maore

You are a law abiding/tax paying citizen of your country and you intend to visit or emigrate to the land of the Free.

Unfortunately a consular officer decided you ought to be under administrative processing (i.e. security checks) ,yes it is arbitrary for the simple reasons:

1) Name look up on the computer system can be OK and you will still be put under administrative processing

2) It is not applied to all and everyone, let us say if you are a poor farmer from the xinjang region of china and your Name is Osama Bin Laden .You will be more likely be under administrative processing than the sexy ex swedish top model going by the name of Ingrid Larsson.Indeed you will hear the arguments "oh it s because you are from a country which is the main source of Terrorism and anti american activity" just ignore these comments Nelson Mandela was classified as a terrorist under the SA apartheid regime vs Josef Mengele was able to freely party accross South America for quiet a while.

Q&A
How long does the administrative processing takes? The process can take between 30 days and several years (yes I do mean it)

Can I accelerate this d*%n slow A** thing ? Sorry but the most realistic and time saving answer I can give is:Hell no ! for security reasons you can not accelerate the process. Yes your local cop can check all your life history within 5 minutes during a regular road check but NO the Department of State can not mess around a second time (yes that was the organisation who gave the tourist visa to the guys who did Sept 11)

What can I do ? That s where things get serious, if you have been put under administrative processing once,everytime you will ask for a visa you will be put under administrative processing so you better get yourself moving:

1) Request the information held on you by the Department of State
http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/c36405.htm

2) Request the information held on you by CBP
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/admin/fl/...keaFOIARequest

3) Request the information held on you by the FBI
http://www.fbi.gov/foia/

Will all this requests delay the processing of my case ?
Stop being a chicken! you ve not managed to accelerate the process so just go about getting clear informations about yourself.

I know this kind of stuff cost money to the xinjiang farmer that you are but by each and everyone actions we can get things right

ian-mstm

Except for these links, it seems you are clearly losing your sense of perspective.

The US government is charged with protecting the US... and if that's an inconvenience to you, tough!

Ian

S Folinsky

Let me accelerate the process for you a bit -- I know the responses you will get if you follow the three links.

A. Department of State will invoke section 221(f) of the Immigration & Nationality Act regarding the confidentiality of visa records. State has long taken the position that 221(f) trumps FOIA and Privacy. Oh, did I mention that it is citizens and residents who have rights under FOIA and PA

B. CBP might provide records in due course. If they do anything relevant will be "redacted" under the on-going investigations and methods exceptions to FOIA.

C. As to FBI, same thing as B.

Section 221(g) prevents approval if the ConOff even has "reason to believe."

Section 291 places the "burden of proof" on the applicant.

That said, one can be like John Lennon. Note that Mr. Lennon's case took five years and he was already in the US when the case started.

S Folinsky

Be nice -- from the POV of the applicant, administrative processing is a royal PIA.

When my brother was alive, we would often exchange legal "war stories." Barry liked to joke "In regards to immigration law, I know it starts with the letter 'I'." However, a more common line which became a somewhat sarcastic joke was "I don't believe it."

I've noted above the "value" of the links. Department of State is useless. With CBP and FBI, I will admit to value in ascertaining that a file exists -- "A search of our records indicates that we have 383 pages. We hereby provide 3 pages. The remaining 381 pages are withheld under the following provisions of law."

I will admit that it is sometimes better just to get a flat out denial.

There is a recent case from Judge Posner of the 7th Circuit discussing "warped logic" and "awful prose" in immigration decisions. It is better when you can get the actual information.

maore

Protecting the US ? maybe you did not understand the meaning of my post ? let us just look at it for a second:
1) Is the USA safer when it takes between 30 days up to years to figure out if someone is a terrorist or trying to overthrow the US government ?
2) Is the USA safer by applying racial,gender or religious discrimination in their immigration policy ? I have a simplistic idea about it to insure a system is fair: we all go through it or nobody does.Will it cost money ? Tough ! increase the visa fees and sort the system out.

Now back to your all important question /is it inconvenient to me ? Nope ,I just do not understand how a lack of efficiency/accuracy/fairness is deemed to make a country safer ?I might be the greatest idiot ever but I am not getting it

maore

Thank you so much Folinsky for enlightening me by sharing these information.I guess The government always win
I am going to read a bit more about "Section 291 places the "burden of proof" on the applicant." The case you refered to is truly and deeply shocking !

Rete

Please lose this antiquated phrase.

One Computer system does not show all information gathered from the US Consulate, USCIS, CIA, FBI, Interpol, and some secret agencies.

It is applied to any and all peoples applying for a visa regardless of where they are originally from. It only appears to some that their nationality is singled out because their countrymen seem to undergo more admiistrative processing.

BTW this could be because so many of them have the same names that it takes more digging to separate one person from another, a good citizen from a bad one.

Very true

Nor should you or anyone else be able to accelerate the process. The process is there for a reason and the reason is a very serious one.

There are other places in the world for you to holiday in. Go there instead.

Your attitude sucks. You are not a US Citizen, you are only an intended visitor whose panties are in a knot. Get over it.

