AlexanderAshok

Hello Group,

I applied for H1B visa on June 2004 at US Embassy, London and the Visa Officer said that I have to go for an Adminstrative Processing.

Its almonst 11 months now and today I called Department of State(DOS), Washington. A lady said that I have to call the US Embassy in London in order to know my status... UNtill now when I used to call the DOS, the lady used to say that my adminstrative processing is still pending..... but now she asked me to contact the embassy directly..

So what does that mean???.... Does it mean that visa is approved or will they ask for further documents or something else...??? Does this happen to all 221g Adminstrative processing cases???

FYI: I hold an Indian Passport with British Degree, if that makes an difference.

Thanks... Alex.

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:
    | Hello Group,
    |
    | I applied for H1B visa on June 2004 at US Embassy, London and the Visa
    | Officer said that I have to go for an Adminstrative Processing.
    |
    | Its almonst 11 months now and today I called Department of State(DOS),
    | Washington. A lady said that I have to call the US Embassy in London in
    | order to know my status... UNtill now when I used to call the DOS, the
    | lady used to say that my adminstrative processing is still pending.....
    | but now she asked me to contact the embassy directly..
    |
    | So what does that mean???.... Does it mean that visa is approved or will
    | they ask for further documents or something else...??? Does this happen
    | to all 221g Adminstrative processing cases???

I really don't know what it means. But my guess is that it is not an
approval. Most government agencies tend to be pretty open about the
"congratulations" case but try to pass the buck when it comes to problem
cases.

It may well mean exactly what she told you: "we don't want to deal with
these kinds of inquiries, please ask the Consulate". It may also mean
that it is no longer pending, but they want to leave it to the Consulate
to tell you the outcome. Or, as you suspected, it may also mean that
there are more questions, and they would ask for additional documents.

Whether that happens to all 221(g) administrative processing questions
is really a moot question: most people don't take the initiative and
call DoS in the first place.

- --
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encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
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AlexanderAshok

Thansks Ingo for your Instant reply...

Ingo, I called the DOS yesterday and the lady said that my case is STILL PENDING but I have to contact the US Embassy in London.... I have read from many different forum that, sometimes, DOS just gives the information to the Embassy and the Visa Officer decided whether to give the visa or not....Will that be the same for me or what?????

I have Emailed to the US Embassy in London, but there is no reply... Actually, I am in India for vacation, can I fax to US Embassy and tell them my problem or do I need to come to UK and then do the fax..... I am planning to live in INDIA untill my clearance comes...

Please reply me back...

Regards-Alex

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:

    | Thansks Ingo for your Instant reply...

    | Ingo, I called the DOS yesterday and the lady said that my case is STILL
    | PENDING but I have to contact the US Embassy in London.... I have read
    | from many different forum that, sometimes, DOS just gives the
    | information to the Embassy and the Visa Officer decided whether to give
    | the visa or not....Will that be the same for me or what?????

Yes, it is *always* like that. DoS does not have the power to decide
your visa application, only the consular officer does. At least in a
formal sense. In a practical sense, the officer is bound by law to take
the outcome of the administrative processing into account. So he really
won't have much choice about it.

    | I have Emailed to the US Embassy in London, but there is no reply...
    | Actually, I am in India for vacation, can I fax to US Embassy and tell
    | them my problem or do I need to come to UK and then do the fax..... I
    | am planning to live in INDIA untill my clearance comes...

You'll probably need to call the consulate, and you can only do that
from within the UK. Odds are that they need to see you in person for
some reason, maybe to re-take your fingerprints. I would suggest you
have a relative call on your behalf first to find out if your presence
is needed, and then travel to London if appropriate. They may also be
able to transfer your case to India, although that really should be a
last resort, as it will add a substantial delay and possibly cause
further confusion.


- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I
encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
relying on usenet newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under
construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for Spam protection.
See my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my Web site
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AlexanderAshok

Hi Ingo,

I got the Email reply from the US Embassy, London. What they say is that my additional administrative processing is still going on....But the DOS says that my case is still pending but I have to contact the US Embassy.....

