budleigh

If anyone can remember me from back last August!
My husbands company applied for an L1 visa in June 08 and we were hoping to move soon after our interview in August. It was all going well, the application was approved and we had tennants lined up for our house here, we were ready to sign the lease for a house near Boston, even said some of our goodbyes to relatives here! etc etc. Had the interview at the embassy in London then got stuck on the 'further admin processing' stage and we are still there. We were told that we would have the visas back within 2-3 weeks at the interview but its been a steep learning curve and a whole load of lessons learnt since that time! Looking back we probably should have waited until we actually had the things in our hands before racing ahead of ourselves but ho hum!
There's some doubt now as to whether the job opportunity will still be open by the time the further processing is complete so far its been just over 4 months since the interview so I'm assuming it will be at least another few before we can expect to hear anything but we will wait and see, who knows what this year will hold, I've kind of given up trying to second guess it!

Not sure this really helps anyone but thought it might be useful to share and we did get some good advise from the forum last year which I'm grateful for.

Niccy

Chrissywissy100

What a bummer! Best of luck Niccy! Fingers crossed all works out for you.

JCraigFong

Did they give you any clue to what the "further administrative processing" involved?

Might this have been held up for security screening? Is the principal vx holder a native-born UK citizen? Or was he born outside the UK? Where?

--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

budleigh

Hi,
We haven't been given any indication as to what they are investigating. The company lawyers didn't seem to have any real clue either they were convinced we would be there by Oct 08 but my husband is a British citizen but was born in Iraq and its only from reading the forum that we have worked out that the further admin processing must be down to name searches (and his name is quite a popular one in the middle east).
From what I understand this type of delay is inevitable for anyone born in the middle east. Just wish we had figured that one out last August! our lawyers kept telling us it wouldn't be an issue!
I think some people have been know to wait 18 months, so not holding my breath.
thanks for the replies
Niccy

JCraigFong

You have it exactly right. This is the reason for the delay. If his name is a fairly common Arabic name, it is likely that he is being subjected to two types of Security Advisory Opinions (SAO).

Although the criteria triggering an SAO are classified information, a reasonably educated guess would be that his having been born in Iraq triggered the one of the SAOs. Typically -- though there are MANY exceptions -- this type of SAO takes about <4 weeks. If there is a "hit" on his name, that would trigger another type of SAO, and THAT type of SAO often takes upwards of 3 months.

If you have experienced immigration counsel, they should have known about these SAOs and have advised you and the employers accordingly about the likely delay. If it has been over 90 days since your visa interview, you should ask counsel to make an inquiry.

Best of luck.

--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

budleigh

Many thanks for your reply, honestly that is the first helpful advise and sense that we have had since the interview!
Our lawyers are clearly useless! at their last response in Nov 08 they assured us and the employer that we would be in the US by Jan 1st 2009 although we suspected that was highly unlikely.
Could I ask what kind of inquiry we should be pushing for? Would the embassy give out any additional information at this stage? I just assumed it was literally a case of just waiting and hoping now? but if there is anything else we can do or push the lawyers to do that would be useful.
Niccy

meauxna

Thanks for adding that, J. Many of these AP checks run a minimum of 6 months for the IV and K visas; are the NIVs usually faster?

JCraigFong

Niccy:

If I were your immigration counsel, and if 90 days have gone by since your visa interview, then I would make a carefully worded inquiry to the nonimmigrant visa unit at the AmEmb-London and to the DOS Visa Office in Washington, DC. As dicey as your immigration attorneys may be at this point, they are best situated to do the inquiry. A wrong statement when dealing with an SAO could make things much worse.

Meauxna: as to your question about IVs vs. NIVs, the answer is that the DOS does not expedite SAOs. Understandably, someone subject to an SAO is under a cloud -- deservedly or not -- and given the security-oriented environment these days, they will take no chances.

--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

meauxna

Thanks again. I guess what I was wondering is if there are multiple tiers of the AP. IE, a short form and a long form, based on IV vs NIV. I'm familiar with the names of some of the checks and tho I don't watch it very closely, I know there's a gaggle of IV applicants who do.

The word from those in the user community is that there is NO WAY to speed up or influence DOS on this, and the thing will be done when it is done. Unless "too much" time has passed and one of the checks has expired. Then they start over again from the top.

JCraigFong

No, Meauxna, you have it just right.

The US takes the SAO extremely seriously, and they get done when they're done. In fact, I am NOT sure if there is additional paperwork to be done on the part of the applicant. I think that the SAO itself -- depending on the LEVEL or TYPE of check that's being done -- is directed through various security clearance channels, but the TYPE of SAO being done is actually transparent to the applicant.

--J

meauxna

Riiiiight, it's becoming more clear now. Is it accurate to say that an SAO is distinct from "administrative review/processing" or is SAO a part of "AP"? The NIV application of this is new to me.

Here's a couple of links that might be useful explanation to you, budleigh.
When is a Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) requested?
NATIONALITY… Being a “national” of certain countries is all that is needed in order to require an SAO. “National” may mean that the individual has dual citizenship, once was a citizen of one of those countries, OR was born in one of those countries. The only way to avoid this is if proof of renunciation of that citizenship is in writing (whether in fact the applicant was ever a citizen of the country).

Understanding the Immigration Security Process

Homeland Security fact sheet explains security checks for immigration benefit applicants