The so-called land of the free is not free. Not free for its citizens nor for its visitors nor for its intended immigrants. You want to come here. Then you will have to wait in line and when you number comes up, you have to show that you have earned the right to emigrate to the US.

So for now, decide which name you want to use for the rest of your life and change the passport with the other change to the one you have chosen. It is one thing for a married woman to have one passport in a maiden name and one from another country in her married name. Simplify your life and condense your various country files to one name.

BTW you might not need the ESTA to enter the US by land, but when your passport is scanned at the border crossing a little red mark will pop up and you will be pulled to secondary. Want to bet me that you won't be allowed in?

BTW please remember the US does not care if you ever enter its borders.

maore

Do you see the contradiction in your own sentences ?
"It is applied to any and all peoples applying for a visa regardless of where they are originally from. It only appears to some that their nationality is singled out because their countrymen seem to undergo more admiistrative processing."

You obviously failed to get my point "Nor should you or anyone else be able to accelerate the process. The process is there for a reason and the reason is a very serious one." , the point is not expediate or accelerate the process - the question is does the USA is safer if it takes between 30 days up to years to figure out if you are belong to the bad or good guys ? -humour

"There are other places in the world for you to holiday in. Go there instead." I am not the kind of person you can direct orders to, so I will just ignore your unwarranted comment !- Humour

"Your attitude sucks. You are not a US Citizen, you are only an intended visitor whose panties are in a knot. Get over it." take whatever you have up your back side and try to see the humour within the post if you do not get it , ask politely and I might do you the favour of breaking down to you!

"So for now, decide which name you want to use for the rest of your life and change the passport with the other change to the one you have chosen. It is one thing for a married woman to have one passport in a maiden name and one from another country in her married name. Simplify your life and condense your various country files to one name."
Irrelevant to the original post !

Please take example of Folinsky (he got the point straight away) and try to contribute in a more positive manner into the thread which to put it in a simple way to you (since you have so much difficulty to read between the lines) is about :
1. What can people do when they are constantly put into administrative processing ? is FOIA an approach to take ?
2. Is the current immigration system practicing racial,sexual,religious,gender discrimination ?

rpjs

Unfortunately I don't think there is much anyone can do. I have a colleague who is a UKC, brought up there but born in Syria and with a name that, so he's been told informally by CBP, is very similar to a name on a watchlist. Every time he visits the US under the VWP he gets secondaried. On his last entry last month the CBP officer he dealt with was very apologetic but told him that even registering for TRIP redress won't change anything. Should he ever apply for a visa I dare say he'll get APed too.

Possibly in effect, if not intent, but it's not always the groups you'd "expect". There has been a poster here recently who was APed because his name is the same as an Irish terror suspect.

sir_eccles

Actually way back when I had a lawyer she told me that USCIS was actually the one government department that was allowed to be intentionally discriminatory.

Sexual - no same sex couples
Racial - if he's black and she's white they may ask for more proof the relationship is genuine
Age - if he's 20 and she's 40 they may ask for more proof the relationship is genuine
Religious - if he's Jewish and she's Catholic they may ask for more proof the relationship is genuine

As it happened my wife and I are about the same age, color, religion. Our lawyer said you may sail through (which we did) or USCIS may make an example of you to make it seem that they aren't really discriminatory.

USCIS isn't there for your convenience.

maore

"Unfortunately I don't think there is much anyone can do" you are certainly right but I am disturbed by this idea.Please excuse me in advance for my ignorance, I would like to put an idea forward what about if you go through a civil case against the DOS for a policy which discriminates ? I guess the burden of proof would on the person who sues (number of denials/refusals are published per country and on the type of refusals) and their decisions is non reviewable.what do you think ?

Noorah101

I think it would be a waste of your time and money. As Rete correctly points out, the policy is there for a reason, and DOS can take all the time they want/need to make a decision on whether to grant someone a visa.

Rene

maore

Thanks for sharing your experience

"Actually way back when I had a lawyer she told me that USCIS was actually the one government department that was allowed to be intentionally discriminatory" scary ! I am definitely too naive.

"USCIS isn't there for your convenience" I have never implied it, I had just a dream/belief that any US citizens would fight toes and nails to have a system which reflects their believes.Does it make sense to you (no sarcasm implied here) that s in any country they have tons of legislations to protect people against discrimination and they do not apply the same rule towards an alien seeking to get into their country ?Some would call it hypocrisy (I know it is a strong word) ,nationalism and I would personally call it contradictory (I have a reputation of being the crazy guy of the village- Don Quichotte).

Egon

Never have, never will - don't let the self perpetuated myth of American values fool you into thinking it's reality.

Most Americans have no idea how difficult it is to move here - and if they did I doubt many would want it changed.

maore

The time they take to process security checks is one part of the argument that s I am disputing here (time vs security) in some case you can actually legally force any government body to take a decision (mandamus action).Why would bringing a case against the DOS in a civil court for discrimination would be a waste of time and money (400 $) ? Is it because the case would fail ? yes it would likely fail , now imagine the resources they will spend to actually reply to your lawsuit and you multiply this by the number of persons put into administrative processing.How does it look ? - any lawyer inna di house ???P.S. As far as I am aware Civil liberties were gained by individuals questioning the rules/social codes and regulations.