ndaudi07

Dear All,

Today, after a wait of over 5 months (since June 6, 2011), I noticed that my case on the online case status check PDF document (link at: http://london.usembassy.gov/administ...rocessing.html) had finally been updated to "Send passport".

I called DX Secure to arrange for passport delivery to the US embassy for issuance of the visa, but they told me that they had not yet received an update on their system with regards to my batch number. I then called the US embassy and indicated that my status had been updated online, and whether it is common for there to be a lag between when the embassy updates their status, and when the DX secure folks receive that update. The folks at the embassy seemed to know nothing about why DX secure hadn't received an update, and the folks at DX secure claim that they also didn't know why they hadn't received an update.

Does anyone have experience with this? Is it common that it takes some time for DX secure to receive an update from the embassy? The PDF document was last updated on November 9, 2011 at 16:00hrs, and my case status is updated to "send passport" with November 9, 2011 as the date next to my batch number.

Any help/advice with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

S Folinsky

I can't say about your particular situation -- but I could not help but take note of the dates and times in your post. From my experience in use of electronic banking and of on-line merchandise order [e.g. Amazon], I have noted differences in processing -- some people post information in real/time, many post every night.

The Embassy stated they processed it at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. I would not be surprised if the courier people don't put it into the system Wednesday evening.

Just saying.

ndaudi07

Thank you very much for your response, S Folinsky. I agree that it is fairly likely that reported times vary from the actual times at which the updating occurred, so it may well be a case of the embassy updating DX Secure a day later, which I hope is the case. I checked with DX Secure on a follow up call, and it turns out that they get updates from the embassy between 3-4PM everyday on updated cases, so hopefully that means that yesterday's update will be reflected by 4PM today.

I am just a bit anxious as I have been waiting for over 5 months now with my entire life/career in limbo, so this added uncertainty just raised an alarm for me. I'll wait till later this evening and see if there are any further updates.

Thanks for your help.

ndaudi07

Dear All,

After over 5 months in administrative processing (waiting since June 6, 2011), I finally saw that my online case status check had been updated from the ever-depressing "pending" to "send passport". The "send passport" status update is defined as follows on the embassy website:

"Send Passport (PPT): You are required to submit your passport for issuance of the visa. Submit your passport through the Embassy's contract courier service, DX Secure. You may arrange a collection by visiting their website at http://www.thedx.co.uk/."

Now, I know that I am probably just being paranoid, but after having gone through such a harrowing experience of waiting without any information for so many months with my entire career in jeopardy back in the US, I have the following questions:

1. Is there any chance that upon receipt of the passport by the embassy, and despite the extensive AP, I could be subject to further checks for some reason?
2. Has anyone experienced/come across cases where despite the 3-5 days the embassy states it takes to issue the visa, that cases have taken considerably longer before the passport is returned with the visa?
3. Finally, If point number 2 has been encountered, does anyone have experience with how long that delay could potentially be?

I know I should probably take it for granted that my visa is ready to be issued (given the definition cited above) and that all should be well within a few days, BUT after my AP experience, I can't help but wanting to be careful and discussing any potential aberrations.

I would greatly appreciate any insight into the points mentioned above.

Thanks to all in advance!

Noorah101

ndaudi07,

I merged your two threads, since they are of the same topic.

Rene
Moderator

ndaudi07

Thanks Rene - sorry I didn't realize that I should have merged the two threads. Appreciate it.

Noorah101

No problem.

To answer this part of your post:

2. Has anyone experienced/come across cases where despite the 3-5 days the embassy states it takes to issue the visa, that cases have taken considerably longer before the passport is returned with the visa?
3. Finally, If point number 2 has been encountered, does anyone have experience with how long that delay could potentially be?

I have seen others on here whose cases took longer to have the passport returned with the visa...could be up to 2 or 3 weeks, from what I've seen posted on here...although that's not the norm.

Rene

ndaudi07

Thanks for the response - I'm assuming that there probably isn't any way of knowing how long it could be once they receive my passport, right?

Noorah101

Right.

Rene

ndaudi07

Dear All,

Last week, after over 5 months of a hellish "administrative processing" period, my case status online had finally changed to "send passport". I then arranged for the collection of my passport via DX Secure etc, and thought all should be well and that I would receive my passport back in a few days with the issued visa. Last night, I decided to re-check the case status document to see if there had been any further update on my case, and had noticed that as of November 15, the status had changed back to "pending".

Does anyone know what this means? Could it be that I am being subject to administrative processing all over again, or does it simply mean that now that they have my passport, they are carrying out final checks and should be ready to issue my visa soon? I didn't know that the status could change back to "pending" once they ask for your passport, and was wondering if anyone had any experience dealing with this.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This has made me incredibly anxious all over again, and I just want to get a sense of whether this is something that is common, or whether I am potentially facing another lengthy delay.

Thank you for your help, and looking forward to some responses.

Noorah101

I think it would take longer than just a few days to get your passport back. Once it arrives at the embassy, it might sit in the mail room for a while...then it has to make it's way onto the ConOff's desk...then it probably sits there for a while until she has time to review it...then approve it...and still might need a supervisor to sign off on it, etc.

So "pending" probably doesn't mean anything serious right now...probably just means "pending" the final approval by the ConOff.

Rene

ndaudi07

Thanks for your response, Rene.

Is it common for this to happen, where the online case status check gets reset to "pending" while the embassy does its final clearance? I can understand if it's a few more weeks perhaps to get the sign off from the ConOff etc, but is there any way of knowing whether this could possibly be a more lengthy delay, like the first round of AP that I had to endure?

I did e-mail the embassy earlier today after obtaining an e-mail code from the hotline, but they often don't respond/respond after a few days.

Thanks again, and if anyone else has experienced anything similar, that would be helpful to hear about as well.

-Nadir

ian-mstm

In many respects, it was far less stressful when online updates didn't exist. People weren't constantly fretting over each update.

Respectfully, you should not have checked. Apparently, checking is bad for your health... so best not to. In due course, your passport will be returned.

FWIW, I agree with Rene.

Ian

Noorah101

I don't know how common it is.

I doubt there is any way of knowing until someone from the embassy gets back to you.

Rene

ndaudi07

Ian - thanks for your response mate. I couldn't agree with you more, but unfortunately I did decide to check, and unfortunately it did spark a whole new set of concerns from my end. I too wish that there wasn't any way of knowing - at least that way staying in the dark would have been more helpful than following every status update, and then reading too much into it. I can certainly confirm that checking so regularly has been bad for my health - as has this entire process of waiting with no end in sight.

Thanks for your help.