I dont know whats happening.... Email just says that administrative processing still going on and nothing specific...I dont know how long will it take..

Regards-Alex

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:
    | Hi Ingo,

    | I got the Email reply from the US Embassy, London. What they say is
    | that my additional administrative processing is still going on....But
    | the DOS says that my case is still pending but I have to contact the US
    | Embassy.....

Sounds like maybe it's just a generic answer. Basically, "your case is
still pending. If you want to know more, we can't tell you. Maybe the
consulate knows more." or something like that? As long as the consulate
didn't tell you that you have to go there, that's OK.

    | I dont know whats happening.... Email just says that administrative
    | processing still going on and nothing specific...I dont know how long
    | will it take..

Nobody knows that. I've heard of cases where it took just a few days or
weeks, and others where it took well over a year.

- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I
encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
relying on usenet newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under
construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for Spam protection.
See my Web site for information on how to contact me.

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AlexanderAshok

Ingo,

I have heared from other forums that, sometimes, the Embassy and the DOS messes up with the information when doing the Administrative processing and that's why they delay the processing for more than a year or so....

Also, when speaking with the DOS officer, she was giving me some clue that DOS requiers infromation from the Embassy (I think), so what will happen, will the Embassy send the infromation to the DOS or the case will be pending....????

And, the officer at the DOS said the security clearance will take anything from 1 month to 18 months... so, is that means that all the Administrative processing will be done by 18 months....??!!

Is it possible that my sponsoring (H1B) company President or Attorney can send a FAX to Embassy and find out the status of my case... Will it be helpful in expediting the case..??

Thanks Ingo once again.. Waiting for your reply..

Regards-Alex

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:

    | Ingo,

    | I have heared from other forums that, sometimes, the Embassy and the DOS
    | messes up with the information when doing the Administrative processing
    | and that's why they delay the processing for more than a year or so....

That is indeed possible. If you suspect something like that, the best
source of assistance is a Congressperson.

    | Also, when speaking with the DOS officer, she was giving me some clue
    | that DOS requiers infromation from the Embassy (I think), so what will
    | happen, will the Embassy send the infromation to the DOS or the case
    | will be pending....????

~From what you are saying, it sounds as if the consulate isn't aware of
the inquiry from DOS.

    | And, the officer at the DOS said the security clearance will take
    | anything from 1 month to 18 months... so, is that means that all the
    | Administrative processing will be done by 18 months....??!!

No. There really is no guarantee at all, but I have yet to hear of any
that took longer than 18 months. Normal is a few weeks.

    | Is it possible that my sponsoring (H1B) company President or Attorney
    | can send a FAX to Embassy and find out the status of my case... Will it
    | be helpful in expediting the case..??

Yes. Actually, don't contact the consulate or DoS, but rather have them
contact the local Congressperson (preferably Representatives, but
Senators are also an option). Congresspeople have special liaisons with
all government agencies, and can usually straighten out cases that got
messed up.

- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I
encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
relying on usenet newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under
construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for Spam protection.
See my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my Web site
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AlexanderAshok

HI Ingo,

The Company, which is sponsoring my H1B Visa is not a very big company... Its a company with 70 consultants with presence in Michigan, South and North Dakota areas... So will it be easy for my company to meet the congress representatives...... Are they really helpful or will they think this as a small distubing task...??????

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:

    | The Company, which is sponsoring my H1B Visa is not a very big
    | company... Its a company with 70 consultants with presence in Michigan,
    | South and North Dakota areas... So will it be easy for my company to
    | meet the congress representatives...... Are they really helpful or will
    | they think this as a small distubing task...??????

Congresspeople generally have staff designated to handle such tasks. In
fact, immigration matters are so common there that many have one person
who just does immigration and nothing else.

