring travel may be advisable.

If a visa applicant is told that they will be placed into Administrative Processing, they should take the following steps:

Ask the interviewing officer why the application is going into Administrative Processing, what are the reasons;
Ask how long the officer believes it will take for the application to clear Administrative Processing, what is an estimate;
Make notes immediately after the interview of all of the questions asked by the consular officer, write it down;
Preserve any paperwork given to you after the interview, keep the copies of all paperwork;
Seek professional legal advice BEFORE (not after) submitting responses to any questionnaires or requests for additional evidence.

To schedule a consultation with an attorney, please email or use our scheduling app.

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How to Check a Non-Immigrant Visa Appointment Wait Times at U.S. Embassies and Consulates?

1/10/2019

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How to Check a Non-Immigrant Visa Appointment Wait Times at Different U.S. Embassies and Consulates Around the World?

If you plan to apply for a nonimmigrant visa to come to the United States as a temporary visitor, please review the current wait time for an interview using the tool at the link below. Examples of nonimmigrant visas: student F-1, visitor B-1/B-2, exchange visitor J-1, H-1B, L visa, etc.

Please note that K-1 fiancee visa is a nonimmigrant visa which has its own scheduling system because it is processed at the Immigrant Visa Unit of the U.S. embassy or consulate.

Click here for visa appointment times.

To schedule a consultation with an attorney, please email.

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Extreme Vetting: Dept of State May Ask 65,000 Foreigners with Threat Profiles for Extra Information

5/5/2017

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On May 4, 2017, the U.S. Department of State published in the Federal Register the following public notice: Public Notice: 9984, Notice of Information Collection Under OMB Emergency Review: Supplemental Questions for Visa Applicants.

"The Department proposes requesting the following information, if not already included in an application, from a subset of visa applicants worldwide, in order to more rigorously evaluate applicants for terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities:

• Travel history during the last fifteen years, including source of funding for travel;
• Address history during the last fifteen years;
• Employment history during the last fifteen years;
• All passport numbers and country of issuance held by the applicant;
• Names and dates of birth for all siblings;
• Name and dates of birth for all children;
• Names and dates of birth for all current and former spouses, or civil or domestic partners;
• Social media platforms and identifiers, also known as handles, used during the last five years; and
• Phone numbers and email addresses used during the last five years.

Most of this information is already collected on visa applications but for a shorter time period, e.g. five years rather than fifteen years.

Requests for names and dates of birth of siblings and, for some applicants, children are new. The request for social media identifiers and associated platforms is new for the Department of State, although it is already collected on a voluntary basis by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for certain individuals.

The estimated number of respondents represents the estimate of relevant State Department officials that 0.5% of U.S. visa applicants worldwide, or in the range of 65,000 individuals per year, will present a "threat profile", based on individual circumstances and information they provide, that will lead U.S. consular officers at posts around the world to conclude the applicant warrants enhanced screening that takes into account the information that is proposed to be collected."

"Regarding travel history, applicants may be requested to provide details of their international or domestic (within their country of nationality) travel, if it appears to the consular officer that the applicant has been in an area while the area was under the operational control of a terrorist organization as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi). Applicants may be asked to recount or explain the details of their travel, and when possible, provide supporting documentation."

"This information collection implements the directive of the President, in the Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security of March 6, 2017, to implement additional protocols and procedures focused on ‘‘ensur[ing] the proper collection of all information necessary to rigorously evaluate all grounds of inadmissibility or deportability, or grounds for the denial of other immigration benefits.’’

Extreme vetting or enhanced screening protocols will not apply to all visa applicants, but to select ones, who present potentially a "threat profile".

In Russian:

В исполнение указа президента США от 6 марта 2017, Госдеп США опубликовал план новой программы усиленной проверки подозрительных заявителей на визу, так называемых "threat profiles".

Усиленной проверке будут подвергаться не все заявители на визу, а выборочная группа лиц. Например, лица, которые подозреваются в связи с террористическими организациями, которые путешествовали в старын или регионы, где такие группы существуют.

По расчетам Госдепа США, такх лиц наберется около 65 000 в год, то есть пока они не собираются применять эти меры ко всем заявителем на визу.

4 мая 2017 Госдеп опубликовал новый список мер:

Требование предоставить историю поездок за границу за последние 15 лет.
Возможны детальные расспросы о поездках на интервью на визу, и затребование документов.
Все адреса проживания за последние 15 лет.
Трудовая история за последние 15 лет.
Все номера паспортов и страны выдавшие паспорта
Имена и даты рождения всех братьев и сестер.
Имена и даты рождения всех детей, вне зависимости от возраста, проживания
Имена и даты рождения всех бывших мужей и жен. А также всех гражданских жен и мужей (это совершенно новое требование, которое может быть истолковано очень широко)
Все ваши аккаунты на социальных платформах social media accounts, которыми вы пользовались в последние 5 лет. (Они пока не указывают, что будут тредовать пароль или доступ, а только указать имя на аккаунте)
Все номера телефонов и email addresses, которыми вы пользовались в течение последних 5 лет.

Unknown artist "Battle of Yuri Gagarin and Darth Vader"

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What to do if the US Embassy placed you into Administrative Processing?

How to Check a Non-Immigrant Visa Appointment Wait Times at U.S. Embassies and Consulates?

Extreme Vetting: Dept of State May Ask 65,000 Foreigners with Threat Profiles for Extra Information

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