syed84

Ian I did think of that but me an my fiancée are too scared to go that extreme just incase we upset somebody at the consulate.

I will give it another week and write to them again.

ian-mstm

I'm not sure why you're scared... but, with respect, who cares if you upset somebody? Currently, no one at the Consulate cares about your case... so there's nothing to lose! Why should you care about hurting their feelings when they clearly don't much care about yours?


I think it would be a mistake to wait any longer. You've been polite so far... now it's time to get more aggressive. Unless you're prepared to take more aggressive action, you can't really complain about how things aren't going your way!

Ian

Speedwell

My guess? Because when you're doing what makes sense, and the responses to your actions don't make corresponding sense, you start either engaging in magical thinking ("maybe if I send my packet in on a Tuesday...") or believing that everything you're doing is wrong ("I had better not rock the boat because every time I do something they use it against me"). It's like that experiment with the button-trained animals, where they rigged the machine to start dropping food at random intervals not related to the button-pressing, and the test animals either started behaving weirdly in the apparent belief that twirling to the right or scratching before pressing the button was what caused the food to drop, or they gave up completely and sat despondently in a corner of the cage.

syed84

Thanks guys I am going to give until the end of the week and then be more aggressive. I just sent them another email on the contact form.


Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to request some advice about my K1 visa case. After being approved and surrendering my passport on 13th March 2013, my case was put into additional administrative processing. It has now been 22 weeks/167 days since my interview. I believe my medical was due to expire 29th July 2013.
The consulate has had my passport since 13th March 2013, and I will need this back to complete my medical. I e-mailed the consulate first on 25th July with the coded subject line, again on 12th August using the new e-mail tool online and a special delivery letter in the post on 20th August requesting the return of my passport. However, I have not yet received a response and am becoming increasingly concerned about having my passport within my possession.
Your advice or assistance would be very much appreciated. Please feel free to contact me via mail or e-mail.

Kind Regards

ian-mstm

You've just wasted an entire week.


With respect, you will likely not get any information - because you didn't even ask a single question!

Ian

hoffage123

Syed,

I'm not an expert on immigration stuff, but it may be better to write to them recorded delivery this week and outline what you want them to do.

1. Please return my passport within a week so I can complete my medical/complete my exam/follow through on travel arrangements etc.

2. Please can you indicate how far the checks have gone in terms of my additional administrative processing.

3. Please advise if there is any further information you require from myself to help support the processing of my application (documents etc.)

4. If any of the above is not possible please advise who is the complaints officer or authorising manager to progress this at a higher level.

Attach a special delivery envelope for return of your passport.

And as others have mentioned then all you can do is wait it out I guess.

ian-mstm

Just so you know, they will not respond to this item.

Ian

hoffage123

Syed, I hope this gets sorted for you - I must admit this kind of thing makes me very nervous for my own application (I have half of an ethnic sounding surname, and my original name is most definitely a Muslim name) ... I wonder how many cases get referred to AP in a year? Is it just a case of match the name?

Hoffage

syed84

Well they did reply to my letter by phone and confirmed they will be sending my passport back to me this week. Since 16th August I have had maybe 9-10 updates on my case.

They also advised not to complete a medical again until the consulate advises to do so.

The person I spoke to said she would leave the passport with the consulate to avoid courier costs as we may need it back soon.

I asked her does that mean you will be ready to make a decision soon and she backed up a little and said I am not sure but you have had several case updates which is a positive sign but I cannot really say more than that.

I then just asked to have my passport sent back and left it at that

syed84

Well they did reply to my letter by phone and confirmed they will be sending my passport back to me this week. Since 16th August I have had maybe 9-10 updates on my case.

They also advised not to complete a medical again until the consulate advises to do so.

The person I spoke to said she would leave the passport with the consulate to avoid courier costs as we may need it back soon.

I asked her does that mean you will be ready to make a decision soon and she backed up a little and said I am not sure but you have had several case updates which is a positive sign but I cannot really say more than that.

I then just asked to have my passport sent back and left it at that

syed84

CO just called me to apologize for the delay in responding to my several requests for having my passport returned. Said they will have it delivered by 10am monday

syed84

Finally got my passport today time to plan a trip

Speedwell

Small successes

syed84

So 188 days of AP just over 6 months, 469 days since NOA1 for K1 petition

Need to come up with a new action plan as I may have to wait for another 6 months maybe even a year with no guarantee of getting my K1. I think we will give it another few weeks before making an alternative decision.

Cannot keep our lives on hold because of being from a certain background or having a name that does not sound right

hoffage123

Syed,

I am really sorry to hear you are having the troubles you are having right now. But I would urge you to hold on - I don't think you are going to be denied, but it does seem like your file has got stuck in the AP system somewhere, which is really unfair I know.

It isn't a personal reflection on you but just a consequence of the actions of recent years (the war on terror etc) ...

Would your fiancé be able to visit you to get married in the UK possibly whilst you wait (maybe even a short visit under the VWP)? Maybe she could study in the UK something that she is interested in, as student visas are (from my own spouse's experience) a bit easier to get?