Anybody can request assistance from a Congressional Rep. They will
typically not talk to the Rep himself, but rather to somebody on the
staff. Congresspersons indeed don't intervene in every single case, but
rather only if there is something out of the ordinary. So if you
complain that it just takes too long, you wouldn't have much luck. But
if you complain that some document was lost, or in your case that some
inquiry was lost between DoS and the consulate, you are likely to be
successful, even as an individual.

- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I
encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
relying on usenet newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under
construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for Spam protection.
See my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my Web site
http://www.ingopakleppa.com ! Comments are welcome.
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Jonathan McNeil Wong

AlexanderAshok wrote:
    > Hello Group,
    >
    > I applied for H1B visa on June 2004 at US Embassy, London and the Visa
    > Officer said that I have to go for an Adminstrative Processing.
    >
    > Its almonst 11 months now and today I called Department of State(DOS),
    > Washington. A lady said that I have to call the US Embassy in London in
    > order to know my status... UNtill now when I used to call the DOS, the
    > lady used to say that my adminstrative processing is still pending.....
    > but now she asked me to contact the embassy directly..
    >
    > So what does that mean???.... Does it mean that visa is approved or will
    > they ask for further documents or something else...??? Does this happen
    > to all 221g Adminstrative processing cases???
    >
    > FYI: I hold an Indian Passport with British Degree, if that makes an
    > difference.
    >
    > Thanks... Alex.
    >

"Administrative processing" is the phrase of art that posts are
instructed to use when an applicant is pending security clearance.

--
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
advice. Your mileage may vary.

================================================== =============
Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
================================================== =============

AlexanderAshok

Hi Ingo,

There is a possiblility that one more company is trying to hire me and issue me a new H1B... Can I go for stamping at US Consulate, Chennai with my previous administrative processing still pending with US Embassy, London...

Will the get the stamp or will they refuse the stamp...

Please guide me...

Regards-Alex

Ingo Pakleppa

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AlexanderAshok wrote:

    | Hi Ingo,

    | There is a possiblility that one more company is trying to hire me and
    | issue me a new H1B... Can I go for stamping at US Consulate, Chennai
    | with my previous administrative processing still pending with US
    | Embassy, London...

    | Will the get the stamp or will they refuse the stamp...

Administrative processing is tied to the person, not to the employer.
For that matter, the application for an H-1B visa (stamp) is also tied
to the person.

That means that:

- - you cannot apply for a second H-1B visa in your passport (you don't
have to, either; the first one would be valid for any employer who has a
valid petition for you).

- - even if you did apply for a second H-1B visa, the consulate would
still have to wait for completion of the original "administrative
processing".

- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I
encourage everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than
relying on usenet newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under
construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for Spam protection.
See my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my Web site
http://www.ingopakleppa.com ! Comments are welcome.
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AlexanderAshok

Hi Ingo,

I called the DOS today to find out the status of my pending additional admininstrative processing for my H1B visa and the officer there said that DOS passed information to the US Embassy, London to conduct once again the interview and they wanted to see me in person.....The officer also said that he doint have any idea how the Embassy will contact me..... But the information have been sent to the Embassy yesterday from the office of DOS, Washington...

So what will happen.. Will Embassy call me or will they Email me... I am on Vacation in India....

Also, I just dont understant, I have already given the interview 11 months back and nothing was asked in the interview expect some basic questions, so why do they need the interview once again...

Does it happens usually with all the cases or its with just my case... See, I hold Indian Passport, Hindu, refused F1 visa 3 years back and very clean, nothing else.. Why I applied the H1B visa from UK, because I did my Masters from there....

So what will happen, if they call for interview, will they issue the visa or what...????

I need your suggestions Ingo, please...

Please reply....

Regards-Alex

Gross50

Ashok, call the US embassy in London. there visa inquiry number was 02076362371 (summer 2003). Most likely you will have to travel to London. If you've been given the security clearance, most likely you will be issued with the visa. Otherwise you would have been denied on application. You could arrange with them to have the visa issued in India (even if it means paying another $100), though don't count on it.